Geirangerfjorden: A UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the most beautiful places I’ve been

Sometimes, when I’m walking out of a grocery store or the mall or just driving down the road, I have a moment of , “oh my gosh, can you believe you LIVE in Norway?!” It doesn’t happen all of the time, but it still happens at random moments and in random places where it all of a sudden hits me that we actually made the move across the ocean to Europe and are experiencing a new country and new culture. How wild and exciting is that?

I had one of those moments this morning leaving the grocery store. This past weekend was also filled with many more of those moments. We took a long weekend trip with some friends to Møre og Romsdal, a county of Norway, and we got to take in a lot of breathtaking scenery. A highlight of the weekend was a visit to Geirangerford and the surrounding area. 

Geirangerfjord is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, meaning it’s protected under the international treaty administered by UNESCO. It was truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. We started with a 30-minutes drive from our cabin at a ski resort in Stranda to the ferry dock in Hellesylt for an hour-long car ferry ride to the town of Geiranger via the Geirangerfjord. 

This car ferry ride was definitely the best one I’ve ever taken. It cost a little more than the average car ferry here, currently priced at 1500 NOK (149.11 USD) for a small car holding up to 5 adults, but it was well worth it. You are able to walk on and pay 375 NOK (37.28 USD); however, we wanted to drive a complete loop through the region and did not plan to take the same ferry back to our cabin at the end of the day. Driving was our best option. 

The views from the ferry were stunning. Of course, you get out of your car for the hour-long trip and can walk upstairs onto a mid-level deck or upper deck with open and covered options available, if the weather isn’t suitable to be outside the entire ride. For context, a fjord is defined as a long, narrow inlet from the sea generally surrounded by steep cliffs with a U-shaped valley floor. Most of the fjords of Norway are located in the western part of the country with inlets from the Atlantic Ocean and  Norwegian Sea. 

The Hellesylt-Geiranger ferry ride takes you past many iconic features of the Geirangerfjord. One such feature is The Seven Sisters waterfall which got its name from the seven cascading fingers of the waterfall that resemble the hair of seven women. The mountains are dotted with the occasional home or family farm, and it’s a wonder how anyone was ever able to build a house on those locations, let alone run a farm. 

It is tourist season in Norway and that was very apparent when we pulled into the dock at Geiranger. There was a large cruise ship and the streets were crowded with both foot and car traffic. It’s a very small town which we decided to simply drive through. Plus there was no parking available, so we didn’t have much of an option but to pass through rather than stop and take a walk around. That was fine because the rest of the day proved to be packed with more and more sightseeing. 

A forty-minute drive up through the mountain brought us to Geiranger Skywalk Dalsnibba. After a short hike up to the top of the mountain from the parking lot, we were hit with more stunning views from the overlook. There was a small cafe and souvenir shop at the top as well. It was a nice and built-up overlook with guardrails which made us feel more comfortable allowing our 2-year-old to run around and get some energy out after the car ride. There was a small fee associated with the drive up, but it’s worth it to see the area preserved so nicely and made accessible to all. 

The overlook is not for the faint of heart as part of it has an open-grate floor standing over the edge of the mountain. You look down and see a several hundred meter drop to the bottom. We learned our toddler appears to have no fear of heights. He bent down to look through the holes and pressed his face against the glass barriers to look over the edge of the mountain. The views from the overlook are of the entire Geiranger valley. We stood in awe and wonder at the beauty of the scenery.

On the drive back down the mountain we stopped for a short snowball fight on the side of the road. There was a small inlet of water that hadn’t quite melted from the winter and was surrounded by snow. We couldn’t help ourselves and had a blast pelting each other with balls of snow/ice. 

Apparently the snowball fight hadn’t quite cooled us off enough, so we stopped for a swim at another watering hole off the side of the road. This one was thawed but still quite cold. We each waded in as far as our bodies could handle, some fully submerging, others up to their knees and all had a blast. It was picturesque. A green, mossy field leading to smooth rocks making for an easy walk into crystal blue, very chilly, water. Our son even hopped in after stripping down to his diaper and putting on his swim vest. He went down to his shoulders once, screamed “too cold,” and spent the rest of the time playing in knee deep water next to the shore. As we were drying off and packing up to leave, he escaped, running through the field diaperless and au natural. We all had a good laugh and it appeared as though he was having the time of his life. He’s a nature lover for sure. 

Our tour of the area finished with a loop back to our cabin in the mountains in Stranda. We stopped for a bite to eat at a small hotel with a restaurant for some pizza, burgers, fish and chips, and a drink. The fish and chips came with a salad and a side of real ranch dressing. It was a small taste of home for our American tastebuds and a pleasant surprise. The food was much better than we expected for a small hotel in the middle-of-nowhere Norway. 

Worn out from an exciting day, we all headed to bed early that evening agreeing this was one of the most beautiful places we’ve seen in Norway so far. The fjords, mountains, and waterfalls were the scenery we all expected to see when we moved, but our area is a little flatter. It was nice to finally be able to experience the true magnificence and power of Norway’s landscape.