Norway’s second city is colourful and buzzing, with nature on its doorstep. Whether you are checking out the harbour area, hiking in the mountains or heading out onto the fjords, Bergen has it all. We visited Bergen with our boys then aged 11 and 12 in summer 2025. Read on for my tips on how to spend a fantastic weekend in Bergen with kids..
Take the funicular up Mount Fløyen
Riding the funicular is an experience in itself and one of the best things to do in Bergen with kids. The best views are from the front of the first carriage on the way down. Carriages come every 5 minutes or so. You might want to wait for another train to get a good spot!
At the top you will be treated to stunning views across Bergen and the smaller islands of the fjords.
Once you’ve drank in those views, head out beyond the viewing platform to the play areas and wider forest beyond. There are some great play areas for kids, with swings and slides for younger ones, and a natural obstacle course for older children.
Walk on just a few minutes and you are into the forest, with the smell of pine and gorgeous tricking streams. The city suddenly seems very far away! We would have happily spent longer hiking up here but the weather started to turn. Younger son also took a chunk out of his knee on a rock so we decided to head back down.
Make sure you stroke the friendly goats. They have Kashmir wool and are super soft. Signs say its fine to stroke but not to feed them. Playing with the goats was one of our favourite things to do in Bergen with kids!
How to do it
The start of the funicular is just a few minutes walk from the fish market. Head up Vertridsalimemingen Locke towards the archway which says “Fløibahnen”.
You can buy a return trip or if your family is up for a relatively easy hike, I would recommend taking the funicular up and walking back down.
Tickets can be brought from the machines or the ticket office. You can get a family round-trip ticket which costs around £35 (as at summer 2025). It’s not cheap so you want to plan to spend a decent amount of time at the top. There’s no need to pre-book and I would suggest you only go up if the weather is good – and clear. Bergen unashamedly proclaims itself as the wettest city in Norway – apparently it once rained for 90 days straight. If its wet or foggy, check out one of the museums or the aquarium instead!
Facilities
As you exit the funicular, there are decent loos, water bottle filling points, a shop and ice-cream kiosk.
The restaurant (Floirestauranten) has a large outdoor terrace as well as indoor seating and would offer great views over the city twinkling at night. We didn’t eat while we were up there but were told that the food is pretty good. A BBQ smoker was being lit just as we headed down and it all looked pretty appealing!
Lunch at the Fish Market in Bergen with kids
A great thing to do in Bergen with kids is to browse and graze the red covered stalls along the harbour at Brygge. The fish market is a feast for the eyes, as well as the tummy, with super-fresh fish and seafood cooked in front of you. Originally an important trading place for fishermen, farmers and residents, the fish market has existed in its current location since the 1200s.
Many stalls have food to take away or to eat at the tables behind. Start by walking the length of the market to see what you fancy. Youngest son and I tried a delicious seafood and rice dish. However, we were sorely tempted by huge grilled prawns, baguettes with salmon and simple, fresh-cooked catch of the day.
You can also buy fish to cook at home, jars of caviar, smoked fish, and local sausages (including reindeer, sorry Rudolph!). We were uncomfortable with the whale meat on sale but it’s there to try if you want.
There are benches lining the harbour if you don’t want to eat at the tables behind the stalls (or they are jampacked). This is also a handy option if your family members want to order from different stalls.
Should I avoid the fish market if one of us is vegetarian?
No, my oldest son is vegetarian. While he didn’t want to walk up and down the market and see all the fish, he really enjoyed a feta gyros from a Greek stand at one end. We all grabbed what we fancied and then sat on a bench away from the market with a great view across the harbour to eat. A visit to the fish market shouldn’t be missed when you are in Bergen with kids/
How to enjoy it
The outdoor market is closed in the winter. It is generally open from 10am to 6pm in the summer. If you are visiting in the winter months, there are various fishmongers inside nearby Mathallen and seating areas where you can order food.
The fish market is called Torget in Norwegian and this is also the name of the closest bus-stop. Its located in the city centre between the fjords and is only a 5 minute walk to the funicular up to Mount Fløyen.
Check out the aquarium
The aquarium is one of the best things to do in Bergen with kids, particularly if its raining or cold! The sea-lions, penguins and otters are in outdoor enclosures but there is plenty to see inside.
Try to catch the talks and feeding times. My boys particularly enjoyed the sea-lion feeding. The talks are in English as well as Norwegian and you can take a photo of the day’s timetable as you head in.
The main aquarium has interesting displays based on creatures found in different environments / sea depths. Highlights for us were the piranhas, the tropical fish tunnel, the crocodiles and a cheeky iguana who came right up to the glass to see us! Also make sure you check out the sea cucumbers!
How to do it
The aquarium is a 15-20 minute (not particularly scenic) walk from the fish market or you can hop on a bus (line 11 runs from the bus station and city centre to just outside).
In the summer you can also get the “Beffen” boat across from Rundetårn, Norges Fiskerimuseum or Gamle Bergen. We didn’t try this but you can get more details on their website here.
Facilities
The self-service café didn’t have much choice, particular for veges. However, the food was good – and pretty quick – in the seated restaurant. You order and pay via a QR code and a waiter brings everything to you. The menu isn’t huge (think burgers, veggie burgers, salad, soup and fish cakes) but the food is really tasty for a tourist attraction. You can expect to pay around £20 for a main course, which is pretty normal for Norway.
The niche option – visit Grieg’s Home at Troldhaugen
Whilst children of the 1980s (me included) might argue that Morten Harket was the greatest Norwegian composer, the genuine cap must go to Bergen’s classical great, Edvard Grieg.
My oldest boy is a passionate classical music fan so we couldn’t come to Bergen and not visit Grieg’s Home.
Grieg’s Home is a few miles out of the city centre. We booked a package through Kode (Bergen’s art museum) which included a coach transfer (well worth doing), entry to the house and grounds, and tickets to a Grieg concert in the onsite concert hall.
They have audio guides to borrow but these were all out when we arrived. We tried downloading the guide on our phones (with limited success) but I don’t think the guide really adds much, particularly as you get a guided tour of the villa anyway.
Highlights of our visit
Our highlights were the composer’s working hut down by the water, the short guided tour through his home (in English), and the 45 minute concert by a talented pianist who had just graduated with a masters from the Grieg academy in the city.
The guided tours of the villa take a maximum of 20 people at a time and can’t be booked in advance. There is a staff member who counts numbers in the queue and will give you a pretty good estimate of how long you are likely to wait. Be aware that there is no shelter for the queue, which is outdoors.
We really enjoyed the piano concertos she played but do be aware that the set didn’t include Grieg’s most famous works (looking at you Hall of the Mountain King and Peer Gynt!). I believe the pianists change weekly, as do their repertoires.
So how into classical music do you need to be?
I was worried that my younger boy, who’s more into his rock, would be bored. However, we broke up our visit with an excellent cinnamon bun in the café at the start and some time paddling in the lake near the composer’s hut.
Final thoughts on our weekend in Bergen with kids
We loved our time in Bergen and I think we all preferred its buzzy vibe over Oslo. If we had more time here and no bleeding knees, I would have spent more time hiking in the forests from Mount Fløyen. I would also have gone back and tried more delicious fish and seafood at the Fish Market.
If you are visiting in the summer months, I would recommend combining a visit to Bergen with kids with some time in the fjords. Click here to read my post on some amazing things to do in Flam.