Fjord Life in Hardanger – Staying at Hardanger Panorama Lodge

There are places in Norway that make you want to do very little. Not because there isn’t anything to do, but because simply being there somehow feels like enough. Hardangerfjord is one of those places.

On our latest trip to Norway, we spent a few days in Ulvik, a tiny village tucked away at the end of the Hardangerfjord, surrounded by steep mountains, orchards and water in almost every direction. Our home for the stay was the beautiful Hardanger Panorama Lodge – and the name really says it all. Perched high above Ulvik, Hardanger Panorama Lodge feels almost suspended between the trees and the fjord below.

The lodge is modern and beautifully simple, with huge windows framing the landscape rather than competing with it. From the moment we arrived, the fjord became part of everything – morning coffee, breakfast, quiet afternoons and those long Scandinavian summer evenings when nobody really feels like going inside.

It is the kind of place where you naturally slow down. And while Hardanger is filled with famous sights and spectacular hikes, this time we wanted to experience a little more of the everyday fjord life. We went swimming at the local beach, wandered around the tiny harbour in Ulvik, stopped for coffee and simply spent time by the water. Boats came and went, the mountains changed colour with the light, and life moved at a wonderfully different pace.

Sometimes the best travel days are the ones without much of an itinerary.

Cider country

One thing you quickly realise in Hardanger is that apples are everywhere. The steep hillsides around the fjord are covered in orchards, and Ulvik is home to Norway’s only Fruit & Cider Route, connecting three local farms producing fruit, apple juice and traditional Hardanger cider.

We visited Syse Gard, a family-run fruit, meat and cider farm dating back to 1888. There are 3 farms just close to each other in Ulvik. Syse produces its own cider and apple juice alongside jams, fruit and traditional cured meats, and during summer you can sit outside overlooking the landscape with a cider tasting.

It is a lovely way to understand a little more about Hardanger. The fjord may be the dramatic backdrop, but the orchards and farms are just as much part of the identity of this region.

Returning to Vøringsfossen

Of course, we couldn’t come back to Hardanger without revisiting Vøringsfossen. We have been here before, and it remains one of those places that is almost impossible to capture properly in photographs.

The waterfall plunges 182 metres from the Hardangervidda plateau into the dramatic Måbødalen valley below. You hear it before you really take in the scale of it – an enormous rush of water disappearing into the gorge. It’s impossible to take a “true” Picture, you just have to go experience it yourself ;-).

This time, however, there was something new for us. Since our previous visit, a spectacular step bridge has been built across the river above the waterfall. Designed by Norwegian architect Carl-Viggo Hølmebakk, the bridge stretches 47 metres across the landscape with 99 steps connecting the two sides. It was hobestly a Little scary for those of us that are affraid of heights, but we all made it over and back again.

Norway has always been exceptionally good at this particular combination of architecture and wilderness: adding just enough structure to allow you to experience the landscape differently, without taking attention away from nature itself.

The beauty of staying a little longer

Hardanger is easily the kind of place you could race through – stopping at waterfalls, viewpoints and famous landmarks before continuing to the next destination. But I think you would miss something.

Staying for a few days allowed us to discover the quieter side of the fjord: swimming from the local beach, drinking cider among the orchards, having coffee by the harbour and coming home to our little lodge above the water.

It wasn’t really about ticking things off a list. It was about fjord life. And waking up at Hardanger Panorama Lodge with the entire Hardangerfjord outside the window might just be one of my favourite ways of experiencing Norway.

Last time we visited Hardanger we stayed here, which I also would still recommend for anyone visiting this region of Norway <3.