The world's most beautiful train journey
The Flåm Railway is considered one of the most beautiful rail journeys in the world and is one of Norway’s major tourist attractions. Every year, this amazing railway line attracts visitors from around the world and in 2014 Lonely Planet named it the world's most beautiful train journey.
Today the journey through the steep and narrow Flåm valley, with views of mighty waterfalls, picturesque mountain farms and tall peaks, takes about 60 minutes and connects with most day trains on the Bergen Railway between Bergen and Oslo.
The railway is open every day all year. The scenery changes throughout the year but is no less spectacular whatever time you come. You will see rivers carving their way through deep gorges, waterfalls leaping off steep mountainsides with snow-covered peaks, as well as mountain farms clinging tenaciously to steep slopes. Departing at Flåm station the beautiful Aurlandsfjord is only a few metres away.
Scroll down for a minute by minute video from the driver's cabin.
Engineering skills
The Flåm Railway was built between 1923 and 1940 in order to assure a transport route to the fjord from Bergen and Oslo. As one of the world’s steepest railway lines on normal track with a height difference of 864 metres and an average gradient of 1 in 18, it is proof of the most daring and skilful engineering exploits in Norwegian history. The 20 km long railway line has 20 tunnels in total, most of them excavated by hand. There is even a horseshoe-shaped tunnel that spirals in and out of the mountain.
It was opened 1st August 1940, with two steam trains in each direction that connected with the day trains on the Bergen Railway Line. Electrification was completed in 1944 making it one of the first railway lines in Norway to be electrified.
Combine with other activities
A trip on the Flåm Railway is for everyone. You can do a sightseeing return trip, use it as a part of your travel to or from Flåm, or you can combine it with other activities such as hiking, cycling, or zipline.
The old construction road, Rallarvegen (the Navvies road), was built in order to transport materials up to the mountains when the Bergen Line was built around 1900. Today it is a popular cycling route, and you can choose to cycle the full length of the road from Haugastøl or a 2-days trip, start at Finse for a scenic full-day tour to the fjord, or just cycle the last leg between Myrdal and Flåm.
Flåm Zipline opened in 2018 as Scandinavia’s longest zipline. The railway is the only way to get to the starting point at Vatnahalsen, and we recommend combining it with cycling on the Navvies Road back to Flåm for a half day action filled adventure.
Those who properly want to explore the valley can walk from Myrdal or Vatnahalsen to Flåm. The approx. 17 km long road is partly gravel partly paved and mostly downhill. If you rather want to do a mountain hike, there choices are many starting at either Myrdal, Vatnahalsen or Reinunga stations.
Not able to travel right now? Ride along from the train driver's perspective, minute by minute from Myrdal to Flåm on the world famous Flåm railway in summer 2020. Enjoy the ride!
Join travel reporter Ian Wright on a 9 minutes journey to Flåm and the Flåm Railway: