This is a review of the Red Bus tour Bergen city. These tour buses are found in many cities around Europe. They appear priced commensurate with the local economy - a sort of red bus equivalent to the insightful Big Mac Index (if you've not heard of this index do look it up).
This 13 stop tour was £33 a person, is mildly interesting and takes about 40 slow minutes as the centre is narrow and windy.
The WiFi didn't work and sometimes the growl of the engine made the recorded guide piped through earphones hard to hear. Added to this the seats are uncomfortable and as the bus drove the pre recorded guide voice stopped mid sentence and jumped to describe the next site as some are so close together. So we missed out on full descriptions.
The WiFi didn't work either. This tour was only tipped over to being worth it as it brought us back to the ship once we finished exploring. We did an exceptional red bus tour in York England about 6 weeks ago for £12 that had a wonderful human guide and all worked.
We sat through all 13 Bergen stops and then stayed on to return to the one we decided to see first. In our case it was the last one, stop 13. Once we were done meandering we hopped on to return to stop 8 - near the port to return to Norwegian Prima whose captain on this trip is also a very proud Norwegian.
Bergen, birthplace of Edvard Grieg and Ludvig Holberg is Norway's second largest city yet the centre is quaint, small and very hilly in places. We stopped by St. Mary's Church as it is the only remaining of the twelve churches and three monasteries that were built in Bergen; it's the oldest building in Bergen and about a 1,000 years old.
It also has the Fløibanen funicular which takes about 8 minutes to go to the top of Mount Fløyen to see across the city and beyond. £11 return for 1,000 feet each way.
Bergen is Norway's largest fish producer and centre for aquaculture a trade that sustains Norway (with oil and gas for now) and it worth billions annually. The fish market is worth a visit but dining there will not be cheap - if you stay with cod it's about £25 a person for lunch but this can about double for Alaskan snow crab and lobster.
English is widely spoken. The locals are polite and the city is beautifully manicured. Expect to pay about £4 for coffee, £4 for a pastry with higher cafe prices to sit in rather than take away. read more