Urnes, thousand-year-old carvings in the stave church above the Sognefjord

To reach Urnes you have to truly want to. The church rises on a grassy knoll on the eastern shore of the Lustrafjord, an inner branch of the great Sognefjord, and can only be reached after a small ferry and a road that grows steadily narrower. It is precisely this gentle effort that keeps it away from the crowds: while the coaches pile up elsewhere, here you often find yourself among just a handful of people, accompanied only by the wind and the sound of the water.

The stave church of Urnes is considered the oldest wooden church in Norway still standing and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its most celebrated feature is the northern portal, reused from an earlier building: an interlacing of elongated animals, tendrils and lines chasing one another, so distinctive that it gave its name to an entire Nordic decorative style. Just to take in with your eyes that dark wood, smoothed by centuries of weather, is worth the journey alone.

The interior is intimate, dimly lit, made of columns, carved capitals and traces of painting. Don't expect the grandeur of cathedrals: the strength of Urnes lies in its restraint, in its being a fragile artefact that has survived time. Visits are guided and numbers are small, which helps to preserve the monument and offers a more intimate experience. You enter in small groups, you speak in low voices, and the place returns to being what it has always been: a small outpost of faith and craftsmanship at the edge of the fjord.

The advice is to pair it with a slow walk along the shores and to respect local hours and instructions. Go in the shoulder seasons, bring patience for the connections and little else: you don't come to Urnes to tick off a list, but to listen to how eloquent a building can be that has stayed faithful to itself for almost a thousand years.

Getting there

The stave church overlooks the Lustrafjord, a branch of the Sognefjord system. The simplest way to get there is the small ferry connecting Solvorn to Ornes across the fjord, followed by a short walk up to the church; alternatively there is a narrow road running along the fjord. Bergen is the reference gateway for those arriving from afar.