Osterøy is an inland island, surrounded by beautiful fjords on all sides. This is the island for great nature and cultural experiences!
Distance: 56 km.
Driving time: 1 hour.
Season: All year, but recommended from May to September. Check the opening hours of the museums.
You can drive to Osterøy in about 40 minutes from Bergen city centre (follow the E16 towards Voss, until you reach the Osterøy bridge). But Osterøy is a widespread island, and the drive from Bergen city centre to Mjøsvågen in Lonevågen takes about 1 hour.
Osterøy offers great opportunities for nature and cultural experiences, and a variety of activities.
Cultural experiences on Osterøy
Osterøy is an island based on craftsmanship and industrial traditions. In Mjøsvågen, an idyllic bay along the Osterfjord, you can see many examples of these traditions. In this little village there was a chest making workshop, blacksmiths, a wooden shoe factory, a metal foundry and a furniture factory. The last couple of years, the historical buildings have been brought back to life in the form of a café, gallery, village shop and guided tours during summer.
Mjøsvågen, Osterøy.
Osterøy Museum is located a 15 minute drive from Mjøsvågen. The museum is an open-air museum with buildings dating back to the 17th century. It has exhibitions about building styles, old crafts and costumes. It also has a cultural landscape trail with burial mounds.
Driving from Osterøy Museum to Havrå takes 15 minutes (you can choose to begin your journey on Osterøy at Havrå, and then go from there to Osterøy Museum. This way you don’t have to drive to Mjøsvågen first and then back towards Havrå).
Havrå is a farm and museum with a history that extends all the way back to the Bronze Age. The cluster of buildings and the old division of the land are still intact at the farm. The farm is a unique testament to the farming, building customs and way of life that prevailed on these farm clusters in Western Norway, located in steep terrain facing the Sørfjord.
If you drive 25 minutes from Mjøsvågen to Valestrandsfossen you will find the beautiful Old Hamre church. An inscription on the old main door is dated 1585, but there was a church located in this spot earlier than that, and Hamre was probably the site of the first church in the region of Nordhordland. A stave church is said to have been erected here, possibly as early as in 1024. Old Hamre church is situated in a strategically important site, where fjords from the south, north, east and west meet.
Hiking on Osterøy
Hike up the 17 hairpin bends at Kossdalssvingane
If you like hiking you should try the beautiful hike up the 17 hairpin bends at Kossdalsvingane, not far from Mjøsvågen. The hike takes about 1,5 hours back and forth and is a relatively easy hike, suitable for all ages.
Kossdalsvingane. Photo: visitOsterøy
Hike up Bruviknipa
Bruviknipa is perhaps the most popular hike on Osterøy. Bruviknipa ascends 822 metres above sea level from Bruvik, and offers impressive views of the fjord landscape from the top. The hike to the top is 2,5 kilometres long, and normally you use about 3 hours to the top and down again.
Accommodation on Osterøy
If you want to spend several days on Osterøy, we can recommend a stay at Fjordslottet. Surrounded by fjords and mountains - Fjordslottet Hotell welcomes you to a stately hotel experience. The hotel is located in Fotlandsvåg, about 10 minutes drive from Mjøsvågen. The hotel building was built by a merchant from Bergen, Carl Joacim Hambro, founder of Fotlandsvåg Bomullsspinnerie (cotton mill), in 1851, and the building was originally a stately private home for his family.
Fjordslottet hotel
Experience the Osterfjord on a fjord cruise
The fjord was the quickest and most important way of travelling to Bergen until just a few decades ago. The fjord boats transported both people and livestock in the fjords around Bergen. It could take one or even two days to get to Bergen from the communities in the innermost villages of the Osterfjord.
Today, you can experience the whole Osterfjord in just three hours on a Rødne fjord cruise to Mostraumen. This cruise lets you experience the huge contrasts in the landscape of the Bergen region, from the open landscape of the coast to the beautiful fjords and the high mountains innermost in the Osterfjord.
Read the brochure from Osterøy here.
Check out our other suggestions for road trips from Bergen.
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