The Best Things to do in Bergen with Kids

Surrounded by seven mountains and overlooking the sea, Bergen has some of the most impressive scenery in Norway. Whether you plan to use Bergen as a gateway to Norway’s spectacular fjords or to take in the history and culture, you will not be disappointed. It’s the perfect spot to get your fill of both the natural beauty and old world charm this city has to offer. 

We spent 7 days in this beautiful coastal city with our kids (aged 4 years and 23 months) and discovered many of the best things to do in Bergen with kids.

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Where to Stay in Bergen with Kids

When traveling with little kids, we’ve become pretty predictable on our accommodations; we find a decent looking, kid-friendly vacation rental that’s centrally located and is close to a park and grocery stores.

With young children, we strongly prefer vacation rentals for all the conveniences of home. Separate bedrooms help everyone get a better night’s sleep – and well rested kids are much better travelers.

Laundry facilities help us pack less clothes and kitchen facilities let us cook kid-friendly food. Norway is one of the most expensive countries in the world, so cooking our own meals was one strategy we used to visit Norway on a budget.

In Bergen, the short walk from the train station to our apartment took us around the beautiful Lille Lungegårdsvannet, a small lake in the center of Bergen. Our Bergen vacation home rental was also conveniently close to a bus stop that took us straight to the airport when we left.

You can see family friendly vacation home rentals in Bergen.

How Long to Stay in Bergen

Our family vacation to Norway was 23 days long. In an effort to reduce the amount of times we would have to pack up our stuff and move the kids, we stayed in Bergen for a full 7 days.

Although Bergen is one of the most kid-friendly cities in Europe, we felt we could have reduced this by a few days. What may have also contributed to this feeling was the amount it rained when we were there. By the end of the week we were feeling pretty done with the rain.

If you have the time in your family trip to Norway, we would recommend staying 4 – 5 days in Bergen with kids, especially if you are interested in doing some hiking in the area.

Related: Our comprehensive guide to traveling to Norway with kids.

How to Get to Bergen with Kids

Getting to Bergen by Train

Before visiting Bergen, we spent 5 days in Oslo with kids. To get to Bergen, we took the very scenic Oslo to Bergen train, and we highly recommend it, for both its incredible scenery and it’s kid-friendly carriages.

Getting to Bergen by Plane

Bergen is home to the second largest airport in Norway, and there are lots of convenient direct flights from international hubs.

To get from the airport, Flybussen Airport buses and Bybanen (Bergen light rail) are great options that take about 30 minutes to central Bergen. 

Getting to Bergen by Bus

It’s not easy to get to Bergen by bus. A trip from Oslo requires a change of bus in Seljestad. There is also an express bus between Stavanger and Bergen that stops in the city centers.

Getting to Bergen by Cruise Ship

Arriving in Bergen by the famous Hurtigruten (a historic Norwegian coastal ferry-cruise connecting fjords, towns and Arctic communities) will get you within walking distance to the Bergen city center.

Getting Around Bergen

We found the easiest and best way to get around Bergen was by walking. For slightly longer trips where we wanted to save time, the city buses operated by Skyss were very fast and convenient. 

Packing for Norway with Kids

Bergen is famously wet, averaging over 200 days of precipitation each year. Even though we visited Bergen with kids in August, it rained on us a lot and we recommend you prepare for rain when packing for Norway as well.

In hopes of helping you prepare for your family trip, we’ve created a packing list for Norway with kids.

Things to do in Bergen with Kids

Since we knew this might be one of our last trips when we could still carry both kids in backpack carriers and tackle almost any hike, we took full advantage. Most of our mornings in Bergen with kids were spent out on the trails, and our afternoons slowed down with parks and playgrounds. If you’re planning things to do in Bergen with kids, this we found the hike & play pattern made exploring Bergen with kids feel easy and fun.

Here are the best things to do in Bergen with kids:

Bryggen

Bryggen is a series of Hanseatic commercial buildings lining the eastern harbor of Bergen.  Stacked tall, and side-by-side, these colorful buildings with high pitched roofs are very atmospheric. The buildings are, of course, filled with shops and restaurants now.

In addition to the buildings, there are deep wooden alleyways in Bryggen which run perpendicular to the main street which are fun to explore. Since we were there before any of the crowds arrived, our kids had the run of the place, literally. They enjoyed running up and down the little alleyways.

It wasn’t long before we were lured into a bakery by the wonderful smells and we all split a Skillingbolle (a cinnamon bun) and an apple turnover. 

Exploring fun neighborhoods like Bryggen are one of the many reasons why we enjoy traveling Europe with kids.

Bergenhus Fortress

The Bergenhus Fortress is one of the oldest castles in Norway and is just a short walk from Bryggen at the entrance of the Bergen Harbor. It was a beautiful setting right by the water, but unfortunately large parts of it were closed for a concert. We managed a quick look around but opted to skip the tower.

Nygardsparken

Nygardsparken is a long, narrow park filled with old trees and lined with beautiful houses. The park had a tire swing hanging from the limb of a very big tree, but no playground to be found.

There were a few fun little fountains which the kids splashed in, as well as a large pond with ducks. As luck would have it, it started to rain pretty hard when we got to the very far end of the park.

With rain gear back on we continued our walk around the nice houses surrounding the park before heading back to our apartment to get dry.

Mt. Fløyen

Hike up Mt. Fløyen

As one of Bergen’s top attractions, it gets busy, but the views from Mt. Fløien are worth it. Most visitors take the Fløibanen Funicular up, but in an effort to be on foot as much as possible, we put the kids in the backpack carriers and did the hike up Mt. Fløyen.

We began our family hike at the Fløibanen Funicular terminal. The bottom section of the hike was primarily through residential streets up the odd set of stairs or on paved roads. Soon enough the trail transitioned to forest with gravel paths.

The forest was dense and very lush with many waterfalls along the way. The hiking trail was well-marked and it took us just over an hour to make it to the top.

If you’d like to view and download the trail map for this Mt. Fløyen hike, you can see it on AllTrails. If you’d prefer not to go it alone, you can also hire a guide to take you up.

Troll Forest

At the top, once we got out of the trees, it became noticeably colder with the wind, even if the sun was out. Packing a jacket in Bergen is a must, even on a warm day. The weather can change quickly!

At the top is the Troll Forest, which is a fun & easy hike for little kids. There are many trolls carved out of wood for the kids to find and enjoy.

The Troll Forest was a lot of fun for the kids, but we cut it short as the ground was so muddy from all the recent rain. There is a playground by the upper terminal, with plenty of equipment for older kids and some things for smaller kids too. 

Mt. Fløyen Viewpoint

While warming up with a hot chocolate from the café, we couldn’t miss the incredible views of Bergen from the platform, which is the main reason everyone makes their way up Mt. Fløyen.

Tip: If you have older kids plan extra time for the top for the zip line park and obstacle course! 

Sandviksfjellet Hike

While researching amazing hikes around Bergen, we came across the Sandviksfjellet hike. With the kids in the backpack carriers, we hopped on city bus number 4 towards the Sandviken part of town, where the Sandviksfjellet hike begins. To get to the trailhead, we navigated through some of the residential streets and pathways.

The trail starts off rather easy with a slight uphill, but it isn’t long until the path turns into steep stone stairs. The stairs continue virtually unbroken until you get to the top. Accounts vary, but the estimated number of steps is 722 and the elevation gain is ~985 feet (300 m).

Despite the grueling nature of the hike, it was a very beautiful hike. The forest it went through was so lush with massive old growth trees and waterfalls all along the path. 

Rain was just going to be a common theme for our time in Bergen. The entire walk up we heard rumbles of thunder, but the dark sky seemed pretty far off, so we kept going.

It started to sprinkle just as we got to the top. Luckily there was a weather shelter at the top, so we ducked in for a while to stay dry. A perfect time for a snack.

When it seemed the rain wouldn’t amount to much we started our hike, but it wasn’t long before we were getting back into our rain gear and making a beeline for Mt. Fløyen (which we had decided would be easier to hike down than the steep, narrow steps we had just climbed and anticipated would be very slippery in the rain). 

Even in the heavy rain, we were blown away by the scenery up top. There were a few lakes, lots of trees, long flowing grass and plenty of flowers.

By the time we got to the upper Fløyen Terminal (3.5 km away), we were exhausted and soaked through, so we decided to buy tickets down on the funicular to save another hour of walking in the rain. Thankfully, the kids faired pretty well in their rain suits in the backpack carriers with just some cold hands.

Feeling a little unsatisfied with our time up in this area, we returned to Sandviksfjellet on a different day, this time with the intent of letting the kids hike more themselves. Though still raining off and on, we managed to get in a much longer hike that didn’t involve running to the funicular with kids on our back.

This hiking trail map on AllTrails is very similar to the path we took on our first hike up Sandviksfjellet.

We have an entire post full of all our best tips for hiking with kids and this one with all the best hiking gear for kids.

Sandviksfjellet is an area that should not be missed. So many large trees covered with moss & lichens, lush grass, lakes, waterfalls, etc. We just loved our time up there. Our hike on this day took us to several lakes and past a towering waterfall which remained mostly cloaked by clouds.

Bergen Aquarium

After a few days of hiking, we wanted to find a really kid-friendly thing to do in Bergen. We walked the charming, quiet old town streets to the aquarium on the south west side of the main Bergen peninsula. The walk was a great one with the kids and we knew they would love the Bergen Aquarium.

The Bergen Aquarium itself was on the small side, but it packed in a lot despite its size. When we first got there, our daughter ran to a window where sea lions swam past over and over.

The sea lion was obviously having fun with her as it kept blowing bubbles past her window. We then looked at the penguins for a little bit before heading inside.

Expecting the aquarium to get busy, we first went downstairs to the shark tunnel to take advantage of us being there close to opening time. We had the tunnel to ourselves and got to enjoy it without being rushed or crowded.

The shark tunnel was smaller than we expected, but it was still very cool – a highlight of the visit. The rest of the level contained lots of small fish tanks. The kids had a lot of fun racing between them to see what was inside. This place was designed with kids in mind as every tank had a bench below where small kids could stand to get a look – very thoughtful. 

We then went upstairs for a snack by the touching pool. A staff member came over and started showing the kids a starfish, sea urchins and crabs for the kids to look at and touch. Then he gave each kid a small handful of raw shrimp and showed them how to feed the fish in the tank.

We were impressed how family friendly the Bergen Aquarium was. It was stroller accessible, with nursing rooms and microwave to heat up baby bottles and even had small little play areas for small kids.

Bergen Fish Market

Down by the waterfront, these covered stalls had all kinds of seafood on display. Many stalls had tables where you could sit down and eat your purchase right away. There were some that had king crabs and lobsters, which the kids loved. All in all, we found it to be a short visit of maybe 10- 1 5 minutes. 

Many of the stalls have whale steaks for sale – please do not buy any as this will encourage more killing of whales.

Fjord Tour to Mostraumen

We really wanted to go on a kid-friendly fjord tour from Bergen, so we were happy to find this 3-hour long fjord tour to Mostraumen.

Our fjord tour boat had two decks – the bottom one inside and an outdoor one up top. The weather was reasonably nice, so we grabbed some seats up top before they all filled up.

Once we left the Bergen harbor and got deeper into the fjord, it became more wild and less populated. The waterfront settlements were very picturesque, either farms or very small villages. We saw several large waterfalls and they even pulled up to one so they could get some water for everyone to try.

The kids had fun, but a 3-hour fjord tour was still a bit long for their attention span. As we neared the halfway point, we grabbed seats inside just before the ship turned around to beat the rush.

It was nice to have this option as the kids were happy to get warmed up. We simply took turns going back out onto the deck to enjoy the scenery.

The fjord tour boat was stroller friendly – some people even carried them to the top deck. They even had a change table in one of the restrooms. They have a little store where you can buy snack food & hot drinks. We brought our own lunch for the trip.

Botanical Gardens & Play Area

One afternoon we were looking for something nearby and low key. A walk through the Bergen botanical gardens seemed like the perfect idea. Though underwhelmed by the gardens (there were many areas under construction), we found a playground close by that the kids loved. 

Wander Bergen on Foot

Don’t forget to plan to explore Bergen on foot. From the large square in the center of the city with fountains to the beautiful architecture at every turn, you’ll find walking around Bergen is a very kid-friendly attraction in-of-itself. 

Follow Along on our Family Trip to Norway

We hope you enjoyed reading about our 7 days in Bergen with kids. If you’d like to continue along on our 25-day family trip to Norway, our next stop was an amazing road trip to the Atlantic Road – along the coastline north of Ålesund.

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