What to Wear on a Bergen Fjord Cruise

Why the operator asks for nothing

Most excursions in this part of the world hand you a list. This one does not, and the reason is the vessel. A heated cabin with panoramic windows and seating for everyone means there is no scenario in which the wrong jacket ruins your afternoon, because you can simply be inside.

So everything below is about getting more out of the trip rather than surviving it. The difference between a passenger who packed a waterproof and one who did not is how much of the three and a half hours they spend on the sun deck, which is where the waterfall and the best photographs are.

The waterproof

The one thing genuinely worth having. Bergen records rain in every month of the year, and the sun deck is open. More to the point, the close approach to the waterfall throws spray onto the foredeck, so even on a dry day the best spot on the boat is a wet one.

A light shell is enough. Nothing about this trip requires serious mountain gear; it requires the ability to stand outside for twenty minutes without becoming miserable, and then to take the wet thing off and sit down inside. A hood is more useful than an umbrella, which will not survive the deck.

Warmth, and why the fjord is cooler

Air sitting over cold fjord water is cooler than the same air over a city, and a boat moving up the fjord adds wind chill to it. The result is that the sun deck in July feels considerably less like twenty degrees than the quay you left did.

So bring a layer regardless of season. In summer that means a jumper or fleece you can take off; in winter it means the coat you would wear anywhere in Norway in January. The cabin is warm enough that you will be shedding things the moment you go in, which is the pattern to plan for rather than fight.

Footwear

Grip rather than warmth. There is a set of stairs between the cabin and the sun deck, both get wet, and you will use them repeatedly across three and a half hours. A sole that holds on a wet metal step is the entire requirement.

Trainers or walking shoes are ideal and nothing specialist is needed. What is genuinely unwise is anything smooth-soled or heeled, for the same reason it would be unwise on any boat. You are not going ashore, so waterproof boots buy you nothing beyond dry feet on the deck.

For the camera

The best position for the waterfall is also the wettest, which is the trade to plan for. Something to shield a lens or a phone for the last thirty seconds of the approach is worth more than any particular equipment: a jacket flap, a bag, a hand.

Beyond that, this is a landscape that photographs itself. The still layered water produces mirror reflections that need no skill at all, and the cabin windows are large and clean enough to shoot through when the weather is against you. A phone is entirely sufficient for what this fjord offers.

Binoculars and optics

If you own binoculars, bring them. The operator asks passengers to watch for sea eagles, and the difference between the naked eye and a pair of binoculars on a shoreline half a kilometre away is the difference between a dark shape and a bird you can identify.

They also change the farms and boathouses along the shore from scenery into detail: the turf roofs, the boats pulled up, the tracks running down to the water. On a route where the shoreline is much of the interest, it is the single most useful thing you can carry.

What not to bother with

Food. There is a kiosk on board baking fresh, and three and a half hours does not require provisioning. Bring a card rather than a packed lunch, since food and drink are the one thing not included in the fare.

Also leave the large bag. The cabin has seating and tables and there is nowhere useful to stow luggage, and you will be moving up and down stairs between two decks all afternoon. Pockets, a small bag and a jacket is the right scale for this trip.

One thing that is worth carrying and weighs nothing: a dry bag or even a supermarket carrier for the wet jacket. On a trip where the pattern is outside, inside, outside again, you end up with a soaked shell that has to go somewhere while you sit at a table with a coffee. Draping it over a chair works until the next person wants the chair. It is a small thing and it is the difference between moving freely between the two decks and quietly deciding to stay put. Fold it away and the boat stays as usable as it was designed to be.

Before you book