A popular destination for cruise ships whilst visiting Norway – Flåm presents a number of opportunities to attract the interests of passengers and visitors alike….

Flåm sits at the head of the Aurlandsfjord – a branch and arm of the vast 204-km long Sognefjord.  Considering the number of annual visitors  it receives,  Flåm remains a remarkably small village with a population under 500 people.

Amongst the many activities on offer to cruise ship passengers visiting Flåm are Fjord Safari rides aboard a high speed rib……..

…or a scenic fjord cruise onboard an innovative fully electric tour boat, the  MS Future of the Fjords….

 

…which is also inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. 

But by far the most popular attraction is the Flåm railway which is what my wife and I recently experienced….

Most tourists take the 20-km, (12 Miles),  long journey on the Flam Line between Flåm and Myrdal: it is  ranked one of world’s steepest railway tracks and features a few spirals as well as 1 bridge, 20 tunnels and 10 stations while ascending / descending  some 867 metres in less than a hour

The amazing views of the passing unique countryside make the Flam Line Norway’s 3rd most popular tourist attraction by visitor numbers.

For railway buffs the former rail station building currently houses a museum dedicated to the railway Flamsbana.

There is currently only the one berth capable of taking the larger cruise ships…. 

 

…though smaller cruise ships do anchor close by and tender their passengers ashore…

Flåm’s main cruise ship berth is a very short distance from the centre of Flåm activities…

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For our visit we booked online, and well in advance, our return journey on the Flamsbana  The website we used was …

https://www.norwaysbest.com/the-flam-railway/round-trip-with-the-flam-railway/#booknow

The earlier one books the better the choices of times. Most cruise ships arrive around 7.30 am and the first available booking departure time is 08.25 am. We chose a departure time of 09.30 am…

The following photograph was taken from the ship at 08.15 am, using a zoom lens. Their are two trains and queues, the left one for ‘Ship’s Excursion’ booked passengers and the right one for ‘Independent’ passengers….

 

We turned up for our 09:30 departure at 08:51 and there was a short queue just beginning to form…

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Before too long they commenced boarding minutes after 9 o’clock and to our surprise we had the pick of one of the carriages…

Needless to say by the time we departed, smack on time, the carriages were pretty full.

 

Our journey commenced along the valley and away from Flam…

…as we began the climb towards Myrdal. Each carriage has an information screen that constantly updates and informs passenger of the current position of the train…..

 

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…as it winds its way through the valley….

….taking in the spectacular vistas….

 

 

Approximately 20 minutes into the journey there is a stop that allows the train on the return leg to Flam to pass….

 

 

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Once the trains have safely passed the journey continues….

….with yet more spectacular views….

(Note three quarters up on the left hand side of the above photograph the protective pillars of the railway line that we will later pass along).

Forty minutes after departing Flåm we make a stop at the Kjosfossen Waterfall…

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Be sure to alight the train onto the viewing platform at the waterfall and witness the legendary Huldra performance – a seductive forest creature in Scandinavian folklore – as she dances and sings in front of the waterfall….

 

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See Huldra perform her seductive dance here….

 

From the waterfall it is a short ride, 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi), to Myrdal, though we had one short stop in-between at Vatnahalsen Station …

….in order that passengers who wished to take either the zipline

or ride mountain bikes down the mountain could alight…

 

On time and within the hour we  finally arrived at Myrdal…

 

Worth noting here that as the Flamsbana returns without turning should there be an opportunity to switch sides of the train then now is the time to do it. This ensures that one gets to see those views missed on the outward journey.

There are certainly advantages in switching, particularly if one is a keen photographer…

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The Flamsbana does make a second stop at the Kjosfossen Waterfall on the return journey toFlåm

 

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The approach to  Flam offers a good view of the Flam church (Flåm kyrkje)….

 

The brown, wooden church was built in a ‘long church’ design in 1670 by master builder Magne Essen

Just before we pulled into Flam I spotted what appeared to be a ‘mini-glacier’ on the outskirts of Flam….

Now there was a challenge!

Some 45 minutes from alighting the train I had climbed the slope…

…and was in striking distance….

…only to find it a little disappointing as a glacier….

 

…but quite a spectacular view of the valley we had just travelled along…

Even better, before my full descent I even captured another train returning into Flam…

Needless to say my good wife is blessed with considerably more common sense than me and she remained back in the village.

On my return we walked along the fjord shore line past the ship…

…to the opposite side for another photo call….

…which worked out well as from that point I managed to capture the Safari Rib and the innovative fully electric tour boat, the  MS Future of the Fjords, featured earlier, as they returned from their trips.

Summary

That just about completes this edition of my blog. Needless to say, riding the Flamsbana Railway is probably the most popular and best thing to do in Flam.  It’s certainly the most popular amongst cruisers.

My best tip: book your Flam Rail tickets well in advance to reserve a spot. They tend to sell out pretty quickly, and especially in the summer. There are 10 departures per day during high tourist season May through to September reducing to 5 per day during the rest of the year.

Another tip would be to avoid the first and last departures from Flam: that should reduce any anxiety regarding cruise ship arrival and departure times.

 

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Disclosure to potential conflict of interest:

It is common throughout the travel industry for travel journalists and many cruise bloggers to be provided with complimentary cruises for the purpose of their reviews.

Solent Richard has no ‘conflict of interest’ as he is not an accredited journalist, he pays for his cruises, and is happy to confirm that all his reviews are his own given without fear or favour.