Norway's ‘most beautiful' city is the base for a family fjord vacation

My 2-year-old daughter's howls of protest echoed through the previously silent forest of towering Norway spruce.

We just needed to take a steep two-mile hike to get to a historic village of tiny homes. I had brought a baby-carrier backpack expressly for this occasion, but our independent Petra was not having it. Why be restrained when the trail below was covered in lovely stones? But if we let her stop for every pebble, we'd be on the mountain into the evening - and a thick mist was moving in.

My partner Sabrina and I tried a fifth time to hoist the obstinate tot into the sling, and she finally relented. We forded a creek and reached Rakssetra.

In a rocky goat pasture, an immaculate row of little sod-roof shelters stood watch over snowcapped peaks. The head of a 66-mile-long fjord sat far below. Petra appreciated the place too, running carefree around the meadow with the goats. It was a singular moment on our seven-day Norwegian trip.

After a long winter at home last year and a loss in the family, Sabrina had suggested to me, "How about an easy, slow vacation on a fjord?" Instead of our usual European approach, pre-baby, of 13-hour days of driving and sightseeing, this time we would try to stay in one spot and unwind, skipping big cities entirely.

I took it as an order - first searching for destinations we could connect to from Oslo's airport. Soon I landed on Alesund, frequently cited as Norway's most beautiful city. Better still: I found a listing for a "child-friendly holiday home" on a lake outside of town. Our plan was set.

In June, we descended into Alesund's Vigra airport on Scandinavian Airlines, marveling out the window at the endless mountains, fjords, isles, villages and sea. On the ground, I somehow scored an upgrade to an all-electric Lexus SUV - Norway is also the most EV-friendly country on the planet - and we headed across bridges, tunnels and islands to our rental home.

At first, it felt like a Minnesota lake cottage. Outside was a playset and a trampoline. A wooden staircase descended to a pebbly beach on a long, cold lake, where the sun wouldn't set until well after midnight. Inside the house, though, was a loft with a dollhouse, a pony house and well-curated boxes of toys, with a kids bedroom below and a living room with a case of children's books. Petra immediately went to work.

Were we spoiling the child by building a travel plan around her? Or were we simply acknowledging that she was a member of the family and it was her vacation too? I just hoped that the rest of Norway was this kid-friendly.

Keeping it local

Alesund made it easy to stay low-key and local. Crammed onto a string of narrow islands between shimmering fjords, the city of 60,000 earns "most beautiful" status because after a 1904 fire, it was rebuilt in the Art Nouveau style.

Cruise ships release passengers daily to see the bright, ornate facades lining the harbor. But the million-krone view, and the stuff of a thousand Insta posts, is from the Aksla bluff that rises high over the city center, accessible by car or a set of 418 steps.

We returned to Aksla, and the neighborhood at its base, almost daily. Our daughter approved of the sprawling, whimsical playground, flanked on three sides by colorful public institutions. When we noticed families streaming into the sold-out Parken Kulturhus theater, we scored tickets for the next night of the local children's talent show, with Euro-kid staples like ABBA's "I Have a Dream" and a scene from "The Diary of Anne Frank." During intermission, Petra snuck upstairs to the backstage area and played with crafts alongside the young performers.

Another day, we hit Alesund's ultramodern new aquatic center, called Bybadet, because nothing says Nordic culture like a public pool house. Amid all-white design, there were several pools, hot tubs, a zero-entry wavepool, a therapy bath, a winding fast-current channel, and even a high-speed waterslide or two. But most of the action was in the foot-deep children's pool, where Petra joined babies and kids riding mini slides into the warm water, as parents lounged unselfconsciously.

Dining out with a noisy, wandering toddler was a mixed bag, particularly at Green Garden in the four-star Hotel 1904, where I sensed a patron was going to ask us to leave before we stood up.

We fared better at the pier-side Molo Brew, with its familiar mix of couches, games, burgers and taps, but I suspected Norwegians were eyeing our child more with bemusement than amusement. No matter - everyone rushed outside when the daily mist gave way to a broad rainbow that arced across the bay.

Fjord excursion

I always imagined Norway's fjords as basic little fingers jutting into the coast. In reality, they're like an intricate interior network of waterways, formed when glacier-carved mountain-range gaps were flooded by the sea. Fjord country is a rugged aquatic realm where, satisfyingly, ferries are essential to getting around.

The most famous fjord around here is scenic Geirangerfjord, which reaches so far inland that you can take a daylong catamaran cruise from Alesund to see it (or as part of a longer ocean cruise). Due to the antsy kid, we opted to drive to Geirangerfjord for a day trip, starting with a 15-minute ride across nearby Storfjord on a sleek, silent car ferry.

Two hours later, we drove onto the classic ferry MF Bolsøy, and climbed up to the passenger deck for a slow cruise through snaking, nine-mile Geirangerfjord. Verdant, snowcapped mountains rose sharply from the turquoise waters. The Seven Sisters waterfall plunged into the channel, first looking like a line of bridal veils but appearing taller and more powerful as we approached. Petra climbed to the second rung of the railing to revel in the cool winds.

At the end of the fjord, the village of Geiranger was dwarfed by cruise ships. We encountered our only tourist throng of the whole trip at Westerås, a restaurant/resort with a "Game of Thrones"-like name and soaring fjord views. So after lunch, we hit the national scenic highway in search of those fairy houses of Rakssetra - rising to barren, icy elevations before descending into the festive town of Stryn on Friday evening.

It was here where I felt myself start to doze at the wheel. My daughter's restlessness in a new place the night before was taking its toll. Far from our cottage, we would have to find lodging.

After the Rakssetra hike and struggling over that baby carrier, we checked in last-minute at the Havila Hotel Raftevold, a roadside inn that backs up to gorgeous Hornindalsvatn, the deepest lake in all of Europe at 1,686 feet. In fjord country, even the lakes are long, narrow and bottomless.

So we had failed, somewhat, at staying close to Alesund, but our impromptu road trip gave us an extra day to explore the fjords on the way back. We drove through obscure mountain passes, walked to more sod huts, relaxed on ferries - and narrowly avoided the Lexus running out of juice as we coasted into a hilltop Tesla Supercharger with the range monitor at zero.

That was a close one. The proprietor of the station was happy to help a confused driver with the charging adapter. Of course, upon finding out we were Americans, he mainly wanted to talk about Elon Musk.

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This story was originally published April 20, 2026 at 5:05 AM.