Askartus

Looking forward to my SAS flight in October from CPH to ORD in J.
And especially the Mikkeller beers which will be a nice start, because we will be flying to Portland in the end (and where we will have more beers) ...

Superb report, as always!

bj27

Amazing! Subscribed. Just came back from Oslo and Bergen and excited to see your experiences.

SFO777

Thanks peterfox.

Thank you MarylandFlyer.

Thanks Kent.

Ah yes, I remember it well.





Thanks so much UAL250. The UA 787 is a great ride up front.

Thank you worldtraveller73. We arrived in Paris last night and the view from the Shangri-La is simply amazing.

Thanks macdonaldj2.

Yeah, I guess some folks are just not going to get over it.

Thanks very much Askartus. Enjoy your flight.

Thank you bj27. Bergen, meh. But Oslo was quite enjoyable.

SFO777

Since we arrived in the international wing at Stavanger, we had to re-cleared security and re-entered a small but attractive domestic concourse.





And then downstairs to a coffee bar.









And back upstairs to our gate.





Stavanger-Bergen
SAS 4172
737-600
2:45P-3:20P
September 13, 2015
Seats 2DF

SAS domestic Business Class nothing more than coach seating at the front of the cabin. And unlike many other European Business Class services, SAS doesn't even block a middle seat. I lucked out by selecting a bulkhead window and aisle and hoping that no one would select the middle seat. Turned out to be a good choice as we had the most legroom and space on the plane.



And a surprisingly generous cut-out for extra leg room.





In our seat pockets was an SAS by-on-board menu. With only a 25 minute flight time, understandably nothing was offered on this flight.











There was no service of any kind as our FA stayed in the jump seat the entire flight.





Landing in Bergen 25 minutes later.







Lots of taxis outside the terminal and we quickly departed on the 30 minute drive into the Sentrum. That was the easy part. The hard part was that every other hotel in the town is a Clarion Collection hotel. Finally got the right hotel on the 2nd try. Nice historical building in a great location right on the water.























After some negotiating at the front desk, we upgraded to a corner "suite" with view and balcony.









And the view.



At night.







After a nap, we headed out for dinner at Spisekroken, rated #6 in TripAdvisor and the only resto in the top 10 open in Sunday. Food was pretty good and hearty. Nice atmosphere if you are seated upstairs. Not so much downstairs in the dungeon where we were seated.



Cream of mushroom soup was excellent if you like creamy and heavy.





Mrs. SFO had the local pork.



While I had reindeer.



We slept in and missed the full breakfast option. Pretty good spread though.









Pics from the tail end as they were clearing the hot items.

SFO777

We had planned a private fjord helicopter tour this morning, a wonderful five hour trip with stops alongside both Sognefjorden and Hardangerfjorden.

The tour: We fly from Bergen Airport, Flesland and flying north over "Sognefjorden". We will most likely land in Balestrand at Kviknes Hotel. This is a little village located right alongside the "Sognefjord". Then we can stay here for about 30- 45 minutes. After this we fly south over to Hardanger and the "Hardangerfjorden" and alongside the glacier and land at "Rosendal Fjordhotel", where we also stay for about 30-45 minutes. And after this we fly back to Bergen.

Unfortunately, weather did not cooperate. It wasn't so much clouds and rain but apparently winds. More specifically, the helicopter company blamed wind for being unable to reposition a helicopter back to Bergen for our planned tour or even a modified tour.

As a result, we were stuck in Bergen where there is precious little to do and you can see in a half day. First stop was to explore the historic part of town just up the street from the hotel.



























We passed on the funicular this morning after seeing the crazy line of people.



After learning that the salmon fish farm was not open today, we took a taxi to the Norwegian Fish museum.







Mildly interesting, especially the video of three generations of fishermen talking about their lives and experiences.



Then walked back.















Interesting people watching.







After a mediocre lunch, it was back to hotel where Mrs. SFO decided to relax and sleep off her Business Class jet lag. While I headed out for the funicular.













Fortunately, the lines had disappeared and I was able to walk right up.







And departed 5 minutes later.

















And the rather nice view from the summit.









Lots of people of all shapes and sizes taking pics and being taken.













And then back down, this time on a crowded departure.



And back to the hotel, along the historic waterfront and buildings dating back 600-700 years.





For dinner, we walked back up the street to a historic seafood restaurant. Great ambiance but uninspiring food.

















And I almost convinced Mrs. SFO was that The Vikings' Ragnar or at least his son was at the bar outside.




For more pics and an HD version of the report please visit SFO777.com.

Up next: Norway in a Nutshell: Bergen to Oslo via the fjords on train, bus and boat.

HaaZe

Welcome to my home town (Bergen) - it's always great to see pictures and the view from atop Mt Floyen never fades. If you're into some urban/nature interface hiking, there are several tracks from there, both flat and steep.

Sorry to hear the food was uninspiring - I hope you didn't end up in the 'tourist traps'. The good food (in my books) is found further into the city up towards the University area.

Another enjoyable report, thank you. I've read loads of yours already, but this is the first one I'm commenting on.

Andriyko

Excellent trip report and pictures! Thank you so much for sharing.

daftboy

How funny - I remember that street from The Witches (starring Anjelica Houston), interesting to realise that segment was filmed in Bergen. Blast from my childhood past!

Great TR as always SFO777, I am very keen to visit Scandinavia in the near future (really should have done so by now being based in London) so am taking notes.

cefiro

Hello SFO777

Thanks for another great trip report. I will be in Bergen later in the year and your idea for a helicopter tour sounds excellent. Which company were you going to deal with? five hours sounds like an excellent way to spend half a day. A lot of the other ones seem to be shorter trips.

thanks!

CosmosHuman

Beautiful photos and wonderful food!

LANDJ999

Was that a glass enclosed shower in the bedroom? Odd.

No line puts the fun in funicular!

BostonFlyer1624

I can see why SAS cancelled this flight. 50% loads is horrible. This route was created to service the two major oil markets. Now with oil <$50, good bye to this flight.

cmd320

Cool report thus far. I've always been intrigued by the idea of flying an all J narrowbody on a long haul flight, but haven't ever actually taken the plunge. Can't wait to see your report on the new AF La Première product! From everything I've seen so far, it looks sublime.

Genius1

Enjoying this report, SFO777.

I know I make this comment on pretty much all of your trip reports, but I still can’t get used to the fact that North American airlines don’t provide a more decent in flight service (ie. more than just a packet of crisps) on flights as long as two hours! I guess the tradeoff in comparison to European carriers is you get a better seat.

The SAS longhaul 737 looks nice for day flights, but I’m not sure those slopey seats would be very comfortable for night flights. There seems to be quite poor privacy for passengers in front when the seats are reclined. Nobody likes to see a stranger sleeping when they’re trying to eat!

SAS Plus on shorthaul sectors isn't really business class - the ground product is similar, but onboard is more akin to premium economy (in the context of European products).

Bergen looks quite small, but with some interesting architecture.

Looking forward to your review of AF La Premiere - you're a brave man flying with them!

Fredrik74

If you know, and is prepared for, that it isn't even Euro business then it's usually fine in the air. The annoying part is if the middle seat is occupied. The other annoying thing for people not members of SAS Eurobonus is that the award cost is similar to a business product.