The Raft Railway

Travelling by train is now something completely different. You can enjoy the scenery up close, even if it's at speed. The Riverside Railway is probably one of the most beautiful in the world. The journey goes through 21 tunnels and very steep stretches at Flåmdal in Aurland, Son and Fjordane. It takes two locomotives to brake the train on the journey down to Flåm, so steep it is. As the journey heads towards Myrdal, the train carriages wind their way up the steep mountainside, which certainly doesn't make the journey any less exciting.

Today, the Flåmsbanen is one of Norway's biggest tourist attractions, but the beautiful scenery of the fjord and mountain range has drawn people from near and far long before the railway was built in the first half of the 20th century.

To get to Flåmsbanen, take the E16 from Oslo towards Bergen. The train runs along the narrow and lush Flåm valley from Myrdal station, which is located at an altitude of 867 metres on the high mountain, to Flåm station on the Sognefjord. It's a long way to the nearest big city, but Flåm is easy to get to by train, car and boat.

Take the Flåmbanen through the narrow valley farms and the traditional red barns. Drive through tunnels in the carved mountain and past impressive waterfalls. Further up the mountain you may spot grazing goats. On the tour you can hear about the history of the Flemish Railway on a speaker guide that supports 15 different languages. Stretch your legs when the train stops at Kjosfossen and have some lunch at Café Rallaren in the yellow station building at Myrdal. Try an old-fashioned 'rallar soup' and round off the meal with a freshly baked panna cotta with brown cheese of course.

And as if that wasn't enough, you can also take the Flåmsbanen to Myrdal and take the trip down Rallarvegen by bike. It was originally a road made in connection with the construction of the mountain railway. Today, Rallarvegen is one of Norway's most popular cycle paths, and it runs parallel to the Flåmsbanen railway.