West Norwegian Fjords – Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord

Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord: Norway’s Two Best Fjords, and Why They Are Different

Both are UNESCO World Heritage-listed. Both are spectacular. They are different enough in character that visiting both is worth the extra travel – and they have been named together in the same UNESCO designation since 2005, which means the World Heritage Committee had to choose the two that most clearly represent the outstanding value of Norwegian fjord landscape. That is not a bad shortlist to work from.

Geirangerfjord

Geirangerfjord runs about 15 kilometres inland from the coastal mountains, with cliffs rising up to 1,400 metres on each side. The waterfalls are the defining feature: the Seven Sisters cascade in seven parallel streams down the south wall, the Suitor falls opposite (the name implies a courtship), and the Bridal Veil descends partially hidden behind a rock face. From a ferry or cruise ship, you see all three on a single passage through waters that are genuinely deep blue. On busy summer days the fjord can feel busy with cruise ship traffic, but this also means excellent ferry infrastructure and easy access.

The village of Geiranger at the inner end has around 200 permanent residents and several hotels and restaurants that exist to serve the summer visitor flow. The Geirangerfjord Centre has a well-done exhibition on the fjord’s ecology and the history of the remote clifftop farms that somehow sustained families for generations. Flydalsjuvet, the classic viewpoint on the road above the village, is a jutting rock platform with the fjord below and cruise ships looking miniature against the walls. The road up to Dalsnibba at 1,476 metres, one of Norway’s highest accessible drive points, extends the view on a clear day across multiple glacier tongues and the Snøhetta massif.

Kayaking the fjord is the best close-up perspective of the waterfalls. Several operators in Geiranger rent kayaks and run guided tours. Go out in the evening when the light is low and most of the day-tripper traffic has cleared.

Nærøyfjord

Nærøyfjord is narrower – 250 metres at its tightest point – and feels more enclosed and deliberate than Geirangerfjord. The cliffs press in from both sides, small farms on impossibly narrow ledges above the water level are barely visible without binoculars, and the sense of geological compression is stronger than anywhere else in the fjord landscape. Flåm at the eastern end is the main village and the terminus of the Flåmsbana railway.

The Flåmsbana is 20 kilometres of narrow-gauge railway climbing from sea level to 867 metres at Myrdal station, with gradients of up to 5.5 percent and a ceremonial stop at the Kjosfossen waterfall. The engineering required to build it between 1923 and 1940 – entirely by manual labour – is considerable. It connects at Myrdal to the Bergen Railway, making Oslo-Bergen with a Flåm detour a logical route.

Undredal, reachable by car on a very narrow road or by kayak from Flåm, is a village of around 80 people producing small-batch brunost (brown goat cheese). The stave church there dates from the 12th century and is the smallest in Norway, holding about 40 people. The cheese is sold at a farm shop and is worth buying. The stave church is worth seeing for anyone who does not think small 12th-century wooden churches require explanation.

Getting Between the Two

The two fjords are not adjacent but can reasonably be combined in a 3 to 4 day trip using ferries, buses on the Norway in a Nutshell route, or a rental car. Bergen (2.5 hours by car from Flåm) makes a good base at either end. Ålesund, 2 hours from Geiranger, is the northern entry point with a small international airport and one of the finest examples of Art Nouveau architecture in northern Europe, built wholesale after a fire destroyed the town in 1904.

Peak season is June through August. May and September are less crowded, cheaper, and the September light in the late afternoon is among the best the fjords produce. Rain is possible in any season; a waterproof shell is not optional and the fjord experience in light rain is still excellent.