So incredibly peaceful (if you manage to come on off hours when the place isn't swarmed with tourists). If you have a small tour, you can stop at multiple view pints along the road up and see the town below, it's gorgeous.
"I could take Sean Connery in a fight...I could definitely take him." -Harrison Fjord
On a clear day, from the spectacular Stegastein lookout you will have postcard-worthy, panoramic views of Aurlandsfjord and the surrounding mountains from over 2,000 feet above sparkling, teal water. You may even catch a glimpse of Wile E. Coyote falling most unceremoniously off the edge!
Be prepared that the 100-foot-long lookout gets extremely crowded with people and tripods. But if your patience runs out as you wait for an unobstructed view, you can always nudge yourself into a spot a la Harrison clashing with Connery.
If you book your tour through the Flåm tourist center, plan on a duration of about an hour and a half, which includes a half-hour stop at the lookout.
The drive via tour bus or car terrifies with narrow roads, steep drop offs, and hairpin curves. Though the roads are not wide enough for two vehicles, traffic runs in both directions, resulting in vehicles needing to periodically backup to the nearest passing spot to allow others to proceed. The ride will be worth it though--you can't affjord to skip it!
There is a small parking lot just past the lookout, but it fills up quickly with tour buses, not leaving a lot of room for cars. Get there early to score a spot. While there, you can make use of the Stegastein Lookout bathroom, which overlooks the fjords as well. It is a destination unto itself as it earned the award of "Most Beautiful Toilet" from Design Curial Magazine in 2015. Even Eileen Fjord would be impressed!
Make sure to toss this destination into your Norwegian bucket list of lutefisk lye. Oh, and don't forget to look down off the ledge and squint really hard. Who knows, you might just see a certain unlucky coyote landing with a splat below.
*Fun Fact* Harrison Fjord was fitting a door for Francis Fjord Coppola when a studio executive asked him to read some lines for the character of Han Solo in Star Wars.
We had a rental car so had driven from Flåm taking route E16 towards Aurland. There was very limited parking but we found a spot along the side of the road and it was a quick walk to the viewpoint lookout. We got amazing pictures and the whole stop took less than 20 minutes. It was definitely worth the stop!!!
I can stare at the views the whole day! If you don't have time to do the cruise, do this one instead. In fact I've talked to people at the tour who are doing only this instead. The views at the top are soooooo beautiful!
We visited in September 2018, a mini bus took us up from the tourist centre in Flam. The weather was warm and sunny so we were able to enjoy the most spectacular views up and down the fjord. We also looked down on some wispy clouds and the village below. The Lookout itself is also spectacular as it is cantilevered out from the rock face that its set into. We were charged about £35 for this trip which we thought was a bit pricey but having said that I wouldn't have missed it. I came home with some beautiful photographs.
