Norway
Few countries are as made for the train as Norway. Its railways were carved through some of Europe's most dramatic terrain — over high mountain plateaus, along deep fjords and past thundering waterfalls — to connect communities the roads could barely reach, and several of them were built at a cost the country could hardly afford at the time.
The result is a small network with an extraordinary hit rate. The Bergen Railway crosses the roof of the country on the highest main line in Northern Europe; the Flåm Railway branches off it and drops almost a kilometre to a fjord; the Rauma Railway folds itself into a double horseshoe to get down to the sea beneath Europe's tallest rock face; and the Nordland Line runs 729 kilometres north from Trondheim, over the Arctic Circle, to Bodø.
Rail journeys in Norway
The Bergen Railway
The highest main line in Northern Europe: seven hours Oslo to Bergen, a hundred kilometres of it above the tree line, past a station no road reaches.
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Flåm Railway
Twenty kilometres and an hour to do them in — down from the bare mountain at Myrdal through eighteen hand-dug tunnels to the head of the Aurlandsfjord.
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The Nordland Line
Norway's longest railway: ten hours and 729 kilometres to Bodø, over the Saltfjellet and across the Arctic Circle — and a memorial to those who built it.
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The Rauma Railway
Eighty minutes and 655 metres of descent to the sea, past a stone arch 59 metres above the river and under the tallest vertical rock face in Europe.
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What are Norway's best rail journeys?
Four stand out. The Bergen Railway crosses the Hardangervidda plateau between Oslo and Bergen — the highest main line in Northern Europe. The Flåm Railway branches off it at Myrdal and falls 864 metres to the Aurlandsfjord. The Rauma Railway drops from the Dovre mountains to the sea past the Kylling Bridge and the Troll Wall. And the Nordland Line, the country's longest, runs from Trondheim across the Arctic Circle to Bodø. The "Norway in a Nutshell" trip ties the first two together with a fjord cruise.
Is Norway easy to explore by train?
The network is not dense — there is no railway at all in the far north beyond Bodø, or along most of the western fjords — but what exists is spectacular and well run. Long-distance trains are operated by Vy in the south and west and by SJ Norge in the north, and they connect neatly with the buses and ferries that make fjord travel possible. Almost everything radiates from Oslo, so plan around it.
How do I book, and are Norwegian trains expensive?
Book through Vy, SJ Norge, or Entur, the national planner that sells tickets for every train in the country. Fares work like airline fares: cheap advance minipris tickets are released well ahead of each departure and the price climbs as they sell, so booking early makes an enormous difference. Reservations are included on long-distance trains, and the scenic services — above all the Flåm Railway — should be booked well in advance in summer.
When is the best time to travel by train in Norway?
May to September for green valleys, waterfalls in full spate and very long daylight — the midnight sun north of the Arctic Circle from early June. Winter is quieter and starkly beautiful under snow, but daylight is short, so take an early departure if the mountain scenery is the point. Snow lies on the Hardangervidda into June, and the summer tourist workings on the Rauma Railway only run from roughly June to August.