Bergen

Bergen - A World Heritage City!
Bergen is the Gateway to the Fjords of Norway. As a UNESCO World Heritage City and a European City of Culture, the Bergen region has the ideal combination of nature, culture and exciting urban life all year around.

Bryggen i Bergen/The wharf in Bergen
(Photo credit: Bergen Reiselivslag / Lars Korvald - visitBergen.com)

A World Heritage City
Bergen is today Norway’s most international city, packed with history and tradition. Ever since King Olav Kyrre sailed into the charming harbor and founded the city in the year of 1070, Bergen has attracted people from all over the world. Bergen became an important European city of trade in the 13th century, as the Hansas opened one of their four offices on the wharf, making Bergen a European hub of commerce, seafaring and craftsmanship. Today Bryggen is a reminder of the city’s importance as a part of the Hanseatic League and has a place on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. A stroll through the back streets of Bryggen brings you back to the Middle Ages, as a lot of the architecture is preserved or rebuilt as it was built. Several museums, like the Hanseatic Museum, Bryggens Museum and the Theta Museum provides a deeper sense of the history of Bryggen, what is has meant for the people of Bergen and Norway as a nation.

Bryggen om kvelden /The wharf at night
(Photo credit:  Bergen Reiselivslag / Girish Chouhan - visitBergen.com)

A European City of Culture
Bergen is a proud European City of Culture, and the city has had a strong cultural identity ever since the merchants brought life to the harbor around Bryggen at the 1300s. Today Bergen is a cultural melting pot, with a wide range of concerts, international festivals and museums of all kinds. Culture plays an important role of everyday life in Bergen – an important expression of Bergen’s variety of life.

Bergen has fostered several world-famous artists who have achieved worldwide fame, such as the composer Edvard Grieg and violinist Ole Bull. Grieg’s home at Troldhaugen and Ole Bulls summer paradise at Lysøen are both popular attractions today, where you can experience their homes preserved just as they were built, and concerts in the scenery that once inspired the two world famous composers.

The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s oldest symphony orchestras, and the city has the country’s first national theatre. The comic writer Ludvig Holberg, and Norway’s first major landscape painter Johan Christian Dahl, are also world-renowned artists who have influenced the cultural history of Bergen. The city has carried its proud cultural heritage throughout history and has become a city of great cultural venues.

You can find a whole range of museums and institutions in and around the center of Bergen with exhibitions and performances throughout the year. Bergen is today known for its wide range of music, boasting innovative and trendy music and design scenes with a large variety of festivals. It has one of Norway’s best choirs, jazz musicians and operatic singers.

Bergen has in recent years become known as an international culinary city, and in 2016 Bergen earned the UNESCO title City of Gastronomy.

Getting to Bergen

The Gateway to the Fjords of Norway
With its ideal location right in the heart of the Fjord Norway region, between the Hardangerfjord and the Sognefjord, it is the perfect starting point for day trips to one of the world’s biggest scenic attractions – the fjords. From Bergen, you are close to spectacular fjord experiences. You can take a fjord cruise, go mountain and glacier hiking in the majestic mountain landscape, bike along scenic fjords, experience the thrill of white water rafting, or go sea kayaking along the picturesque coast.

Aurlandsfjorden /Aurlands fjord
(Photo credit: Bergen Reiselivslag / Robin Strand – visitBergen.com)

The Norwegian fjords were formed through several ice ages, leaving a beautiful landscape of snow-clad mountains, blue glaciers, deep gorges, cascading waterfalls and fertile pastures strung like green pearls along the fjord walls. This extraordinary landscape is today inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, and professional activity organizers are ready to take you into the fjord region all year around – as close to the nature as you can get!


Radisson BLU Royal Hotel

The Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Bergen is nestled next to Bryggen, the city’s historic wharf area – one of Norway’s most popular attractions and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Bryggen is testament to Bergen’s important role as a port during the days of the Hanseatic League’s trade empire. The hotel sits next to a charming row of traditional, colorful wooden buildings lining the old pier, with beautiful views over the marina. At the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, you’ll enjoy excellent amenities, our ‘yes I can’ attitude and the perfect Bergen city center location, right in the heart of this UNESCO World Heritage site.

View from Radisson BLU Royal Hotel
(Photo credit: Radisson BLU Royal Hotel)

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