48 hours in Bergen

WHY GO NOW?

WHY GO NOW?

The summer shows this pretty Norwegian port at its best. Tonight, the sun will sink into one of Europe's most beautiful harbours at around midnight. In midsummer, Bergeners pack as much fun as they can into every hour of daylight. There's a host of concerts, festivals and entertainment ranging from rock to classical music laid on until the end of August. A cautionary note: Bergen's summer swings between two extremes: clear skies and temperatures in the mid-20s C, or chilly, incessant rain. Take sun cream and waterproofs.

BEAM DOWN

Braathens (0870 60 727 727, www.scandinavian.net) flies daily from London Gatwick to Bergen with return fares starting at £88. Two small airlines fly from Aberdeen for around £120: Wideroe, also part of SAS, and Coast Air, whose tickets are sold through British Airways (0845 77 333 77, www.ba.com). BA also flies, on Sundays only, from Kirkwall in Orkney. Bergen's airport is 12 miles south of town. The airport bus departs every 15 minutes on weekdays, every half-hour at weekends. The journey to Bergen takes 30 minutes and costs 60 Norwegian kroner (£5.70). The bus pauses at the bus station before heading for the Radisson SAS Hotel Norge on Ole Bulls plass and the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel on Bryggen . Fixed-rate taxis cost NKr220 (£21) to the city centre. You can also reach Bergen by ferry from Newcastle with Fjord Line (0191 296 1313, www.fjordline.com). For foot passengers, the 27-hour trip costs between £126 and £240 return, including a berth. Ferries dock at the Skoltegrunnskaier pier , 10 minutes' walk from the centre. However you decide to travel there, take your own duty-free drinks (up to one litre of spirits and one litre of wine) and smokes (200 cigarettes) if you prefer not to pay taxes of 300 per cent.

GET YOUR BEARINGS

Bergen is surrounded by sea, fjords and mountains. The city's main points of interest are based around the harbour. The north side of the quay is occupied by the remnants of old Bergen; the south side is more workaday, with modern office blocks and port utilities. In between is Torget , host to a vibrant fish market. The tourist office is in the grand Fresco Hall at Vagsallmenningen (daily 8.30am-10pm, 00 47 55 55 20 00, www.visitbergen.com). Here, you can buy the Bergen Card, which offers free transport and free or reduced entry to attractions. The card costs NKr165 (£15.70) for 24 hours or NKr245 (£23.30) for 48 hours. The Norwegian Tourist Board, Charles House, 5-11 Lower Regent Street, London SW1Y 4LR (020-7839 6255) can provide information and free maps in advance.

CHECK IN

During summer, many hotels with vacancies drop rates by up to 50 per cent two days beforehand; alternatively, others offer lower rates to holders of the ScanPlus discount card (price NKr90/£8.60). Some will even sell you the card at reception to allow you a cut-price stay. The Best Western Victoria Hotel at Kong Oscars gate 29 (00 47 55 21 23 00, www.victoriahotel.no) offers doubles at NKr1,490 (£142). This is a pleasant, family-run hotel with a snug bar. The Hotell Bryggen Orion at Bradbenken 3 (00 47 55 30 87 00, www.rainbow-hotels.no) has a great location by the water's edge. With the ScanPlus discount card the room rate is NKr740 (£70). More cheaply, the owners of the excellent Skansen Pensjonat at Vetrlidsallmenningen 29 (00 47 55 31 90 80, www.skansen-pensjonat.no) offer spick and span rooms. From NKr550 (£52) with shared showers and toilets. To reach it, follow a couple of loops in the road above the base station for the funicular.

TAKE A HIKE

Start north-east of the harbour at the old fortress or Bergenhus with its remains of fortifications and a park. Close by stands the Maria Kirken on Dreggen, an attractive Romanesque church; it opens Monday to Friday 11am-4pm. From here, dive into the cobbled streets of Bryggen , the picturesque Unesco-listed area of reconstructed medieval merchants houses. The cobbled lanes are full of interest and small museums, the pick of which is the Hanseatic Museum on the corner of Bryggen and Torget (daily 9am-5pm, NKr40/£3.80), that records day-to-day merchant life. The Torget fish market also hosts a number of stalls selling flowers, fruit, vegetables, handicrafts and souvenirs (daily in summer from 7am to 5pm). Continue through the pedestrian street and shopping arcades of Torgallmenningen to reach Ole Bulls plass , named after Norway's greatest violinist. The statue here suggests a 19th-century Nigel Kennedy but Bulls was both a heart-throb and a national hero. From here, turn west to the bizarre saucer-eyed statue of Henrik Ibsen in front of the municipal theatre .

TAKE A VIEW

The Floibanen funicular whisks you up 320m Mount Floyen in just five minutes from the base station . On a fine day a city as neat as Legoland is laid out beneath you, with a lattice of islets pushing out to the horizon. There is a restaurant and a network of walks in surrounding woodlands, along with a couple of utterly charming lakes. The official schedule for the funicular is a half-hourly service, but at peak times it runs more or less continuously. A return costs NKr50 (£4.80), with the last departure downhill at midnight.

LUNCH ON THE RUN

Buy a salmon or prawn roll for NKr15 (£1.40) from the Torget fish market and pop across the road to Sol Brod , a friendly bakery at the bottom of Vetrlidsallmenningen where NKr12 (£1.15) buys the local speciality known as the shilling bun, a huge pastry spiced with cinnamon.

TAKE A RIDE

Take a cruise on the White Lady, a boat offering harbour tours from Torget pier daily at 2.30pm for NKr100 (£9.50). The trip offers classic photo opportunities of Bryggen and the mountains, and other points of interest such as an old German submarine base.

AN APERITIF

Buy a glass of Hansa beer for NKr45 (£4.30) and take a table overlooking the bay at the wonderful Cafe Kippers , at Georgernes Verft 12, part of an art complex built on the site of a former sardine factory.

DINNER WITH THE LOCALS

For fish, visit the oddly named Enhjorningen, or Unicorn, at Bryggen 29 , which opens 4-11pm daily in summer; reservations are recommended, on 00 47 55 32 79 19. Start with raw angler fish marinated with pesto, and continue with panfried catfish with bacon and mushroom sauce. A three-course meal for two will cost around £75. Bergen's rich elite dines at Soho , at Hakonsgaten 27 (reservations recommended, 00 47 55 90 19 60, open Monday to Saturday 5pm-1am). This suave establishment has low lighting and a dark red and black colour scheme. Main courses (around £18) include ox fillets with pancetta. An excellent and modestly priced choice is Pars at Sigurds gate 5, (00 47 55 56 37 22, open Tuesday to Saturday 4-11pm/midnight, Sunday 3-10pm), an Iranian restaurant set up two years ago by a Tehrani family. Vegetarian dishes such as spinach hot pot cost £9-£11.

SUNDAY MORNING: GO TO CHURCH

Bergen's Cathedral , known as St Olav's Church, stands on Kong Oscars gate. It is a mainly Gothic affair, dating back in parts to the 12th century. It opens 11am-5pm from Monday to Saturday, 9am-1pm on Sundays. In the churchyard lies Dorothea Engelbrektsdatter, Norway's first celebrated female poet.

WINDOW SHOPPING

On Sunday mornings the fish stalls at Torget give way to souvenir sellers offering pine cheeseboards and cheesecutters for NKr135 (£13) and reindeer skin carpets at NKr400 (£38). Tasteful jewellery, some based on designs of rock art in northern Norway, can be bought at Galleri Bryggen , at Bryggen 27.

OUT TO BRUNCH

Vagen, at Kong Oscars gate 10 , is an attractive wooden café-bar with a long through-lounge, comfy chairs and shelves full of books. A huge bowl of excellent cafe latte costs NKr29 (£2.80); generously large baguettes are on sale for NKr45 (£4.30).

A WALK IN THE PARK

Head for Nordnesparken on the southern arm of the centre of Bergen for views over the bay. To reach it, walk through the fetchingly restored streets of Skottegaten and Nedre Stangehagen , full of timber houses. In the park, pop into the Bergen aquarium (daily 9am-7pm, NKr80/£7.60) at Nordnesbakken 4 which has a collection of penguins, seals and local fish.

WRITE A POSTCARD

Take a rest on a bench and people-watch at Lille Lungegardsvann , Bergen's man-made lake, an octagon that frames a graceful fountain whose backdrop is Mount Floyen.

CULTURAL AFTERNOON

The Bergen Kunstmuseum-Rasmus Meyers Samlinger (daily 11am-5pm, NKr50/£4.80) is part of Bergen's Art Museum complex overlooking Lille Lungegardsvann . It has a small but excellent collection of Edvard Munch paintings. And make time for the little-visited Leprosy Museum at Kong Oscars gate 59 (daily 11am-3pm, NKr30/£2.90). Built around a courtyard, it records in fascinating and moving detail local efforts to care for sufferers.

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