That adventure weekend in Sognefjord, we got to experience some of the finest that Norway has to offer.

We walked along the Nærøyfjord, drove a car over Aurlandsfjellet Mountain Road and kayaked on the Aurlandsfjord. What a fantastic weekend we had in the area around the Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord.

Read also: Spring Magic in the Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord.
Read also: Autumn in the Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord.
Read also: A Winter adventure in the Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord.

From Undredal to Bakka and boat across the Nærøyfjord

We woke up to a beautiful day, and the sun was shining from a clear blue sky. We had breakfast on the pier at Undredal down by the Aurlandsfjord.

The movie Frozen I is inspired by this small village, with the surrounding steep mountains rising straight up from the fjord. It was difficult to break up, we could stay there all day long.

We drove to Gudvangen and continued out the fjord to Bakka. We had arranged in advance to meet Svein there, and he took us over the fjord in his boat. The boat took us over to Bleiklindi, the starting point of our hike along the Old Postal Road by the Nærøyfjord.

Most of the old postal road goes down by the fjord. It is an easy hike on a well prepared trail. The highest point of the trail is around 50 meters (this is just an assumption).

Hiking along the Nærøyfjord

The inner part of the Nærøyfjord was like a painting that day, with beautiful weather and with new motif’s turning up at almost every step we took. We passed small beautiful headlands like Holmo, Odnes and Klungrenes on our way to Styvi.

The six kilometer long trail is part of the Old Postal Road between Christiania (now Oslo) and Bergen.

In the old days, the usual way of carrying the mail was by boat between Lærdal and Gudvangen. During winter the mail was transported on the ice, but due to a lot of uncertainty regarding the ice, it was built a road partly on both sides of the Nærøyfjord between Styvi and Gudvangen.

We arrived at Styvi around midday. Styvi was the endpoint of our hike and the view from there was spectacular, both in and out the Nærøyfjord.

We relaxed on the pier at Styvi and enjoyed the view to the fjord and the surrounding mountains and waterfalls.

We had agreed with Svein in advance that he should pick us up at Styvi in his boat later that day, and we got a great boat trip inland across the fjord, back to Bakka which was the starting point of our fjord-adventure.

SEASON – June to August, depending on the weather, temperature and the amount of snow in the mountains. This is a landslide-prone area that is surrounded by high and steep mountains, there is a danger of both avalanches, landslides and rockslides. Always make your own judgment about this hazard before and during hikes in this area. We recommend not doing this hike in the spring and during and after rainfall because this increases the risk of landslides.

GUIDE – We recommend taking a guided tour of the Royal Postal Road along the Nærøyfjord: Fjord cruise and Guided Hike along the Nærøyfjord – From Flåm you can experience the Aurlandsfjord and the Nærøyfjord in a Rib-boat and walk along the Royal Postal Road from Bleiklndi to Styvi by the Nærøyfjord. The tour is provided by FjordSafari in Flåm.

OFFICIAL HIKE DESCRIPTION – Tour descriptions from fjords.com may be incomplete and inaccurate, errors and omissions may occur. Therefore, it is important to look for updated information from official information sources. You can search for most of the mountain hikes in Norway in the website UT.no. There you will find more accurate hike descriptions with maps, elevation profiles and other useful information. Unfortunately, UT.no has only Norwegian text and does not cover all the hikes on this website. Here is a hike description from UT.no about the hike along the old postal road between Styvi and Bleiklindi. Read about your own responsibility and about how to explore the Norwegian nature in a safe way. We recommend using a guide.

Gudvangen, Nærøydalen and Stalheim Viewpoint

Since the day was still young, we decided to see more of this beautiful area. We drove to Gudvangen at the innermost part of the Nærøyfjord and had a stroll around there before driving up the Nærøydalen Valley to Stalheim Hotel.

Stalheim Hotel is a great lookout for seeing the wild and narrow Nærøydalen Valley from above.

A copious day with many beautiful nature experiences was over, and we  already started to look forward to kayaking on the Aurlandsfjord the next day.

IMPORTANT! Due to the high risk of rock falls and due to the narrow and steep road along and below Stalheimskleiva, the Old Stalheimskleiva Road is now permanently closed to cars and other vehicles.

The old road along Stalheimskleiva has been maintained and repaired in recent years, so the road is now open to walkers. Do not stay longer than necessary and do not pitch a tent in this area due to the high risk of rock falls! The old road along Stalheimskleiva and the area around the road is closed in winter.

Driving Aurlandsfjellet National Tourist Route

After hiking along the Nærøyfjord the day before, we drove to Lærdal and stayed at the cozy Lærdal Hotel by the Lærdalsfjord, on the other side of the Aurlandsfjellet Mountain. The reason we stayed in Lærdal was that we planned to drive Aurlandsfjellet National Tourist Route to Undredal the next day, and then to kayak the Aurlandsfjord.

The road across Aurlandsfjellet is a journey across a mountain landscape of snow and rocks with the occasional sprig of grass. Aurlandsfjellet National Tourist Route is a 47-kilometer-long stretch of mountain road between Lærdal  and Aurland.

Stegastein Viewpoint is part of the road, 650 meters above the Aurlandsfjord. The view from Stegastein towards the Aurlandsfjord is spectacular.

The road between Aurland and Stegastein is open all year, but during winter the road is closed in the high mountain, between Stegastein and Erdal on the other side of the mountain. Erdal is a small village down by the Lærdalsfjord, close to Lærdal.

The road from Stegastein down to Aurland is steep and narrow, with a total of seven hairpin turns. We continued driving to Flåm, through the Flenjatunnelen Tunnel and down the Undredalsdalen Valley to Undredal by the Aurlandsfjord.

Kayaking out from Undredal on the Aurlandsfjord

At the beach at Undredal, close to Underdalsbui, we packed our kayaks and glided into the Aurlandsfjord. The feeling was fantastic, sitting in the kayak on the Aurlandsfjord outside Undredal. The silence, only surrounded by the fjord, the beautiful nature and the steep mountains.

Undredal is special for me, this is where I started kayaking in the fjords in the nineties. I still remember the feeling from that early morning, more than 20 years ago, the first time I paddled out from Undredal. The fjord was like a mirror that day, exactly how it was this day.

We paddled across the fjord towards the steep vertical rock face below the abandoned Nedbergo Mountain Farm. We always keep good distance to the rock face, you never know when a piece of rock may fall into the fjord.

We continued out the Aurlandsfjord, passed Mt Beitelen where the Aurlandsfjord devides into two fjords; the Aurlandsfjord and the Nærøyfjord.

Further out the fjord we discovered some seals lying on the shoreline. They are some curious creatures, and after they jumped into the fjord, they followed us for a long time.

We turned in the middle of the Aurlandsfjord and crossed the fjord to the other side before paddling back. We passed a small lighthouse out on a headland, about a kilometer before entering the Nærøyfjord.

There we had a break on land, from there it is great to look inwards towards Mt Beitelen and where the Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord divide.

We continued kayaking towards the UNESCO Protected Nærøyfjord and paddled a short distance into the Nærøyfjord before we turned back and paddled back into the Aurlandsfjord towards Undredal, the end of our adventure.

Our adventure was coming to an end, we´d had a wonderful few days in our favorite playground. The memories will be with us forever, and we will be back soon.

GUIDE – For safety reasons, we recommend guided kayak tours if you are going to kayak in the fjords. You can join guided kayak tours starting from Flåm in the innermost part of the Aurlandsfjord and from Gudvangen in the innermost part of the Nærøyfjord.

Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord – What to See and Do

Flåm, Aurland and Gudvangen are perfect starting points for experiences and activities in and around the Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord, two of the world’s most beautiful and dramatic fjords. On July 14, 2005, the Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord and the surrounding area were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List together with the Geirangerfjord. The Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord are both branches of the 204 kilometer long Sognefjord, which is located in the middle of Western Norway.

Visit Sognefjord

Visit Sognefjord is the official destination company for the Aurlandsfjord, Nærøyfjord and Sognefjord area.

Hotels and accommodation in the Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord area

Overview of hotels and other places where you can spend the night in the area around the Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord.

Sakte – Stay and Explore the Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord 



“Sakte” is a collaboration between companies that provide adventures, accommodation, dining and short-travelled food- and products. “Sakte” are located in the area around the Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord and is an offer for those who want to contribute to a sustainable society in the world heritage area.

The Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord – Map Overview