Top 4 reasons to choose Bergen for your next incentive destination

Travelling together as a group can provide better unity, motivation and understanding within the group. Through activities and special experiences you can add an extra dimension to this. The Bergen region is a perfect destination for incentive trips and here are 4 reasons why:

1. Sustainability - a focus in Bergen for generations

The fjords, the sea and the mountains are more than just a beautiful backdrop. The mountains give us waterfalls that provide clean hydropower, and the sea and the fjords serve both as a transport route and a provider of food for several hundred years. This is why we have been focusing on not over-utilizing these natural resources for a long time.

How can a country that historically has been a major player in the oil industry call itself sustainable?

The Norwegian oil adventure started with the discovery of the Ekofisk field in the late 1960s, and has been of great importance for the development of Norway. As a nation, we are aware that oil extraction has its price in terms of the environment, and we are working on a shift towards more environmentally friendly sources for energy. As a country, we now are fully focused on utilizing the knowledge we have for this purpose. An example is how technology originally used offshore now has been further developed and implemented in other more environmentally friendly innovations, such as offshore wind power.

Pioneering sustainable solutions

Norway, and Western Norway in particular, has many pioneers in sustainable solutions, and has gained international credibility in the field. Norwegian fashion designers who work with sustainable fashion to reduce the amount of microplastic in the sea, and the furniture manufacturer HÅG who make products from recycled material are just a few examples. In Bergen you will also find many restaurants with a focus on local ingredients, based on the principle we call “from fjord to table”. As a city, Bergen is also a world leader in environmental certification of hotels. More than 90% of the hotels in our city currently have achieved this certification. Bergen Municipality has also initiated a major effort to map out how the municipality can achieve the UN's sustainability goals to an even greater extent.

Environmentally friendly solutions in the transport industry

It is easy to travel environmentally friendly with public transport in Bergen and the surrounding regions. Bergen light rail from the city centre to the district of Fana opened in 2010, with an extension of the line to Bergen Airport Flesland in 2017. To further increase sustainable transport, the Bergen Light Rail is currently working on extensions to new districts around the city. Bergen has a large percentage of buses that run on electricity or renewable energy. In addition, Vestland has been a pioneer county for emission-free ferries AND 20% of the cars in Bergen are now electric cars. This makes Bergen the first major city in the world to achieve this goal! Important contributions to the development of environmentally friendly transport solutions also come from companies in the Bergen region. Corvus, who will collaborate with Toyota on the production of maritime fuel cells and Brødrene Aa and Greenstat are examples of this.

As mentioned before, the focus on sustainability in Bergen has been going on for generations, but still the importance of the work may never have been bigger than now. Bergen's ambition is to be fossil-free by 2030, and we are already well on our way, but that doesn’t mean that we are resting on our laurels. 

Read more about a 4-day incentive itinerary based on sustainability.

2. Energy is a key word for experiences in the Bergen region

The natural elements are an important part of Norway in every way. For centuries, we have utilized water and wind in order to provide energy in different ways. We harvest the more traditional energy in the form of electricity, but we also harvest energy on a personal level, in the form of nature experiences. The variations in nature, combined with the accessibility of the sea, coast, fjord, glacier and mountains, create unique opportunities for incentive experiences you will never forget.

An incentive destination you’ll never forget

From the overwhelming feeling of the forces of nature during storm-watching on the coast, to the roller coaster feeling during rafting in the wild rivers near Voss. From relaxing fjord cruises in the fjords to challenging mountain hikes at the top of the peaks. From swish when you are skiing at Voss, to slosh when you are on a RIB boat along the coast.

Slow, fast, low, high, calm, stormy. The nature in the Bergen region is full of contrasts, which gives you the opportunity to learn something new, create a bond with your colleagues and really experience nature up close. Experiences that put you to the test, physically and mentally, or that simply creates an opportunity to relax from the stress of the workplace.

You will also experience the feeling of contrasts just by being in Bergen. The feeling of being in a big city where something always happens around you, but where you can still find peace exploring the picturesque streets in Sandviken or Nordnes. A sense of being transported back in time, while at the same time you can seek out the present at any time. This way, you can always choose which energy level you want to be at. High on life or relaxed and laid back. 

Read more about a 4-day incentive itinerary based on action based experiences.

3. Food experiences in the Bergen region - from fjord and farm to table

Bergen's position as a city with a very high quality of food experiences is based on more than thousand years of history as a meeting place and trading place, and the city's unique location with proximity to both the ocean, deep fjords and lush mountain pastures. As a trade center for the whole region, the best local produce from sea and farm were transported to Bergen. At the same time, Bergen has always received impulses from foreign countries, both from the Hanseatic League and other visiting merchants. This combination has created a unique food culture, which is still evolving.

Seafood from Bergen - world-class quality

There is no doubt that seafood has always been at the core of Bergen's food culture and when you choose Bergen as an incentive destination, you can really take advantage of this. Easy access to mussels and scallops, crayfish and crab, shrimp and fresh fish in all seasons of the year, has created great width within the range of seafood dishes that Bergen is known for. From the famous Bergen fish soup to the traditional Persetorsk, which has experienced a renaissance in recent years. Several restaurants in Bergen still serve klipfish (known as bacalao), which was the starting point for Bergen becoming one of Europe's most important trade centers in the 12th century. Seafood from Bergen is also exported to restaurants all over the world.

Bergen - City of Gastronomy

In 2015, UNESCO designated Bergen as a City of Gastronomy, as member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, because of a combination of unique ingredients and a high-level culinary quality. The chefs at the gourmet restaurants in Bergen have taken Norwegian traditional food to a new level through an exquisite interplay of local ingredients in season and creativity. Along the way several of them have achieved international recognition. In 2015 Ørjan Johannessen at Bekkjarvik Gjestgiveri won gold in Bocuse d’Or and later the restaurant Lysverket reached their goal of a star in the Michelin guide.

Bergen is becoming famous for gin and cider

Combine your dining experience in Bergen with a special drink experience. Bareksten Botanical Gin has been awarded several gold medals in the unofficial world championship in gin, and the apple cider from the Hardanger area has a reputation for being the champagne of apple cider. The combination of the composition of the local soil, a cool climate and the long bright evenings during the growing season, gives the fruit in Hardanger a perfect balance of freshness, acidity and sweet taste, and creates a taste experience you will remember for a long time.

Bergen succeeds in developing great food experiences because representatives from the entire value chain work closely together. With nature on our side, unique raw materials are grown or picked from the sea. Ingredients that are refined before the chefs in the restaurants find new creative ways to get the most out of them. In order to create a new kind of dining experience for the guests. Or recreate an old dining experience that has been forgotten.

Read more abou a 4-day incentive itinerary based on food experiences.

4. Bergen - City of Culture

Did you know that Bergen is home to one of the world's oldest symphony orchestras, Norway’s first national theater AND has fostered the Nordic region's first great comedy poet, Ludvig Holberg? Not to forget Norway's first great landscape painter, Johan Christian Dahl. So we can safely say that Bergen's history as a center for art, music and literature goes back a long time. And we haven’t even mentioned either Ole Bull or Edvard Grieg yet.

Bergen has a wide selection of museums that cover everything from art to history of all kinds. The homes of Edvard Grieg and Ole Bull have been turned into museums, where concerts are held on a regular basis.

From Grieg to KYGO to Enslaved

Music has always been an important part of Bergen and as mentioned, the city has fostered several world-famous composers. If we extend that concept to today's music, then both KYGO and Alan Walker fit into the same category. Two world stars who have really put Bergen back on the map. Bergen has for many years been called Europe's metal capital, because many of the big bands in the genre have their background in the city. These include Abbath, Immortal, Enslaved, Gorgoroth, Hades, Taake, Sahg, Audrey Horne and Wardruna.

Culture is also about people and their values

The term culture covers more than art, music and literature. It is also about values ​​and the mindset of both those who govern the city and the people who live in it. Bergen is an open and inclusive city, it has been in our nature as a host for almost 1000 years. It is a city where we look inwards at what we can contribute to others, and outwards to see what we can learn from others. A city where we focus on making everyone who visits the city feel at home, but also on how the city is to live in for both locals and people who have moved here. A city that develops and creates opportunities for everyone who is living here.

Read more about 4-days incentive itinerary bassed on cultural experiences.

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