Map of the Bergen Line Route — Oslo to Bergen through Norwegian highlands Loading interactive map…

Bergen Line Route

Bergen Line Route

Oslo → Bergen through Norwegian highlands

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The Bergen Line (Bergensbanen) runs about 7 hours between Oslo and Bergen across the Hardangervidda, Northern Europe's largest high-mountain plateau. Operated by Vy, it is the highest mainline railway in Northern Europe, reaching 1,237 m inside the Finse Tunnel, with roughly 100 km of the route above the tree line.

Route facts

Duration≈ 7 h (fastest ≈ 6.5 h); five departures daily, four in winter1
Distance≈ 496 km Oslo–Bergen, with about 180 tunnels2
Highest point1,237 m in the Finse Tunnel; Finse station at 1,222 m is the line's highest2
OperatorVy (trains); Bane NOR (infrastructure)2
ReservationsCompulsory seat reservation; passholders ≈ NOK 1003
Fares (2026)Advance fares from under NOK 300 one-way (dynamic pricing). Book at vy.no4
Best timeYear-round, utterly different by season; late May–early June combines green valleys with a still-snowy plateau4
Opened27 November 1909, by King Haakon VII at Voss5

Terrain along the route

5001,000 Oslo S — 3 m, km 0Bergen stasjon — 5 m, km 459 1,469 m 0 km 459 km
Terrain elevation sampled along the line — tunnels appear as the ridges they pass beneath. Highest station: Bergen stasjon at 5 m. Computed from Trainmap's route geometry and AWS Open Data terrain tiles.

Scenic highlights

  • Hardangervidda crossing. The heart of the journey: Northern Europe's largest mountain plateau, crossed far above the tree line with views to the Hardangerjøkulen glacier. Side to sit: left travelling from Oslo (Norway Insider).1
  • Finse. The highest station at 1,222 m — the surrounding ice fields stood in for the planet Hoth in Star Wars.4
  • Myrdal. Junction for the famous 20.4 km Flåm Railway branch dropping to the Aurlandsfjord.1
  • Raundalen descent. West of Myrdal the line falls through a valley of cliffs and waterfalls, with fjord views on the approach to Bergen.4

Stations on this route

  1. Oslo S
  2. Bergen stasjon

More than 15,000 men built the line largely by hand over 15 years; it cost the equivalent of an entire Norwegian state budget of its day, per the Norwegian Royal House. For its centenary in 2009, NRK broadcast the entire 7-hour journey minute by minute — 1.2 million Norwegians watched, inventing "slow TV".

“Dette er vårt slektsledds storverk — this is our generation's great work.”

— King Haakon VII, opening the line, 27 November 19095

Related routes

Sources

  1. visitnorway.com
  2. en.wikipedia.org
  3. seat61.com
  4. norwayinsider.com
  5. kongehuset.no

Facts last verified 2026-07-18 · About Trainmap · All iconic routes

Rail data: signal.eu.org/osm
Stations: Trainline, Nominatim
Maps: Carto, OpenStreetMap, Stamen, Stadia Maps
3D Terrain: AWS Terrain Tiles, Mapzen
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