One hundred and eighty kilometres of fjord, orchards on every south-facing slope, and waterfalls that come straight off the plateau into the water. The fast boats here are small: a dozen people in survival suits, an hour or two on the water, and side arms narrow enough to touch both walls with your eyes. Seven trips on this page, from $81, rated 4.9 on average.
From, per person
7 trips compared$81
And a private yacht day from Bergen is $3474
Average rating
Across all 7 trips4.9 ★
Across 1,399 verified reviews
The fjord
Second longest in Norway180 km
With orchards on the slopes and waterfalls off the plateau
Everything you can book here
Seven trips, cheapest first, with the column that decides it: which part of the fjord you actually get. A one-hour RIB from Eidfjord and a ten-hour private day from Bergen are both on this page, and they are not the same holiday.
★ 4.8 · 258 reviews
★ 5.0 · 40 reviews
★ 4.9 · 136 reviews
★ 4.8 · 56 reviews
★ 4.9 · 896 reviews
★ 5.0 · 9 reviews
★ 5.0 · 4 reviews
Two questions
Seven trips, and the first question is where you are staying. Four short RIB safaris leave from villages along the fjord itself; three long days leave from Bergen. After that it is only a question of how much water you want to cover.
See it before you pay for it
Three things: a fjord wall going straight up out of the water, waterfalls falling into it from the plateau above, and — in the narrow side arms — water so still it doubles the mountains.
Side by side
The trips here split three ways: a short fast RIB from a fjord village, a full day out of Bergen with a glacier or waterfalls in it, and a private boat for a group who want the fjord to themselves.
Swipe the table sideways →
| MOST BOOKEDNorheimsund: All-Year Hardangerfjord & Fyksesund RIB Safari | Bergen: Folgefonna National Park & Glacier Lake Tour & Lunch | Bergen Private Full-Day Waterfall tour to Hardanger & cruise | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price per person | $94 | $207 | $954 |
| Time on the water | 75 minutes | 10.5 hours | 10 hours |
| Cost per hour | $75.20 | $19.71 | $95.40 |
| Boat | Rigid inflatable | Coach and guided walk | Private car and guide |
| Indoor space | None — open boat | Coach between stops | Private vehicle |
| Departs from | Norheimsund | Bergen | Bergen |
| What you see | The narrow arm, up close | A glacier and a turquoise lake | The fjord road, privately |
| Suit provided | Flotation suit | Not needed | Not needed |
| Rating | 4.9 · 136 | 4.9 · 896 | 5.0 · 9 |
| Best for | The fjord itself | A glacier and a lake | Your own schedule |
| Book this one→ | Check dates | Check dates |
Free cancellation up to 24 h · Reserve now, pay later
Verdict
Seventy-five minutes from Norheimsund into a side arm a few hundred metres wide, with a waterfall on the way and walls going straight up out of the water. Rated 4.9, and the only trip here that runs every month of the year. The reason to book something else is time rather than quality: if you are coming from Bergen for the day, the glacier trip does more with the hours.
Check dates and availability→Before you book
The average rating across these seven trips is 4.9, which is the highest of any destination we track. It is also built on small numbers: one listing carries 896 ratings and three carry fewer than sixty each. Small operators in small villages get excellent scores because they run small boats with one skipper — and a 5.0 from forty people is a promising sign rather than a proven record.
Two-minute check
Seven trips, four villages and two full days out of Bergen. Three answers narrow it to one: where you are staying, how long you have, and whether you want a fast small boat or a day with a glacier in it.
Where are you starting from?This decides more than the price does
What are you willing to spend?Per person
How long do you want to be out?An hour on the water is a real trip here
You'll get the sailing that fits your answers, the thing about it that catches people out, and an honest word about how much evidence its rating rests on.
Six ways into the fjord
Ratings are the operators’ own numbers on GetYourGuide, shown as published. We do not write reviews and we do not average other people’s into a score of our own. The average here is 4.9, which is the highest of any destination we track — and three of these listings carry fewer than sixty ratings each.
★★★★★
Based on 1,399
verified reviews
All seven trips on this page, rated by the people who took them on GetYourGuide.
Read all 1,399→Norheimsund: All-Year Hardangerfjord & Fyksesund RIB Safari
From $94 · 136 reviews
★★★★★
Seventy-five minutes from Norheimsund into Fyksesund, an arm only a few hundred metres wide with walls going straight up. Rated 4.9, and the only trip here that runs every month of the year.
Eidfjord: 1-Hour Fjord RIB Tour
From $81 · 258 reviews
★★★★★
An hour from Eidfjord, where the fjord narrows and the waterfalls come off the plateau in quantity. The cheapest trip on this page and the most-rated RIB safari here.
Bergen: Folgefonna National Park & Glacier Lake Tour & Lunch
From $207 · 896 reviews
★★★★★
A full day out of Bergen to Folgefonna and the turquoise lake at Bondhus, with transport and a guided walk. 896 reviews at 4.9 — the largest evidence base on this page.
Blossom season on the fjord
Late April to mid-May · free to look at
★★★★★
For about three weeks in spring the orchards along the fjord flower at once, and the slopes go white and pink above green water. Every boat trip on this page is better in those weeks, and the roads are lined with fruit stands.
The waterfalls
Steinsdalsfossen and Vøringsfossen · on the route
★★★★★
Steinsdalsfossen at Norheimsund has a path behind the water; Vøringsfossen at Eidfjord drops about 182 metres off the plateau. The RIB trips take you under smaller falls that have no name and no road.
Bergen Private Full-Day Waterfall tour to Hardanger & cruise
From $954 · private
★★★★★
A private car, a private guide and ten hours from Bergen: waterfalls, orchards and the fjord road at whatever pace you want. Expensive per person unless there are four of you.
What it really costs
From $81 for an hour on a RIB out of Eidfjord to $954 for a private full day from Bergen. The short RIB trips — which is what most visitors want — sit between $81 and $137.
Swipe sideways →
| What you are paying for | Price | What you get | Cancellation |
|---|---|---|---|
| A RIB trip from a fjord village, 1–2 hours | $81–$137 | Suits provided, waterfalls, narrow side arms | Free cancellation 24 h |
| A full day from Bergen with a glacier | $207 | Folgefonna, Bondhus lake, transport included | Free cancellation 24 h |
| A private boat or yacht from Bergen | $954–$3,474 | Your own vessel, your own schedule, up to 10 hours | Free cancellation 24 h |
The honest answer
Yes, and for a reason that surprises people: the short trips are the good ones. An hour in a small fast boat gets you under a waterfall and into a side arm no cruise ship can enter, and it costs less than lunch for two in Bergen.
The trip, minute by minute
The offices are on the waterfront in villages of one or two thousand people. Suits, life jackets and goggles are handed out here, and they go over your own clothes.
Slow through the moorings, then the throttle opens and the village disappears behind you in about ninety seconds.
The mountains here go straight up out of the water — a thousand metres in places — and the boat runs close enough to the rock to see the ferns on it.
Almost every trip here puts the boat under one. The engine drops, the bow swings in, and you are in the spray. This is what you are here for.
Fyksesund on the Norheimsund trips, Osafjorden on the Ulvik one, Simadalen out of Eidfjord. The water goes still and the walls close in.
Most skippers stop somewhere quiet, kill the engine and let the fjord be silent for a minute. Nobody talks during this.
An hour to two hours after you left, with wet hair and a camera roll. The village café is fifty metres away.
The one decision that matters
Everything else here is a preference. This is the thing that decides your day. Hardangerfjord is a hundred and eighty kilometres long and it starts two hours from Bergen: Norheimsund at two, Øystese ten minutes further, Ulvik at about two and a half, Eidfjord at three and a half. A day tour from the city is a real thing and it spends five or six hours on the road. A night in one of the fjord villages turns the same trip into a morning on the water and an afternoon among orchards and waterfalls, at half the travelling. If you have one night to spare anywhere in western Norway, spend it here rather than in Bergen.
Four parts of Hardanger
The boats go under them on purpose. Bring something waterproof for the camera.
A side arm a few hundred metres wide, with a bridge across its mouth.
Hardanger is Norway’s fruit country: apples, pears, cherries and cider.
The third largest glacier on the Norwegian mainland, above the fjord’s south side.
Start here
Hardangerfjord is about a hundred and eighty kilometres long, which makes it the second longest fjord in Norway and the fourth longest in the world. What that means in practice is that there is no single place called Hardangerfjord: there are a dozen villages strung along it, each with its own arm of water, and the boat you book depends entirely on which one you are standing in.
The trips are small. A rigid inflatable carrying a dozen people in survival suits does things a cruise ship cannot: it goes under waterfalls, into arms two hundred metres wide, and close enough to the rock that you can see the ferns growing out of it. An hour on one of these boats covers more of the fjord than a day on the road does.
The other half of Hardanger is agricultural, and it is the reason this fjord looks different from the others. The south-facing slopes are orchards — apples, pears, plums and cherries, on ground that gets sun off the water and shelter from the mountains. For about three weeks between late April and mid-May the whole fjord flowers at once, and in autumn the same slopes are pressing cider.
The waterfalls are the third thing. Water comes off the Hardangervidda plateau — the largest mountain plateau in Europe — and falls straight into the fjord. Vøringsfossen at Eidfjord drops about 182 metres. Steinsdalsfossen at Norheimsund has a path behind the water. And the RIB trips take you under smaller ones that have no name, no road and no viewing platform.
Above the south side sits Folgefonna, the third largest glacier on the Norwegian mainland, and beneath it Bondhus lake, which is the colour of antifreeze because of the rock flour suspended in it. A full day from Bergen gets you there and back with a guided walk in the middle.
One practical thing that catches people out: Hardanger is not a Bergen day trip in the way the brochures suggest. Norheimsund is about two hours from the city by road, Eidfjord three and a half. The full-day tours from Bergen are real and they spend a lot of the day driving. If you can, stay a night on the fjord and take a boat in the morning.
And the last thing, which nobody puts in a listing: you will get wet. The suits keep you warm and mostly dry, the spray gets in anyway, and going under a waterfall is not a metaphor here. Put the phone in a bag.
If an hour is not enough
The RIB trips are an hour or two. These three are days: the longest safari on the fjord, a glacier and a turquoise lake out of Bergen, and a private boat with your own schedule.
Practical
Five things decide how it goes: which village you start from, the month, what you wear under the suit, whether you are combining it with the road, and how much of the fjord you actually want.
The top pick: into Fyksesund, and the only trip that runs every month of the year.
The cheapest here, at the inner end of the fjord where the waterfalls are thickest.
The same Fyksesund arm from the other side, rated 5.0 on a small number of reviews.
The longest RIB trip, from a village at the head of its own arm.
Folgefonna glacier and Bondhus lake, with transport and a guided walk.
Ten hours, your own schedule, and a price that only makes sense split four ways.
Second in Norway, fourth in the world. There is no one place called Hardangerfjord.
A side arm a few hundred metres wide with a bridge across its mouth, near Norheimsund.
The long southern arm towards Odda, with orchards on both sides.
The inner end, under the Hardangervidda plateau and the Vøringsfossen waterfall.
A quiet arm of its own, and the greenest village on the fjord.
The glacier above the south side, and Bondhus lake beneath it.
Full flotation suits over your own clothes on every RIB trip here.
The boats go under waterfalls deliberately. Waterproof bag for the phone.
Norheimsund by road. Eidfjord is three and a half. Plan accordingly.
Spray and glare off the water, in every month.
Two thousand people, one café, one supermarket. Do not expect a resort.
Wind builds through the day, and the fjord is glassiest early.
Standard on all seven trips on this page.
The Norheimsund trip. The others are seasonal, mostly May to September.
Late April to mid-May is when Norwegians come too.
One listing has 896 ratings; three have fewer than sixty.
A private boat at $954 makes sense for four people, not for two.
Chapman-style fjord roads and orchards make the drive part of the day.
Best time
The fjord is worth seeing in every month and it is a completely different place in each. What the season really decides is the water in the waterfalls and whether the orchards are in flower.
May – Jun
The best window by a distance. Orchards in flower from late April into mid-May, snowmelt filling every waterfall, long light, and the fjord green rather than grey. Book ahead: this is when Norwegians come too.
Jul – Aug
Warmest, busiest and the most reliable weather. Waterfalls are past their peak but still strong, and everything runs at full frequency.
Sep – Oct
Orchards heavy with fruit, birch turning, cider pressing along the fjord, and quiet boats. Rain is likelier and the light is beautiful.
Nov – Apr
One operator runs all year and the fjord in winter is stark and empty. Fewer departures, shorter days, and a landscape most visitors never see.
Worth knowing
You will get wet, and that is the point. These boats go under waterfalls deliberately. The suit keeps you warm; your phone needs a bag and your camera needs a cloth.
Hardanger is not a short trip from Bergen. Norheimsund is about two hours by road and Eidfjord three and a half. The day tours from the city are real and most of the day is driving. Staying a night on the fjord changes the whole trip.
Only one of these trips runs all year. The Norheimsund RIB. If you are here between November and March, check dates before you plan anything around a boat.
Blossom is three weeks, not a season. Late April to mid-May, and it moves with the weather. If that is why you are coming, watch the local orchard reports rather than a guidebook.
The small villages are genuinely small. Norheimsund has around two thousand people. There is a café, a supermarket and a boat. That is the charm and it is also the reality.
Book the morning in summer. Wind builds through the day on this fjord as it does everywhere, and the water is at its stillest before noon — which is when the reflections in the side arms are worth the trip on their own.
Round out the trip
Go deeper
Common questions
From $81 for an hour on a RIB out of Eidfjord. The most-booked trip, seventy-five minutes from Norheimsund into Fyksesund, is $94, and a full day from Bergen with the Folgefonna glacier is $207.
About 180 kilometres, which makes it the second longest fjord in Norway after Sognefjord and the fourth longest in the world.
Yes, and the full-day tours on this page do exactly that — but Norheimsund is two hours from Bergen by road and Eidfjord three and a half, so a lot of the day is driving. Staying a night on the fjord changes the trip completely.
Yes. Most RIB trips here put the bow under a fall on purpose. Survival suits are provided and you will still get wet.
Roughly late April to mid-May, and it moves with the weather. For about three weeks the orchards on the fjord slopes flower at once.
One does — the Norheimsund RIB runs all year. The others are seasonal, mostly from spring to early autumn.
Warm layers under the suit, a hat that will not blow off, gloves and closed shoes. The suits are windproof and cover neither your head nor your hands.
It is greener, closer to Bergen than Geiranger and far less crowded than either. Hardanger is the fjord with orchards; the others are the fjords with cruise ships.
Free · no account needed
One PDF: all seven trips by village, length and price, the driving times from Bergen, and the blossom and waterfall calendar.
The plan is on its way. If it isn't there in a minute, look in Promotions.
Why trust this page
Durations, prices and ratings are read off the live listings rather than copied from other affiliate pages. The lengths, the waterfall heights and the blossom dates come from the published record.
Half the disappointment in Hardanger comes from people expecting a short hop from Bergen. We put the road times on the page because they decide the day.
Three of these listings have fewer than sixty reviews. Excellent scores on small samples are worth knowing about rather than sorting to the top.
Seven trips, ordered by price, ranked on what they reach and how much evidence stands behind the rating. We earn a commission when you book and it does not change what we recommend.
The answer
If you are getting on one boat here, make it the seventy-five-minute safari from Norheimsund for $94. It goes into a side arm a few hundred metres wide with walls straight up out of the water, it puts the bow under a waterfall on the way, and it is the only trip on this page that runs in every month of the year. If you are coming from Bergen with a whole day, the Folgefonna glacier trip at $207 is the one with 896 reviews behind it.
Check dates and availability→ Free cancellation up to 24 hours · Reserve now, pay laterBefore you go
All seven trips by village, hours and price, the driving times from Bergen, and the blossom calendar.
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Norheimsund: All-Year Hardangerfjord & Fyksesund RIB Safari
★ 4.9 · 136 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h
