With a population around 700, Balestrand, Norway has no airport code to label this page, and it is one of the most peaceful places I’ve ever visited. The journey began by an early morning train from Oslo Central Station to Myrdal, a tiny village that exists as a transfer point between train lines that take you down to the fjord at Flåm, itself a transfer point with fjord ships small and large.
I booked the fjord leg through Fjord Tours which arranged the two train tickets, boat tickets and my hotel in Balestrand. You can book these yourself, but I understand that some cannot be booked from outside the country far in advance, and the trains can be packed so you could get stuck along the way. They have an affiliated with a company that will pick up your luggage from your Oslo hotel and deliver it to your hotel in Bergen so you don’t have to handle it as you change trains and boats. I just packed a backpack for my overnight stay and sent everything else ahead; flawless.
From Flåm, a small boat takes you to Bergen, stopping at villages along the way because the boat is local transportation for residents as well as tourists. It’s electric and a pleasure sitting inside or standing on the deck. Balestrand is a regular stop for the boat and I stopped for the night, arriving around 5 pm.
Sitting on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden, you can hear a car coming from a mile away. I missed the apple cider house that closed for the season the week before I arrived, so there was little to do but walk, sit by the fjord, eat at the hotel (no sacrifice there), and just relax.
I stayed at the Kviknes Hotel in the “new” wing from the 1960s, the original hotel dating back to the 1750s. The dinner buffet was extraordinary. Cold seafood appetizers included crab legs, cold shrimp three ways, crab meat, and five salmon preparations. Several prepared salads, and all the top quality ingredients for a Caesar salad (popular throughout Denmark and Norway), charcuterie and cheese. Entrees included pork and chicken with vegetables and three kinds of potatoes. At least ten desserts, each obviously prepared in house to bakery standards. The dinner alone was worth the trip.
