Mount Ulriken is about 2½ miles southeast of the centre of Bergen. It is a popular destination and can be reached by a rather snazzy-looking bus which leaves regularly from the fish market in the city centre.
The bus drops you off at the base of the mountain, from which a cable car can be caught to the top. Be prepared to queue! If you don’t fancy queueing then you can walk to the top (altitude 1,985 feet to the top cable car station; 2,110 feet to the summit) but in the sweltering heat of the 2014 summer we were not going to do that.
You can see the cable car in this next picture if you divert your gaze away from the absolutely enormous TV tower.
I haven’t been able to find out exactly how tall it is, but suffice to say it grabs your attention from just about everywhere. Especially if you’re standing next to it.
There are some great views to be had from the top station (where you will also find a restaurant and shop).
The walk from the cable car station to the summit isn’t too far and is well worth the effort. Here we are, all pointing the way (except for Catherine who is a few degrees off and will never be given permission to trek solo to the South Pole if I have any say in the matter).
The landscape on the way is stunning.
We were really pleased to reach the summit, but I’m not sure the woman we met up there shared our enthusiasm…
There are various treks from the summit, including a horseshoe round to Mount Floyen, from where you can take the funicular back into Bergen. We were saving ourselves at this point so went on a shorter walk. I must give a quick mention to the perfectly in-tact husk of some sort of fly we found up there.
Points in this post (copy and paste the co-ordinates into Google Earth):
- Bus From Bergen: N 60° 23.673 E 005° 19.415
- Ulriksbanen (Bottom): N 60° 22.437 E 005° 21.820
- Ulriksbanen (top) and TV Tower: N 60° 22.640 E 005° 22.875
- Mount Ulriken Summit: N 60° 22.645 E 005° 23.224
Walk Statistics:
- Date of Walk: 26 July 2014
- Walk total distance covered: 2.14 miles
- CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO INTERACTIVE MAP!!!
The Coastal Path 
Is that bus ‘Retro’ or ‘Futuro’? Hard to say. But your summit victory celebration was definitely photo-bombed, or at least photo-scowled! RH
Your fly case looks very like the last stage of a larvae which grew and fed under water then climbed up some plant to bust out and for the first (and last) time expand it’s wings as a dragon fly, one of natures marvels.
Cheers J.P.
If you go back you might enjoy the walk from Mount Fløyen to Mount Ulriken which I did on one day during my visit back in August. There is a trail the whole way (called Vidden) which is well signed (in some places you just keep following the cairns). It is a very spectacular walk with some stunning views incuding a couple of lakes. I think it is about 13km and you can (as I did) use the funicular railway to go up and the cable car to go back down. I didn’t bother with that funny looking bus you used to get back to Bergen I just took the ordinary public bus back (I just waited a few minutes for one that said it was going to “Sentrum”).
You can buy a leaflet with a few walks from Mount Fløyen from the information centre in Bergen for what I think works out at about 50p. This is the last (and longest) walk in there and whilst the directions were fairly brief (a side of A5) it was detailed enough that, along with the excellent signs, I didn’t get lost. I got to Ulriken just as the drizzle started (it had been dry until then) so perfect timing! I’d certainly recommend it if you go back.
Some photos here : https://www.flickr.com/photos/joncombe/sets/72157677788422426
Near year already booked to go back to Norway this time to Tromsö (about 200 miles within the Arctic Circle).
Hi JC – Amazing pictures! They really bring back memories – thank you! We looked at the walk from Floyen to Ulriken and for the life of me I can’t remember why we couldn’t do it – it wasn’t for a lack of desire! I think it was because we were trying to visit the stave church near Ulriken too and thought we might run out of time. We had a good walk around the pine forests of Floyen (the maze of paths was fantastic) and we also walked up to the summit cairn of Ulriken. The landscape it just beautiful.
I’ll look forward to reading about Tromso – I’m planning a lightning quick visit back to Oslo and then training it up to Trondheim, following in the footsteps of my great uncle who made the most incredible escape through Norway during WW2, although that’s another story (and one well worth telling one day).
Nic