Flåm by foot, train, car, and boat

It was another early morning for us since we decided to ride the 7:30am train. The train was the famous Flåm railway which took us up high to the Myrdal mountain station and then back down to Flåm. It's quoted to be the world's most beautiful train journey, according to Lonely Planet 2014. It also has the steepest unassisted railway climb in the world. It provides some great views of the Norwegian mountain scenery with waterfalls and rivers and mountain farms perched on the steep slopes. It was also a nice thing to do since the weather was a bit chilly and rainy. But looking back we all agreed we didn't think it was necessarily worth the nearly $50/person price tag since we were able to see such incredible views from driving around ourselves. We think the train ride would be better suited to people with kids or otherwise people who don't have a car to go out and explore on their own.

A waterfall the train stopped at for pictures:

We stopped at the bakery once we got back to Flåm. The hot sandwich we got there was delicious! Then we drove up to a nicer viewpoint so we could get a good view of the fjord and the town below. Then went back home for a siesta and to figure out the rest of the day. After lunch, and after the weather cleared a bit, we headed back out again with a plan.

We drove back to Flåm and hiked up to the Brekkefossen waterfall. It took us about an hour to get all the way to the top and it got a bit dicey at times. The path was washed out or blocked or otherwise just difficult to pass in places. It was also very steep in some areas. But we huffed and puffed our way up and it was beautiful! On the way down we also stopped at a couple of other photo stops of the waterfall and they were just as good as the view from the top. Actually the lowest one was probably the best because you could see most of the waterfall and a small pool where it would collect below. There was a lot of petrified wood along the trail which was cool to see. We also kept seeing a lot of poop on the trail and we were curious what animal that was from. So I took a picture and we googled it and we think it was probably bear droppings! The hike was good though and we made it back to our vehicle 2 hours after leaving it.

Which was perfect timing to catch our 5pm boat ride through the fjords. We went from Flåm, which is at the tip ofAurlandsfjorden, and then back down Nærøyfjord to Gudvangen. The Nærøyfjord is the narrowest fjord in the world and is only 250 meters wide in some parts. Both fjords are branches off of the larger Sognefjord, which is the largest fjord in Norway and second largest in the world. It's also one of the deepest fjords in the world and reaches a depth of 1,300 meters (4,265 ft) below sea level. The whole trip was slightly over 2 hours and it was filled with stunning views. It was well worth the money! Instead of paying twice the price for a return trip we instead booked a shuttle ride on a bus back to Flåm (so I suppose I could add "bus" to my title as well).

We booked both the train and the boat ride through Visit Flåm which seemed to have the most reasonable prices. There were other pricier options for the fjord boat ride. 

Just a reminder- there are more pics in the "Norway" album linked on the right!