A disputed ranking
Waterfalls are measured differently, so the lists vary between sources.
Alfred Diem — CC BY 2.0 · Rüdiger Stehn from Kiel, Deutschland — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Rüdiger Stehn from Kiel, Deutschland — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Øyvind Holmstad — CC BY-SA 4.0
A waterfall above the village of Gudvangen at the head of the Nærøyfjord, descending in a series of drops with a total height exceeding seven hundred metres, and ranked among the world's tallest. The ranking itself is disputed: Norway is full of waterfalls measured by different methods — some counting only the highest free fall, others the whole cascade — so the orderings vary considerably between sources. Kjelfossen's highest free drop is about a hundred and fifty metres, the rest being successive slides. It is seen directly from Gudvangen and from the road, and from the fjord boats that leave from there. Gudvangen itself sits at the end of the Nærøyfjord, the narrowest arm of the Sognefjord and on the World Heritage list: about two hundred and fifty metres wide at its tightest point, with walls rising seventeen hundred metres. Viewing is free from the village and the road.
Waterfalls are measured differently, so the lists vary between sources.
The narrowest and most enclosed arm of the Sognefjord.
Fjord cruises leave directly from Gudvangen.
Near Gudvangen, the Nærøyfjord
An arm of the Sognefjord, Norway's longest, and regarded as Europe's narrowest and most dramatic fjord. It runs about seventeen kilometres and is only about two hundred and fifty metres wide at its tightest, with walls rising to seventeen hundred metres that keep the sun off its villages for months in winter. It was listed as World Heritage with the Geirangerfjord in 2005.
The best-known route is Norway in a Nutshell: train from Bergen to Voss, bus to Gudvangen down the steep Nærøy valley, boat through the Nærøyfjord to Flåm, the Flåm railway to Myrdal and the train back. It can be booked as one ticket or assembled yourself more cheaply. The full circuit is a long day from Bergen and back.
Sign in to write your review of this place.
No reviews yet — be the first.