By David G. Molyneaux, editor, The Travel Mavens
In Flam, Norway, my wife and I boarded a tourist train to ride up a mountain and hike down -- well, at least part of the way down.
Flam is at the end of the world's longest (127 miles) and deepest (4,290 feet) fjord, a finger of seawater with steep rocky walls on either side and snow visible from some mountaintops even in summer.
Hundreds of passengers from our cruise ship, the Crystal Serenity, paid for a shore excursion that included a 55-minute ride from the Flam port on the world's steepest standard-gauge railway, which runs 12 miles from sea level to a mountain vista at Myrdal, at 2,840 feet. My wife and I bought our own train ticket (about $30 round trip). We had pre-arranged a guide through a recommendation by the Norwegian Tourist Board.
While the other cruise passengers stayed on the train for the entire return trip to Flam, we got out at a little station part way down the mountain and walked.
The woodsy trail that followed the Flam River was not difficult. We met local hikers and bicyclers. You can rent a bike to ride down the mountain. Two hours later, we stopped at a tiny rail station and flagged a Flam Railway train, riding for the final descent to the dock where our ship awaited.
The Norwegian Tourist Board recommended the tourism office in Flam, Norway, which includes a link to the Flam Railway.
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