Briksdal Glacier from a cruise ship: which port, and how long?
Four Norwegian cruise ports sell the same glacier. One of them is forty minutes away. One of them is seven and a half hours.
Short answer
Do it from Olden. Nowhere else is this a normal shore excursion on a normal port day. The coach runs 40 to 45 minutes up the Oldedalen valley, the booked trip is four hours, and even walking the valley on your own you are back aboard inside six.
From Nordfjordeid it is ninety minutes each way and five and a half hours all in. From Måløy it is seven and a half hours. Private trips from Geiranger and Nordfjordeid run nine and ten hours. Same glacier, same valley, same walk at the end. The only thing that changes is how much of your day the coach takes.
So the question is not whether Briksdal is worth seeing. It is whether your itinerary includes Olden. If it does, wait for that day.
The comparison
How long Briksdal takes from each port
These are the operators’ own published timings, not estimates.
Olden — about 4 hours. Forty to forty-five minutes up the valley, time at the glacier, and back. The shortest by a wide margin, because Olden is the port that sits at the mouth of the right valley.
Nordfjordeid — 5.5 hours. Ninety minutes each way, two and a half hours at the glacier. The drive runs along Hornindalsvatnet, the deepest lake in Europe at 514 metres, which is the one honest argument for taking it from here. The bus then drives towards Olden to reach the valley.
Måløy — 7.5 hours. Fjord Guiding publishes this on its own site at NOK 1195 for an adult. That is the same price as its five-and-a-half-hour Geirangerfjord trip, so the two extra hours of coach cost you nothing and gain you nothing.
Geiranger and Nordfjordeid, private — 9 and 10 hours. These exist, they are sold, and they cost well over a thousand euros for a small group. They are a full day each.
One detail worth knowing. Nordfjord Havn runs the cruise quays at both Måløy and Olden. The same port authority sells a seven-and-a-half-hour coach to a glacier that sits three quarters of an hour from its own other quay.
At the glacier
What actually happens when you get there
The coach stops at the car park by Briksdalsbreen Fjellstove. From there it is roughly three kilometres up the valley to the viewpoint above the glacial lake.
You have two ways to cover it. Walk the whole thing, on a gravel track that climbs steadily, or take a troll car. The troll cars are small open electric vehicles that run up the track and stop about five hundred metres short of the viewpoint. So you walk the last stretch either way.
They have limited capacity and they fill on busy cruise days. If your trip does not include one, book ahead rather than arriving and hoping.
The other thing to expect is distance from the ice itself. Briksdalsbreen has retreated a long way up the valley within living memory, and what you reach now is a viewpoint over a green glacial lake with the ice above and behind it. It is still worth the walk. It is just not the wall of ice in the old postcards.
Booking
The Olden trip, and the cheaper ways to do it
The guided excursion from the Olden pier is the straightforward option: a coach up Oldedalen and a walk to the glacier, coordinated to your ship. It is not the cheapest way, and it is not pretending to be.
There is a public bus, though there is essentially one departure that fits a port day and one back, and it can fill. There is an independent shuttle from the pier that includes the troll car and runs noticeably cheaper than the ship’s own tour. Both leave you responsible for your own return time, which is the trade you are making.
I have written all of that up properly, with the current prices, on the Olden page: Briksdal Glacier or the Loen Skylift from Olden.
Guided coach-and-hike from the Olden pier up the Oldedalen valley to Briksdal Glacier; about 3 km on foot to the glacier face.
Check availabilityIf Olden is not on your list
What to do instead at the other ports
Every port that sells Briksdal has something closer that it does better. That is usually the honest answer.
At Nordfjordeid, the Myklebust ship at Sagastad is 700 metres from the pier. It is the largest Viking ship ever found in Norway, rebuilt full size, and you can walk on board. Five and a half hours on a coach is a strange trade for that. Sagastad or Briksdal from Nordfjordeid.
At Måløy, the town was the target of Operation Archery in December 1941, the first Allied raid of the war to combine army, navy and air force under one command. The centre that tells the story is a walk up from the harbour. Raid Centre or Briksdal from Måløy.
At Geiranger, you are already inside a UNESCO fjord. Spending nine hours driving away from it to see a glacier is the clearest example on this page of buying the wrong day. The Geiranger port guide.
And if Olden is your port, the full guide is here: Olden cruise port.
Quick answers
Which cruise port is closest to Briksdal Glacier?
Olden. The glacier is a 40 to 45 minute drive from the Olden cruise quay up the Oldedalen valley, and the guided shore excursion is a four-hour trip. Walk the valley yourself instead of taking a troll car and it runs nearer 4.5 to 6 hours. No other Norwegian cruise port is close.
How long does Briksdal Glacier take from each port?
About four hours from Olden. Five and a half hours from Nordfjordeid, with 90 minutes of driving each way. Seven and a half hours from Måløy. Private trips from Geiranger and Nordfjordeid run nine and ten hours. It is the same glacier in every case.
Is Briksdal Glacier worth it from Måløy?
For most people, no. The operator publishes it as a seven-and-a-half-hour day at NOK 1195 for an adult, which is the same price as its five-and-a-half-hour Geirangerfjord trip. The glacier is 40 to 45 minutes from Olden. If Olden is anywhere on your itinerary, do it there instead.
Do you have to walk to Briksdal Glacier?
Some of it, yes. From the car park at Briksdalsbreen Fjellstove it is roughly three kilometres up the valley to the viewpoint at the glacial lake. Troll cars, the open electric buggies, cover most of that and stop about 700 metres short, so you walk the last stretch either way. The path is gravel and it climbs.
What are the troll cars at Briksdal?
Small open electric vehicles that carry you up the valley track from the car park towards the glacier. They have limited capacity and they fill on busy cruise days, so book ahead rather than turning up. They do not go all the way: you walk the final few hundred metres to the lake.
Can you get to Briksdal Glacier without a tour?
From Olden, yes, with care. There is a public bus, but there is essentially one departure that fits a port day and one back, and it can fill. There is also an independent shuttle from the pier that includes the troll car. Both are cheaper than the ship excursion. Both leave you responsible for your own return time.
Is Briksdal Glacier shrinking?
Yes, and visibly. The ice has retreated a long way up the valley within living memory, which is why the walk from the car park is longer now than the old photographs suggest. What you reach is a viewpoint above a glacial lake, not the foot of the ice.
Sources
- Olden: Shore excursion durations and the Oldedalen valley drive from the operators selling at the Olden quay, and from Nordfjord Havn.
- Nordfjordeid: Ninety minutes each way and a five-and-a-half-hour round trip, from the pier operator timetable published by Visit Nordfjordeid.
- Måløy: Seven and a half hours and NOK 1195 for an adult, published by Fjord Guiding on visitmly.no.
- Port authority: Nordfjord Havn operates the cruise quays at both Måløy and Olden.
- Reviewed: Reviewed 28 July 2026. Confirm timings, prices and troll car availability with the operator before you sail.