In short
Bergen is the gateway to the fjords and Norway's second city. It is built between seven mountains and a sea that brings, along with the ships, a legendary rainfall: the city is among the wettest in Europe, with something like two hundred days of precipitation a year.
Bryggen, the Hanseatic wharf of coloured wooden houses, is World Heritage listed: what remains of the German trading post that made the city's fortune from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century.
Arriving and getting around
Flesland airport is linked to the centre by the light rail.
The Bergen–Oslo train crosses the Hardangervidda plateau and ranks among the most spectacular railways in Europe. It takes about seven hours and is booked ahead.
The centre is walked. The Fløibanen funicular climbs Mount Fløyen in a few minutes; you can also walk up and ride down.
Excursions to the Nærøyfjord and the Sognefjord leave from here.
What it really costs
Norway is expensive, and Bergen is no exception: it is the dominant parameter. Alcohol is heavily taxed and sold in state shops with limited hours.
The harbour fish market has become largely touristic; the covered halls next door are more honest on price.
When to come
May–September for the fjords and the long days. In June it barely gets dark.
Winter is mild for the latitude — the Gulf Stream — but dark and very wet.
Allowing for rain is not a precaution, it is a certainty. Locals equip themselves accordingly and go out anyway.
What nobody tells you
The "Norway in a Nutshell" tour is not an organised circuit but a combination of tickets — train, boat, bus — that you can assemble yourself with the operators, generally for less.
The Ulriken cable car, higher than Fløyen, is less busy and gives a wider panorama; the ridge path links the two summits in a few hours.
Bergen has burned many times: the Bryggen houses are successive reconstructions on the same medieval foundations, which explains their lean.