NORWAY - Scandinavia - page 591

www.visitbergen.com ). The TI covers Bergen and western Norway, provides
information and tickets for tours, has a fjord information desk, books rooms,
and maintains a very handy events board listing today's and tomorrow's slate
of tours, concerts, and other events. Pick up this year's edition of the free Ber-
gen Guide (also likely at your hotel), which has a fine map and lists all sights,
hours, and special events. This booklet can answer most of your questions.
If you need assistance and there's a line, take a number. They also have free
Wi-Fi: Look for the password posted on the wall.
Bergen Card: You have to work hard to make this greedy little card pay
off (200 kr/24 hours, 260 kr/48 hours, sold at TI and Montana Family &
Youth Hostel). It gives you free use of the city buses, half off the Mount Fløy-
en funicular, free admission to most museums (but not the Hanseatic Mu-
seum; aquarium included only in winter), and discounts on some events and
sights—such as a discount on Edvard Grieg's Home.
Arrival in Bergen
By Train or Bus: Bergen's train and bus stations are on Strømgaten, facing
a park-rimmed lake. The small, manageable train station has an office open
long hours for booking all your travel in Norway—get your Nutshell reser-
vations here if you haven't already (Mon-Fri 6:45-19:30, Sat 7:30-16:10, Sun
7:30-19:30). There are luggage lockers (30 kr/day, daily 6:30-23:30), pay toi-
lets, a newsstand, sandwich shop, and coffee shop. (To get to the bus station,
follow the covered walkway behind the Narvesen newsstand via the Storcen-
ter shopping mall.) Taxis wait to the right (with the tracks at your back). From
the train station, it's a 10-minute walk to the TI: Cross the street (Strømgaten)
in front of the station and take Marken, a cobbled street that eventually turns
into a modern retail street. Continue walking in the same direction until you
reach the water.
By Plane: Bergen's cute little Flesland Airport is 12 miles south of the city
center (airport code: BGO, tel. [phone], www.avinor.no/bergen ) . The air-
port bus runs between the airport and downtown Bergen, stopping at the Ra-
disson Blu Royal Hotel in Bryggen, the harborfront area near the TI (if you
ask), the SAS Hotel Norge (in the modern part of town at Ole Bulls Plass),
and the bus station (about 95 kr, pay driver, 4/hour at peak times, less in slow