3 Best Sights in Flåm, The Western Fjords

Although this trip covers only 20 km (12 miles), the one-way journey takes nearly an hour to travel through 20 tunnels and 2,850 feet up the steep mountain gorge. The masterpiece of Norwegian engineering took 20 years to complete, and today it's one of Norway's prime tourist attractions, drawing more than 1 million travelers each year. The train runs year-round, with six to eight round-trips from May through October and four round-trips the rest of the year. Most tourists take the train round-trip, returning on the same train a few minutes after arriving in Myrdal; round-trip tickets are available 120 days prior to departure dates. 

If you have a little extra time in Flåm, make sure you visit the Flåm Railway Museum. Building the railway was a remarkable feat of engineering, and this museum details the challenges the builders faced. You'll find it in the old station building, 300 feet from the one now in use.

Accessible only by train (or foot), Myrdal used to be a small mountain village, but few people actually live there today. The Myrdal train station is located along the Oslo-Bergen Railway, and express trains between Oslo and Bergen stop in Myrdal several times a day, connecting to the Flåm Railway. By foot, Myrdal is accessible from Flåm via the Rallarvegen or Morgedal Road, a series of hairpin turns down the mountainside known locally as the “Myrdalssvingane.” It's a starting point for anyone wanting to hike the Flåm Valley.