Olden Cruise Port Guide: Briksdal Glacier, Loen Skylift and the Head of Nordfjord

Olden is the call that Norwegian fjord itineraries are usually built around. The ship spends the early morning threading the long, narrow inner reach of Nordfjord, mountains rising sheer on both sides, before sliding alongside the deep-water pier at the head of the fjord. A scatter of white houses, a wooden church and a green valley climbing away to the south: that is most of the village from the deck. The headline attractions are not in Olden itself but in the valley behind it.

Two excursions account for the vast majority of what passengers do here. The first is the troll-car run up to Briksdal Glacier, an arm of the Jostedalsbreen icecap that sits 25 km south of the village at the head of the Oldedalen valley. The second is the Loen Skylift, a cable car that climbs 1,011 m in about five minutes to a restaurant terrace on Mount Hoven, opened in 2017 and now one of the most photographed places on the Norwegian coast. Beyond those, the turquoise Lovatnet lake, the small Old Church of 1759 and a quiet walk along the fjord fill out the day.

This guide covers the dock arrangements at Olden, the walk into the village, getting to Briksdal independently or by ship shuttle, what the Loen Skylift actually involves, and how the day fits together if your call is the typical eight to ten hours. It also takes an honest view of the weather: Stryn sees more than two metres of rain a year, and a fjord day can easily turn out grey.

Port Overview

Getting From the Port to Town

Top Excursions

More Experiences in Olden

Things to Do in Olden

Most of what passengers come to Olden for is in the valleys behind the village rather than in Olden itself. The two headline trips, Briksdal Glacier and the Loen Skylift, sit in opposite directions: Briksdal up the long Oldedalen valley to the south, the Skylift 6 km up the fjord shore to the northeast at Loen. Doing both in a single day is feasible on a long call but tight; most passengers pick one and add the village or Lovatnet around it.

Olden village itself is small. The walk in from the pier takes about a quarter of an hour and the old church, the Singerheimen museum and a handful of shops are within a few minutes of each other once you arrive.

• Briksdal Glacier (Briksdalsbreen). The headline excursion. An arm of the Jostedalsbreen icecap, mainland Europe’s largest glacier, reached by a 25 km drive south through the green Oldedalen valley to the Briksdalsbre Fjellstove cafe and lodge. From there you either walk up to the glacier viewpoint (about 45 minutes uphill each way on a rough track) or take the open-sided troll-car shuttle, which costs around NOK 300 per adult round trip and turns the whole visit into a 90-minute round including time at the viewpoint. The terminus sits at 346 m above the small Briksdalsbrevatnet lake; the glacier has retreated sharply since 2000 and the front no longer reaches the water as it did in the 1990s.
• Loen Skylift to Mount Hoven. Opened in May 2017, the Loen Skylift climbs 1,011 m from sea level at Loen to the summit of Mount Hoven in about five minutes, with a maximum gradient of 60 degrees that puts it among the steepest aerial tramways anywhere. The cable runs 1,524 m and at one point the gondola hangs 170 m above the rocks. At the top the Hoven Restaurant and Bar seats around 370 across two sections and the view takes in the whole inner reach of Nordfjord. Adult return fares are about NOK 505. The base station is 6 km from the cruise pier, around 10 minutes by shuttle or taxi.
• Lovatnet (Lake Lo). An 11 km turquoise lake fed by meltwater from Jostedalsbreen and Tindefjellbreen, about 2 km southeast of Loen. The colour is genuine glacial flour and looks almost luminous on a sunny day. The lake is also the site of two of the deadliest natural disasters in modern Norwegian history: rockfalls from Ramnefjellet in 1905 and 1936 sent waves of up to 40 m and 74 m down the lake, killing 61 and 74 people respectively and destroying the villages of Bodal and Nesdal. A small memorial sits at Nesdal.
• Olden Old Church (Gamle kyrkje). A whitewashed wooden church from 1759, set on a small graveyard rise above the fjord on the edge of the village. The site has held a church since around 1300, when a stave church stood here; the present building was restored in the early twentieth century with help from the American painter William H. Singer Jr. Inside it is plain and pleasing; outside the view down the fjord is the one most cruise passengers come away with. Free to enter; opening hours vary, often around 11:00 to 17:00 in season.
• Singerheimen. The home and studio of William H. Singer Jr (1868-1943), an American painter and heir to a Pittsburgh steel fortune who first came to Olden in 1912 and spent the rest of his life dividing his time between here and the Netherlands. He paid for a hospital, a school and roads in the valley, and the family villa is now a small museum and gallery covering his paintings, his friends and the village in his time. A 15-minute walk from the pier.
• Oldedalen Valley Drive. The 25 km road south from Olden up to Briksdal is one of the prettiest short drives in Norway: a long green valley with two further turquoise lakes (Floen and Oldevatnet) on the way, working farms, and the icecap visible at the head of the valley on a clear day. Most ship excursions and private shuttles will pause for photographs at one or two points; an independent taxi or hire car lets you stop where you like.
• Stryn Village and the Old Stryn Road. Stryn village, 16 km from Olden, is the regional shopping town and the starting point of the historic Gamle Strynefjellsvegen (Old Stryn Mountain Road), one of Norway’s designated national tourist routes east over the mountains. The summit pass is summer-only and not usually included in a cruise call, but Stryn itself is a useful stop if you want a bigger supermarket or a wider choice of cafes than Olden offers.
• Fjord-Edge Walk in Olden. The simple walk along the southern shore of Nordfjord from the pier into the village is a pleasant 15 minutes each way and gives you the church, the river, the new bridge and the back-of-village view of the mountains. For those not booked on an excursion, extending this with the Old Church and Singerheimen makes a relaxed half-day on foot for no cost beyond a coffee in the village.

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Getting Around

Essential Travel Tips

All-aboard, not the headline sight, is the time most Olden cruise days are organised around: the journey back to the ship rewards a margin. A short packing list works in your favour: layers, water, sun protection, and shoes that handle the local pavements.

For first-time cruisers in Olden, the choice between a shore excursion and independent travel is one of the few decisions that shapes the whole day, and the honest answer changes by destination. Walking-distance ports reward independence; long-distance day trips reward the buffer that comes with a ship’s coach.

Excursions are worth the premium in some ports and not in others. Olden sits in the middle: ship tours carry real logistical value on long day trips, but the city itself is straightforward enough that your spending money goes further on independent food, taxis and the occasional museum.

Repeat visitors to Olden often time their next cruise around shoulder season; the difference in crowd density and cabin pricing is significant. Visa and passport rules rarely catch UK passengers out here, but the right cabin choice can make the rest of the cruise more comfortable than any single port day.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ready to Explore Olden?

Olden is the kind of fjord call that rewards a clear plan. Pick one of the headline trips, Briksdal or the Skylift, book it ahead on a two-ship day, and use the rest of the time for the walk into the village and the Old Church. Leave a buffer for weather, take a layer for the summit and a waterproof for the valley, and the day delivers the postcard view of the Norwegian fjords that the itinerary promises.