In the Summer of 2025 my family of four including two young kids (age 4 and 5) explored Bergen, Norway for three days. Taking the kids on a Scandinavian train with a kid play area- while they were still young enough to enjoy it was one of my travel parent goals.
When we found decent nonstop flights to Copenhagen on SAS we backed into Norway as our train ride destination because there is a flight from Oslo to Billund where Lego HQ is located. We decided to do the Norway in a Nutshell tour (learn more about that part of our trip here) to experience the play area train cars on the journey from Bergen to Oslo. Also, my youngest child is obsessed with Elsa, so we got them excited about the chance to see the land where Elsa is from.
Why Bergen with Kids:
Incredible playgrounds, an accessible aquarium, breathtaking scenery, and a chance to see the town Araendelle is based on.
Planning:
We booked our August 2025 trip to Norway to include Bergen, Flåm and Oslo. We decided to make our first connecting flight ever with kids and fly from Copenhagen to Bergen on the first day of our trip.
Experience:
We started our trip with three nights at the Radisson Blu in Bergen. The family room at the hotel was pretty awesome– the hotel is tucked behind the historic main street and has a family room loft that overlooked the harbor. The first floor of the loft had a bathroom, large sitting area and dining table. The large upstairs room had a bathroom, pull-out sofa bed and double bed with harbor views. While it would have been nice if the kids had a separate bedroom, this set-up still enabled the adults to spend time on the first floor while the kids slept, plus it still gave us more space than a traditional hotel room. The hotel was across the street from a basic grocery store so we could get some simple food, but there was no microwave or way to heat food in the room.
We experienced the stereotypical rain in Bergen, but still made the most of our time there. A trip to the aquarium which included a penguin feeding and sea lion show was a great introduction to the city on our first day, and lunch at the seafood market is not to be missed. We also found a cool playground with in-ground trampolines which was the perfect way for my kids to get their energy out when we explored around the hotel between rain showers.
For people traveling with kids, one thing to note is the Egon restaurant has a play area inside of it near the restrooms. It featured a slide, some toys and screens with video games for the kids. I am somewhat ashamed to admit we ate there all three nights of our stay in Bergen because our kids were so excited to play there, and eat chicken fingers and pancakes for dinner.
Our second and more adventurous day in Bergen included a trip up the funicular for incredible views of Bergen, and the coolest playgrounds of the trip. There was a troll themed playground and wooden troll forest at the top of the hill that had some incredible climbing structures and whimsy to it. There were also goats just hanging out, and an interesting one room accommodation called The Cone tucked into the trees.
Fløirestauranten, a restaurant at the top of the mountain, ended up being our most scenic and delicious meal in Norway. We got a table in the corner of the restaurant with incredible views of Bergen below, and the salad (I forgot a a picture) of was incredibly fresh and delicious! The kids happily ate the warm bread and even some of their ham and cheese sandwiches they ordered which we considered a family win.
After lunch we began our hike back down into Bergen. On the way down we found the most magical playground tucked into the woods. It had amazing ropes courses and a tree house-like play structure with a huge winding metal slide kids could go down. The setting in the lush forest was breathtaking. Unfortunately, we did cut the play short when we get a bunch of unexpected rain which made the walk down the mountain colder and wetter than anticipated- even in August. After warming up, we spent a portion of the afternoon drinking hot chocolate and eating waffles with brown cheese at Kaf Kafe Bryggen, which is nestled into the historic old town part of the city.
After everyone warmed up we did fit in a quick trip to Håkon’s Hall right before it closed. We really tried to play up the connection to Frozen for the kids while in the museum- calling out names that were similar to characters in the movies, and even pointing out when the artwork looked like something from the movie. Fortunately, the kids were able to stretch their imagination, and they got excited to be in the land of Anna and Elsa.
Lessons Learned:
- Rain pants are essential in Bergen- even on days that are not calling for rain
- But rain pants on a wet metal slide aren’t a good idea
- The right travel toys make a huge difference when spending dry cozy time in your hotel room
- The Bergen Card may not make sense for your family if you need to spend time adjusting to the time change and rainy weather
- Maybe somebody else will have better luck, but I could not find an Elsa experience in Bergen (or Oslo for that matter). My youngest became obsessed with Elsa after attending a birthday party with an Elsa performer, and I tried so hard to find a similar Elsa performer to make Norway feel more “Elsa like” to balance out my kids’ interests since the Lego portion of our trip was for our older child.
Travel Gear:
- Rain coats, Rain pants, rain boots and umbrellas for everyone
- Clixo toys
- Uppababy Minu stroller with rain cover
- Toddler carrier
- Drawing tablets
- Check out my travel gear page for a full list of my recommendations. Please know I can make a commission from products that help offset the cost of maintaining this blog.
Final Thoughts:
Making Bergen the first leg of our trip when everyone would have less energy and need time to adjust to the time change was the right call given the cold rainy weather we experienced. While some people may be intimidated to travel there with kids, the aquarium, unique playgrounds and funicular made it an accessible and mostly enjoyable trip for young kids.
My biggest Bergen regret was not buying a water bottle at Baker Brun, the delicious bakery chain in Bergen. They were super cute, but I decided against it because I thought the kids would insist on getting them too which would be a lot of gear to add to our bags during the first three days of our Scandinavian adventure.
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