What is the Bergen self-guided walking tour?
The Bergen self-guided walking tour is a walk through the city with a storyteller in your pocket: the World City Trail app plots the route, and at each stop its audio narration explains what you are looking at. Allow about 2 hours overall, of which 37 minutes are spent walking 2.7 km between 10 stops. It stays close to Vågen, the old harbour, from the theatre to the fortress.
At Den Nationale Scene you hear how the violinist Ole Bull founded the theatre in 1850 and Henrik Ibsen worked there. A cannonball from the 1665 Battle of Vågen is still lodged in the wall of Bergen Cathedral. The Shetlands-Larsen Statue honours a skipper who made 52 wartime trips with the Shetland Bus, and Mariakirken's Baroque pulpit was a gift from Hanseatic merchants in 1676.
- Durationabout 2 hours
- Walkingabout 37 min · 2.7 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
Along the route
Narration at every stop
Each stop has a chapter of its own, with history, local legends and a few facts that surprise even residents, read aloud or shown as text.
Directions on screen
Google Maps links the stops one after another: 2.7 km and roughly 37 minutes of walking in total.
Your own timetable
No meeting point, no departure time, no group to keep up with. Leave the route for a coffee or a museum and return to it whenever you are ready.
Local tips included
Suggestions for cafés, restaurants and shops near the stops come with the walk, and the app lets you change where you start and the order you go in.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of people. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Walk when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who will enjoy this walk
New to Bergen
In a few hours the main sights of the centre fall into place, each with its story attached.
Not a fan of tour groups
Nobody to follow and nobody to wait for: you linger where you are interested and move on where you are not.
Short on time
About 2 hours covers the centre and leaves the rest of the day free.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Groups of up to 5 work best; larger groups split up, one ticket per person.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
From the theatre to the fortress
10 stops · about 37 min walking · start: Den Nationale Scene · finish: Bergenhus Fortress
The walk begins at Den Nationale Scene and crosses Torgallmenningen to the Sailors' Monument, then visits Bergen Cathedral and the Torget Fish Market at the far end of Vågen. From the Shetlands-Larsen Statue by the water you follow the harbour along Bryggen to Bryggens Museum and St Mary's Church (Mariakirken). The Rosenkrantz Tower comes next, and Bergenhus Fortress closes the route. The order can be changed in the app, and none of the stops charges admission.
Open the route map ↗
1Den Nationale SceneStart
Bergen's theatre opened in 1850 as Det Norske Theater, on the initiative of the violinist Ole Bull, and Henrik Ibsen worked here as a writer and artistic director in the 1850s. The current building, by the architect Einar Oscar Schou, was completed in 1909.
2Sailors' Monument
The Sailors' Monument by the sculptor Dyre Vaa stands on Torgallmenningen, Bergen's central square. It is a memorial that honours seafarers.
Read the full story →
3Bergen Cathedral
Bergen Cathedral is dedicated to Saint Olaf and first appears in a source in 1181. It has been the diocese's cathedral since 1537, and a cannonball from the Battle of Vågen in 1665, fought between English and Dutch fleets in the harbour, is still lodged in its outer wall.
4Torget Fish Market
Torget is the square at the far end of Vågen, Bergen's old harbour, and is recorded as early as 1278. Fishermen once sold their catch straight from the boats, and the Mathallen food hall, opened in 2012, now houses an indoor fish market.
5Shetlands-Larsen Statue
This statue by the water near Bryggen was erected in 1995 and honours Leif Larsen (1906–1990), a Bergen-born skipper known as Shetlands-Larsen. During the Second World War he made 52 trips to Norway with the Shetland Bus, the fishing boats that secretly carried agents, weapons and supplies.
Read the full story →
6Bryggen
This row of wooden merchant houses on the harbour was the seat of the Hanseatic Kontor in Bergen until 1754, a trading base that had existed since about 1350. About a quarter of its buildings date from after the fire of 1702, and Bryggen has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979.
Read the full story →
7Bryggens Museum
Bryggens Museum opened in 1976 on land cleared by a fire in 1955. A thirteen-year archaeological excavation that followed uncovered the Bryggen inscriptions, runic writings from everyday life.
8St Mary's Church (Mariakirken)
Mariakirken dates from the early 12th century and is described as Bergen's oldest building. Hanseatic merchants donated its Baroque pulpit, which was given in 1676.
Read the full story →
9Rosenkrantz Tower
The oldest part of the tower is a medieval structure from the 1270s, built during the reign of King Magnus the Lawmender as part of the royal castle. In the 1560s Erik Rosenkrantz, governor of Bergenhus, had Scottish stonemasons and architects expand it into the form you see today.
Read the full story →
10Bergenhus FortressFinish
Bergenhus Fortress occupies the site of Bergen's royal castle. Its hall, Håkonshallen, was built during the reign of King Håkon Håkonsson in the mid-13th century, and it hosted the wedding celebrations of his son Magnus in 1261.
Read the full story →
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