The West Coast Travel Guide

The intricate outline of the fjords makes Norway's coastline of 21,347 km (13,264 mi) longer than the distance between the north and south poles. Among the world's most spectacular geological formations, a typical fjord consists of a long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea, with steep mountainsides stretching into mountain massifs. Fjords were created by glacier erosion during the ice ages. In spectacular inlets like Sognefjord, Geirangerfjord, and Hardangerfjord, walls of water shoot up the mountainsides, jagged snowcapped peaks blot out the sky, and water tumbles down the mountains in an endless variety of colors. Lush green farmlands edge up the rounded mountainsides and the chiseled, cragged, steep peaks of the Jotunheimen mountains, Norway's tallest, seem to touch the blue skies.