Norwegian fjords. The majestic Norwegian fjords Which of the fjords in Norway is the longest

It’s worth starting with the question of what the fjords of Norway are, and let’s clarify a little the meaning of the phrase fjords of Norway. Many tourists travel to Norway. The fjords of Norway are narrow, deep and winding sea bays with rocky shores that cut deep into the land.

The fjords of Norway are caused by a sharp and sudden change in the direction of movement of tectonic plates. Experienced tourists are well aware that Norway is a country of fjords.

During the Ice Age, deep valleys and narrow bays filled with ocean water, our planet creates such wonderful creations as the fjords in Norway. There are many fjords on earth, but those that adorn the coast of Norway differ from the rest in their picturesqueness and beauty.

Hundreds of tourists a year visit Norway to visit these beautiful places. And in this case, any tourist should take advantage of tours around the fjords of Norway. The mountains, local villages located around the fjords offer many incredible places to visit. We will learn about this from our list of the five most popular and beautiful fjords in Norway.

1. Nordfjord

This fjord in Norway is located in the western part of the country. It is known for its perfect combination of incredible landscapes and historical sites, and of course the wide range of events it hosts.

Regardless of the time of year, Nordfjord offers cruises around the fjord itself. In addition, visitors can choose from Norway's fjord tours, which include mountain excursions, fishing, water skiing and rafting.

In winter, visitors can enjoy skiing on the slopes and glaciers. You can also explore the surrounding islands, mountains and forests on hiking trips, and see local attractions such as beautiful waterfalls, the ruins of a 12th-century monastery and the highest point in Norway, where visitors can enjoy stunning views of glacial formations.

2. Hardangerfjord

Hardanger Fjord is the third largest fjord in the world. It is often called the garden of Norway. And this is because it is replete with many colorful fruit tree gardens. Many travelers plan their trip during May in order to see the blossoming of apple, pear, cherry and plum trees.

In addition to boating and kayaking around the magnificent fjord, visitors can take advantage of cycling routes to enjoy a number of natural wonders.

These include Norway's spectacular waterfalls, one of the most popular being the Verringsfossen waterfall. And be sure to visit natural glacial formations such as Folgefona and Troltunga.

3. Lyse fjord

Although this fjord is smaller than the others in size, it attracts about 300,000 visitors a year. Preikestolen, or “Pulpit Rock,” makes Lysefjord very attractive to tourists. Preikestolen is a gigantic cliff, 604 m high.

This fjord is known for its incredible views and photo spots. The Lysefjord area includes several historical sites that are impressive with their prehistoric carvings. Whose age begins from the sixth century BC. And in Ryfylke, visitors can see a reconstructed prehistoric settlement.

4. Norway Sognefjord

Being Norway's largest fjord, Sognefjord is full of adventure and fun for days. The tour includes visits to Norway's oldest stave church in Urnes, the Viking village of Gudvangen, the white cave of Gudvangen, the Aurland Valley, often called the Norwegian Grand Canyon due to its spectacular beauty and diversity of wildlife.

Sognefjord offers a wide range of holiday options. This includes riding the steepest railway in the world, through snow-capped mountains and cascading waterfalls. Other activities include hiking along scenic trails and traveling to interesting places such as Nærøy, a wild and beautiful place in the Sognefjord.

5. Geirangerfjord Norway

With the wonderful and amazing sights of deep blue waters and majestic mountains in Geirangerfjord in Norway, it is no wonder that the fjord is one of the most visited. While spending your holiday here, be sure to take time to visit the amazing beauty of the famous waterfalls.

This is the Seven Sisters waterfall. Other types of recreation also abound here, such as winter skiing, excellent fishing, canoeing and rafting, and hiking in famous places that represent Norway from its most interesting sides.

In conclusion, I would like to add some information for tourists who are full of strength and energy to travel through the fjords of Norway. You must remember that Norway is a country of fjords and trolls. And if the opportunity allows you to relax in such picturesque places in Europe, then feel free to take advantage of the moment. After all, such places in the world are very rare and beautiful precisely because of their pristine beauty.

Good luck to everyone in conquering Norway!

Videos fjords of Norway

February 23rd, 2014 , 05:39 pm

In general, the expression “Homeless tour to Norway” sounds like an oxymoron, because Norway, if not the most, is definitely in the top 5 most expensive countries in Europe. And the French say that people who can afford to travel to this northern country have their finances in order. I would, of course, argue with this - we are with krimhilda_konig We’ve been there, so I dare to give some advice to those who want to see the fjords on a budget. I think that 380 euros for 5 days in Norway is very good. And if you exclude souvenirs and hitchhike, it’s even cheaper. I’ll make a reservation: we didn’t have a goal to see EVERYTHING, because we were going to Norway for the first, but not the last time. According to the plan: the city of Stavanger, the cliffs of Preikestolen and Kjerag.

(50 photos)

Route: bus Kaliningrad-Gdansk 850 rub. in both directions, plane Gdansk-Stavanger 1500 rub. round trip, plus luggage (1 suitcase for two) 2000 rub. Transport around the city is expensive - 170 rubles, but you can return back within an hour and a half. This has helped us save money several times.

On a plane to Norway, you definitely need to sit by the window - the views of the country: islands, mountains, houses - the views are fantastic.

Once again we were convinced that couchsurfing is a great thing: our “oil tycoons,” as we called the guys hosting us, work as engineers in oil offices. Employers rent houses for them, in which the kitchen alone is larger than my entire rented apartment. In 5 days we changed two places of residence: we lived with the Swede Hannes and the Brazilian Marcelo. Not only were they very nice, but they also fed us dinner, or rather two dinners. And Marcelo left us the keys because he was away for the weekend.

We brought Russian vodka and amber to our hosts as gratitude. We also fried pancakes. In general, we brought with us half a suitcase of products bought in Poland: cheeses, pates, sausages, crackers, etc. Eating in Norwegian cafes is very expensive, in supermarkets a kilogram of tomatoes costs 200 rubles, so we only allowed ourselves to buy shrimp (150 rubles). /kg). I think it's a good replacement :)

Stavanger is a city of snow-white houses. In the old town you want to hug every house, they are so beautiful.

And there is an equally beautiful street of colorful houses. In one of them, if I'm not mistaken, there is a museum.

Seagulls, impudent creatures, devoured us, snatching sandwiches.

The water at the pier is clear and you can see many beautiful jellyfish in it.

Stavanger is the oil capital of Norway, so it has an oil museum (entrance - 550 rubles). We were not interested in it, just like the museum of canned food and the television museum)

A 30-minute drive from the city center, on the banks of Hafrsfjord, stands the Swords in the Stone monument, erected in memory of the battle that took place here in 872. The swords themselves are quite large - up to 10 meters.

So, the second day in Norway, and we are going to the Preikestolen rock to see this:

I’ll say right away that this was an epic failure of our trip and an instructive lesson for the future. So, everyone doesn’t go to Stavanger to watch swords and cuddle with white wooden houses for a few days. The main goal is to see the Lysefjord, namely: climb the Preikestolen rock (pulpit), see “one of the most breathtaking views in the world” according to the Lonely planet guide, take a boat ride along the fjord, and, of course, jump on the one stuck between two rock the Kjeragbolton stone and put a bow on it. We didn’t turn out to be original, so we didn’t think about the program for a long time.

Already in the morning the weather told us that this was a bad idea - it was drizzling outside and it was foggy. But Hannes checked the weather at the foot of the cliff - they promised 25 degrees Celsius and sunshine.

10 a.m. We approach the Stavanger-Teu ferry - there are no people at all (we had to think again). I decided to ask the woman, the ferry worker, whether it was worth going in such weather. So, the question arises, why was I interested in this if her answer had no impact on our further actions?! The lady advised us not to go. “What if the weather gets better?” - we thought and boarded the ferry. The cost of the trip is approximately 50 crowns, and when I handed the controller a 50-crown piece of paper, he said - uh, these are Swedish! Oops, thank you, dear Sberbank, for such a currency exchange.

In general, the ferry could offer beautiful views. They could, but they didn’t openJ


In Teu you need to take a bus, the price of which seems to be 80 CZK. Upon arrival at the foot of the Preikestolen rock, we met a couple who were planning to go back on this bus. “Have you already gone to the rock?” - “No, what are you talking about! What's the point? You still can’t see anything.” What if! - we thought for the second time. The rain began to get heavier, so Maya bought herself a raincoat, but, I must say, they were of no use. We are inexperienced hikers - we didn’t have suitable clothes and shoes, and it would be stupid to buy for one trip, so I went to Norway with sneakers from the first year and a raincoatH& M. For a minute, the fog cleared (hope dawned), but a moment later the sky became dark again, and the rain became even heavier.


I honestly admit, I was tired and wrote painful text messages to my friend. Maya remained calm and said: “okay, let’s get to the first platform and go down.” When we saw people climbing the mountains with babies, we realized that we had to stop whining and wait for good weather and go up.


The diagram shows the route - about 4 km in one direction in a straight line, but in fact you walk much more, because the road goes uphill. The height of the final point is 640 m above sea level.


Even at the beginning of the path, we met advanced hikers already descending from Preikestolen, they once again said that it was better not to go there in our shoes, especially since nothing was visible from above. Well, you understand what we thought as we continued on our way.

To avoid getting lost, the letters T are painted on the stones in red paint, which probably meanstrek, but this is just my guess. On this day the road looked like this, and we walked on water. The sneakers slid on the wet stones.

In some places the road turned into waterfalls, and we climbed over wet stones, holding onto neighboring, equally wet stones.

Bridges over mountain rivers were washed away, so we had to wade - we could squeeze out our sneakers. And in general (who would doubt it), Converse sneakers are far from the best shoes for hiking in the mountains, but we met a group of tourists wearing ballet flats and moccasins, almost with clutches in their hands. Well, guess what country these women were from?!) It’s a pity, at that moment we had no time to take photographs

We were wet down to our underwear, and walking in such clothes was so unpleasant for me that I couldn’t find anything better than changing my trousers to shorts. Not only did I look more like a Russian homeless tramp than a tourist in this form, but I also immediately suffered, slipping on the wet stones. And here is the result J

Only in a couple of places there were guardrails, but in the rest it was a no-brainer to slip and fall from a height of half a kilometer.

Bleeding, we continued on our way and after about 3 hours we saw the outlines of the cliff. For comparison - what we should have seen, judging by the photographs from the Internet.

What we saw in the end was NOTHING!

At first we almost cried, then hysterics began, and we laughed stupidly. As a result, at the top we ate a sandwich, drank a mug of tea and hurried back. I forgot my thermos there, so, apparently, I’ll go back there again. This inscription, left by someone who was luckier, looked especially mocking

Maya: “Katya, when I want to go to the mountains again, remind me about Preikestolen” - “yes, Maya, I’ll remind you tomorrow” - a day later we had hiking to Kjerag.

The last full day in Norway, and the last chance for Norway to rehabilitate itself in our eyes. Today we are driving to the Kjerag plateau, which is pronounced Sjörag in Norwegian. We bought a ticket from Stavanger in advance, paying 490 CZK each. You can get to Kjerag in two ways - either by car or by special excursion buses. But what kind of excursions are they? During the trip, the driver only told us a few phrases about the places we passed, and that’s the whole tour. All they do is take you to the foot of the mountain and back to Stavanger, and, of course, no one will tell you during the hiking process about the history of the stones you encounter along the way.

If everything goes well (pah-pah-pah), then we will stand on a round pebble and see the fjord in all its glory.

(photo from the Internet)

To avoid a second epic failure and to avoid running headlong in the morning looking for a stop, in the evening we walked to the pier to see where the bus was coming from. We did not find any signs, but Marcelo later convinced us that we would not miss the bus, no matter how hard we tried. Approaching the pier, we realized - yes, try not to find this bus: at such a time (at 7 am) there is only one there, and there is silence and emptiness all around. The bus should leave at 7:30, but it’s good that we arrived early, since there weren’t enough seats for everyone, some of them rode standing untilSandnes, where they were transferred to a minibus. Standing on Norwegian buses?! How can this even be! If in Scandinavia every passenger needs to wear a seat belt, otherwise you could end up with a 200 euro price tag for each person.

The road to the plateau is already one continuous attraction - a mountain serpentine, on the sides - hills, lakes, rocks.

And also fog. Yes, yes, damn fog. The driver said that the weather would be fine today and the fog would clear soon. We can only hope for the favor of the Norse gods

The bus made its first stop in a village with an unpronounceable name (in general, all rural settlements are difficult to pronounce in Norwegian). Maya drank coffee there, and I went to photograph the butting goats living in the area adjacent to the cafe.

The “tour” program stated that departure from the final point is at 16-45, and we arrive there at approximately 11 am. We asked the driver if we had enough time for everything. He said that it took 5 hours to hike there and back, and an hour to stop and take photographs above the roof. The answer didn’t seem comforting to me, and suspicions crept into my head that we wouldn’t make it all, but since he took us there 5 times a week, it means he knows everything better than us.

The final stop is the foot of Mount Kjerag. Below is a house with a cafeteria, sheep and lambs are running around the area - each has a bell and tags on its ears. In general, there are a lot of lambs here, so bells can be heard everywhere. Moreover, they graze everywhere in the mountains, and not in some fenced area.

Everyone arriving at Kjerag is greeted by a board with a map of the place and a reminder of the rules of conduct. So, the distance from the place where we are to Kjerag is 5 km, but this is in a straight line, and a “walk” awaits us with three ascents and descents, and this is more than 10 km. At the moment we are at an altitude of 640 m, and the highest point is 1080 m.

Hiking on Kjerag is described as difficult, recommended only for experienced guys. Well, we climbed Preikestolen in the rain and fog, on slippery stones, we’ve already become very experienced! Ehhhh, if only we knew then what awaited us - Preikestolen turned out to be “ugh, nonsense for kids” compared to Kjerag.

About halfway through the first climb, I said: “Maya, the next time I want to go to the mountains, remind me of Kjerag.” The road to the first rock is almost vertical - we covered the entire distance, holding on to the chains along the edges. In some places the chains were broken... I wonder what happened to the people who were holding on to these chains at that moment. And the metal stakes that hold the chains are often bent at right angles. View from the first mountain -Lille Stordalen- opened onto a gorgeous mountain valley, the fjord was not yet visible, but such beauty was already breathtaking.

Then there is a descent, which is sometimes more difficult than the ascent, because there are mountain streams and the stones around are wet, and therefore the sneakers, like mine, begin to slip. By the way, they served their purpose and were thrown into the trash upon returning to the city.
And here is the second peak - 890 meters -Stordalen. We get up, stand up, look around and see it - Lysefjord! Emerald water and the village of Lysebotn, it seems to be three houses :) And we tried to find a listing there and wondered why it was on the websitecouchsurfing no one is registered there.Only workers of local power plants live there.

On the way, we met a fellow countryman - Oleg from St. Petersburg, and, by the way, for the first time I was very glad to meet a Russian person abroad. It turned out that he had moved to Stavanger for work, and came to Kjerag alone in a car, so he kindly offered to take us back to the city. We said yes, if we don't catch the bus.

The weather this time was not only good and warm, but hot to such an extent that we got burned - none of us thought that we needed to take sunscreen when going to Norway. In mountain lakes, of course, the water is cold (but not much colder than in our Baltic Sea in the middle of summer), but I still got into the water, quickly took a swim and went ashore. M By the way, there is still snow today, so it’s hard to resist playing in the snow while dressed in shorts and T-shirts.

The sign tells us where the same pea-stone Kjerag-bolton is.

For many who come here, the main goal is to climb this stone, and since it was a warm Sunday day, there was a serious queue. So, if we had not met Oleg, either we would not have stood on the stone, or we would have been late for the bus - 6 hours clearly would not have been enough for us to calmly explore the entire plateau and stay in one place for more than a couple of minutes. Although we are not completely anti-sports ladies - I ride my bike to work every dayJ, so we had some kind of physical training and endurance. But we also saw families with small children, a couple even with babies, and some with dogs.

And here he is - Kjeragbolton. It's better to be the three of us here. Oleg and Maya took their place in the queue, and at that time I was on duty at the place where everyone was taking photos, and at the same time I watched who was jumping onto the stone. One lady pulled a dog there, a guy (who turned out to be Russian) actually jumped up on a rock - at that moment I already screamed: “Nooo!” They tried to drag one girl onto a rock, but she resisted and in the end did not climb.

Having completed my mission and photographed Oleg, I joined Maya. In fact, I found standing there waiting scarier than jumping onto a rock. It is wide enough, there is enough space for two or three, but a slight thrill and excitement is still felt. No matter how much I searched on the Internet, I still couldn’t find information about whether anyone had fallen from Kjeragbolton. We were still thinking, what about in winter? There, I suppose, slipping on an icy stone and falling is a piece of cake. It's simple - the road to the Kjerag plateau is open only in warm weather, in winter - only by water to the village of Lysebotn, so climbers use this option. But I could be wrong.

Where would we be without this - I'm on a rock :)

But base jumpers crashed, yes. There at the top there was a cup with the names and surnames of either dead base jumpers, or those who made some kind of record jumps.

We explored the surrounding area, sat on the edge of the plateau, admired the picturesque views from the mountain, and headed back. We did it - Norway, you have completely rehabilitated yourself in our eyes, so we will come again: we need to climb the Troll’s Tongue.

Amazing country. It is impossible to gaze at its majestic nature without aspiration. In winter it is reserved and harsh, and in the short northern summer it blooms with pure and rich emerald colors. The Norwegian fjords can be considered a national treasure of the country. These are picturesque sea bays, cutting into the rocky coast and extending inland for tens of kilometers. Millions of tourists come to see them every year. The best angle is from the water.

During a boat trip, a breathtaking view of the steep slopes from which waterfalls cascade opens up. At first, the traveler is surrounded by green hills and mountains, but gradually snow-covered peaks appear on the horizon. In a word, the spectacle is unforgettable.

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Which fjords are worth visiting?

There are thousands of fjords in Norway; they dot the entire western part of the Scandinavian Peninsula. But they visit mainly the ten most famous and most accessible ones, among which everyone knows the Sognefjord, Geirangerfjord, Hardangerfjord and Lysefjord. Of course, the infrastructure around the bays is well developed. They are easily accessible by transport from nearby cities; in the fishing villages on the banks there are comfortable hotels and restaurants. If a tourist wants to see all this beauty from the water, then ferries, pleasure ships and even cruise ships are at his service. On land there are observation platforms where highways lead.

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Fjord tours and excursions

Organized Norwegian fjord tours mostly start from Oslo. Agencies have different programs, but most often they involve inspecting bays both from water and from land. The cost of travel for 6-7 days is from 1000 EUR per person (excluding travel to Oslo, plane tickets must be paid for independently). This amount also includes breakfast. If you take a ferry from St. Petersburg, it will be cheaper - from 300 EUR per person. But this fee is only for accommodation in 2-3-bed cabins, transfers between cities/towns by bus and basic excursion services.

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Independent visit

Independent travelers will have to use public transport. This almost always involves several transplants. For example, to see the Preikestolen rock and get to

Norway is a harsh and mysterious country; even the hard-to-pronounce names of its cities and natural sites can be puzzling and cause difficulties when preparing an independent trip. This article will help you get your bearings and figure out which cities in Norway are most convenient from which to make forays to the country’s most attractive and unique attraction – the fjords.

I’ll immediately make a reservation that, although there are examples of independent travel through the mountains and fjords using only public transport, due to the large distances and features of the Norwegian terrain, a car is the best and, I would say, the main means of transportation around the country by land ( plus in many places you have to cross by ferry). Another popular mode of transport in the country is the plane. Air services connect all major cities in Norway. In order to see the fjords, it is absolutely not necessary to fly through the Norwegian capital Oslo: you can buy connecting tickets through Europe to cities located close to one or another famous natural attraction (there are international airports in Bergen, Ålesund, Stavanger).

Tickets for domestic flights in Norway operated by the budget carrier Norwegian airlines are relatively inexpensive (except for additional costs for baggage, which, like all low-cost airlines, is paid separately, and meals on board).

You can pre-select a rental car for traveling around Norway and pick it up right at the airport of arrival here

(the largest search engine-aggregator, instant comparison of offers, prices and conditions of the world's leading car rental companies, online booking confirmation and flexible conditions, discounts, super offers)

Fjords– sea bays formed as a result of tectonic shifts and “cutting” the land area for tens and even hundreds of kilometers (the longest fjord in the world - Scoresby - is located in Greenland and stretches for more than 350 kilometers, followed by its Norwegian “brother” - Sognefjord 204 kilometers).

The number of fjords in Norway and the Svalbard archipelago is huge and amounts to about 1200. The length of most Norwegian fjords is from 4 to 50 kilometers, but there are also real giants - from a hundred kilometers or more. At the same time, naturally, their beauty does not depend on size, for example, the most famous fjord in the world, Geiranger, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, is only 15 kilometers long. As you can see, it is impossible to physically cover all the fjords, so you have to select only a few of them.

The most famous and popular fjords in Norway are:

Geirangerfjord, Lysefjord, Hardangerfjord, Trondheimsfjord, Sognefjord, Nærøyfjord, Aurlandsfjord, Nordfjord.

They are concentrated on the west coast of Norway (see map) https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zpmSSUsmrIho.ks9dZ3QlvhcA

City of Trondheim - The third largest city in Norway, located on the shores of the Trondheim Fjord. Sights: Trondheims Fjord (the third longest in the country), the medieval Nidaros Cathedral - a landmark cathedral for Norwegian history, where the legendary King Olaf II (St. Olaf) is buried, the oldest coronation site of Norwegian monarchs.

City of Kristiansund(Kristiansund) – (not to be confused with Kristiansand, located in southern Norway!) – Atlantic Road, Mountain road Aurshoevegen, Trollheimen(home of the trolls) - a mountain range with picturesque valleys.

The Atlantic Road is one of Norway's popular attractions, located between the cities of Kristiansund and Molde. This is an 8-kilometer section of the National Tourist Road 64, which passes through islets in the Atlantic Ocean. In some places the road is shaped like a wave, offering postcard views - both in good weather and during a storm on the Atlantic. There are several viewing platforms where you can park your car, admire the views and take photographs.

City of Molde(Molde) – mountain road Trollstigen(Troll Staircase), Romsdal And Atlantic Road.

Troll Staircase

City of Ålesund(Alesund) is a beautiful Art Nouveau city located on seven hills. Attractions: Geirangerfjord And Jorundfjord, bird island Runde, Road of Eagles(mountain serpentine between Geirangerfjord and Norddalsfjord) and the already mentioned Troll Staircase Trollstigen.

Ålesund

Geirangerfjord

City of Bergen(Bergen) - Norway's second largest city is called the “gateway to the kingdom of the fjords.” From here you can go to Norway's longest fjord - Sognefjord, its branches – Nærøyfjord And Aurlandsfjord, Hardangerfjord(second largest in the country), drive along Flåm railway. In the city itself there is a UNESCO World Heritage Site - a beautiful Bryggen embankment, as well as the house-museum of the famous Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg.

Embankment in Bergen

Sognefjord

City of Haugesund(Haugesund) – impressive Lysefjord and small Okrafjord.

Lysefjord

City of Stavanger(Stavanger) – Lysefjord, Pulpit (Preikestolen)– a giant flat cliff above the Lysefjord, route Rüflüke(waterfalls road), Sulastranden beach.

Preikestolen

When to go see the fjords?

The best time to travel around Norway to the fjords is from June to mid-August (or, in extreme cases, from May to September), this is due to the harsh climate of the country. During the rest of the year, it is better to devote time to exploring only Norwegian cities.