Vestland · Norway
Where to stay in Bergen
Bergen is a city in Vestland, Norway, home to about 291,000 people. This guide covers 12 hotels in Bergen, with about 1,137 rooms between them.
- Places to stay in this guide
- 12
- Nearest airport
- BGO12 km · Bergen Airport, Flesland
- Currency
- NOKNorwegian krone
- Time zone
- Europe/Oslo
- Language
- Bokmål, Norwegian, Nynorsk
About
About Bergen
Bergen is a city and municipality in the Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway after the capital, Oslo.
The character of Bergen is defined by its location, surrounded by steep mountains and sea (straits and fjords). The city has many lakes. It is a typical Norwegian wooden town, even downtown there are notable neighbourhoods of small wooden houses in various styles. Few towns if any have so many wooden houses in the centre. In some areas wooden houses have been replaced by taller masonry structures, giving the city a fascinating mix of old and new.
Wikipedia and Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Things to do
What to see and do in Bergen
See
There's a number of attractions in Bergen and the surrounding areas. Surveys do, however, show that most tourists in Bergen find the atmosphere, cultural landscape and architecture more compelling than the typical sights, so pick a few things to see and spend the rest of your time in Bergen sitting down in a park or café, strolling around the city, enjoying a concert or hiking the mountains. On sunny summer days, stay downtown until late to enjoy the sunset in the north.
- Fjellveien panorama road
- Skansen panorama point
- Tippetue panorama point
- Nordnes panorama
- Nordnes park
- St Johns
- Fjellsiden neighbourhood
- Marken
- Ladegården and upper Sandviken neighbourhood
- Skuteviken neighbourhood
- Sandviken neighbourhood
- KODE Art museums
Do
- Bergen Jazzforum
- Bergen Live
- Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
- Det Akademiske Kvarter
- BIT Teatergarasjen
- Den Nationale Scene
- Bergen Nasjonale Opera
- Nye Sydnes Sjøbad
- Nordnes outdoor pool
- Bergenfest
- Bergen International Film Festival
- Constitution Day
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
Places to stay in Bergen
12 places to stay from the chains this guide covers, each linked to its own website.
| Place to stay | Rooms |
|---|---|
| Clarion Hotel® Admiral hotel | 210 |
| Comfort Hotel™ Bergen hotel | 159 |
| Home Hotel Bryggen hotel | 151 |
| Home Hotel Havnekontoret hotel | 113 |
| Hotel No 13 hotel | 34 |
| Hotel Oleana hotel | 97 |
| Hotel-Restaurant Marijke hotel | |
| Quality Hotel™ Edvard Grieg hotel | 373 |
| Thon Hotel Bergen Airport hotel | |
| Thon Hotel Bristol Bergen hotel | |
| Thon Hotel Orion hotel | |
| Thon Hotel Rosenkrantz Bergen hotel |
Schematic: the city centre in orange, each place to stay as a dot, distance rings in kilometres.
Where to stay
Which part of Bergen to stay in
Outside the summer season, getting a hotel room is usually not a problem, although it can be quite expensive unless you have a reservation. In the summer season (from May to Sept) a reservation well in advance is required. Breakfast is normally included in the price except at hostels and camping sites.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
More hotels in Bergen
3 hotels within 25 km of the centre, as recorded in Wikidata. Each name links to its encyclopedia article where there is one.
| Hotel | Opened | From centre |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Hotel Terminus | 1928 | 0.6 km |
| Hotel Norge, Bergen Scandic Hotels Group | 0.1 km | |
| Augustin Hotel | 0.5 km |
When to go
The best time to visit Bergen
Bergen has no month that is both mild and dry by the measure used here. August is the warmest month, with average highs of 18 °C; December is the wettest, with about 305 mm of rain.
Comfortable means average daytime high between 18 °C and 29 °C and under 80 mm of rain in the month. Averages for 1991–2020 over the surrounding area, a grid square about 50 km across, so a coast or a nearby mountain can make the town itself warmer or cooler. Data: CRU TS v4.10, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia (Open Database License).
Getting there
Getting to Bergen: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Bergen Airport, Flesland (BGO), about 12 km from the city centre in a straight line; Stord Airport, Sørstokken (SRP, 67 km) and Haugesund Airport, Karmøy (HAU, 117 km) are also within reach.
Getting around
Downtown Bergen is compact and easy to walk for most visitors. Most sights and hotels are located within few minutes walk within downtown. While the very centre is located on a relatively flat piece of land, there are hills in virtually every direction out of the centre so heading downhill usually leads to centre. The main square is the east/west Torgallmenningen, a pedestrian zone. The Nordnes peninsula points north from the very centre, on the eastern side is Vågen, a small bay and once Bergens main harbour, lined on the eastern side by Bryggen and the Fortress.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
BGO · Bergen Airport, Flesland
SRP · Stord Airport, Sørstokken
HAU · Haugesund Airport, Karmøy
Local knowledge
Eating, drinking and staying safe in Bergen
Eat
There is a great variety of restaurants and cafes in Bergen, but you should expect to spend some time looking for the best places. In the most central parts of the city, many of the restaurants are all the same. Move a block away from the most central parts of downtown to find lower prices and better food. Kitchens usually close at 23:00 at the latest. Waiters and other restaurant staff have good wages. You are not required to leave any money to cover the service, but many people choose to tip the waiter if he or she has been helpful and nice, and if the food was good. If you choose to leave a tip, rounding up or adding about five to ten percent will be appreciated.
Drink
There is a great variety of bars, night clubs, concert venues etc. in Bergen. Night clubs are usually open from 23:00, but life never starts before 01:00. Bars opens at different hours, some can be open all day. No places are allowed to serve alcohol after 03:00, and the consumption of alcoholic beverages must cease at 03:30 at the latest. Many places are required to close earlier. The establishments are only allowed to let people bring their drinks outside if they have been granted a special permit. A requirement to get this permit is that they have a confined space outdoors for their guests. All drinks must be indoors by 01:00.
Stay safe
Bergen has, as the rest of Norway, a generally low crime rate. The most likely crimes for tourists to experience is car break-ins and bicycle theft. Pickpockets is also becoming an increasing problem in the summer season, but it's still nothing like in larger cities in Europe. It is always a good idea to look after your belongings, this includes never leaving valuable objects visible in your car and locking your bike safely. There are no particularly unsafe areas in Bergen. The upper part of Nygårdsparken used to be the hang-out place for drug addicts. The lower part of Nygårdsparken is a beautiful place popular among the locals.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Good to know
Accessibility, parking and families in Bergen
How many places to stay in this guide offer each, in their operators' own words.
of 12 places
of 12 places
of 12 places
of 12 places
of 12 places
Questions
Bergen: questions travellers ask
When is the best time to visit Bergen?
Bergen has no month that is both mild and dry by the measure used here. August is the warmest month, with average highs of 18 °C; December is the wettest, with about 305 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to Bergen?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Bergen Airport, Flesland (BGO), about 12 km from the city centre in a straight line; Stord Airport, Sørstokken (SRP, 67 km) and Haugesund Airport, Karmøy (HAU, 117 km) are also within reach.
Are there accessible hotels in Bergen?
6 places in this guide list accessible rooms.
What currency is used in Bergen?
Norwegian krone (NOK).
Nearby
Destinations near Bergen
Sources: city facts from Wikidata and Wikipedia; airports from OurAirports; climate from CRU TS v4.10 (University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit), 1991–2020 monthly means, 0.5° grid; places to stay, guest scores and amenities from each operator's own public pages. How this guide is made.