Quick answer. Do not plan your arrival around cash. The Bybanen light rail runs from directly outside the Flesland terminal into central Bergen for the price of a single ticket bought by card, and everything at the other end, the Fløibanen funicular, the Bryggen restaurants, the fish market stalls, the fjord boats, takes contactless. Norway is one of the least cash-dependent countries in the world, and the practical consequence at BGO is that ATMs are scarce rather than expensive: the problem is finding a machine, not what it charges. If you want a small krone float anyway, withdraw from a DNB machine and decline the conversion offer. One local trap is worth knowing: Vipps, the payment app everyone uses here, needs a Norwegian bank and a BankID, so visitors cannot sign up for it. Norway also has no Bank of America Global ATM Alliance partner.
Where to get Norwegian Kroner at BGO
Bergen inverts the usual airport currency table. There is no dramatic gap between a good option and a terrible one at BGO, because the terrible options barely exist. What varies is what your own card charges, which is why the rows below turn on your card rather than on the machine. The math assumes the krone equivalent of $100.
| Option | Where | Markup | Total Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| DNB minibank with a no-FX-fee card | Terminal or central Bergen | Interbank rate, minimal operator fee | ~$99-100 |
| Contactless card for everything, no cash at all | n/a | Interbank rate on a fee-free card | ~$100 |
| Bank minibank + Schwab (fee refunded) | Terminal or central Bergen | Interbank rate, ATM fee refunded | ~$100 |
| Any machine with a BoA card (no Alliance here) | Terminal or central Bergen | Interbank rate + BoA 3% non-network fee | ~$97 |
| Home-bank debit card with a 3% foreign transaction fee | Every purchase, all trip | 3% on everything, not just withdrawals | ~$97 |
| Accepting the conversion offer at a terminal or machine | Anywhere in Bergen | Dynamic currency conversion, 4-7% | ~$93 |
Why Flesland has so few ATMs, and the small amount of cash a fjord trip still justifies
Bergen is the gateway to the western fjords and Flesland handles that traffic from a modern terminal about 18 kilometres south of the city. What surprises first-time visitors is the near-total absence of currency infrastructure. There is no wall of competing exchange counters, because there is almost no demand for one, and the number of cash machines is small enough that you should treat finding one as a bonus rather than a plan. This is not a fee problem. Norwegian bank machines, marked minibank, dispense at the Visa or Mastercard interbank rate without the aggressive operator surcharges you see in southern Europe, so a withdrawal here is cheap when you can make one. DNB is the national giant and the name you are most likely to see, with the regional savings banks covering much of western Norway alongside it. Norway has no Bank of America Global ATM Alliance partner, so a BoA card pays its own 3 percent. Interestingly, Norway has moved in the opposite direction from Sweden on this: rather than letting shops go cashless, it tightened the rules in 2025 to strengthen a consumer's right to pay in cash. Legally you can insist. Practically, almost nobody does.
Terminal 3 (main passenger terminal)
SAS, Norwegian, Widereøe, KLM, Lufthansa and the North Sea offshore traffic through a single modern terminal opened in 2017
Cash machines in the terminal are few, so if you want kroner, look once on the way out and do not spend long hunting. The Bybanen light rail platform is immediately outside the arrivals exit with a card ticket machine on the platform, and the Flybussen and taxi ranks are alongside. Decline any conversion offer at a machine or terminal and take kroner.
Do you actually need cash at Bergen (BGO)?
No. The Bybanen, the Flybussen, the taxis and everything you will do in Bergen take cards. Here is what the ride into the city costs:
Bybanen light rail (Line 1) to Byparken (~NOK 45): Runs from outside the terminal into the city centre in about 45 minutes; buy at the platform machine or the Skyss app and validate before boarding.
Flybussen airport coach (~NOK 149): Faster than the tram on a clear run and drops at the main hotels and the bus station; pay the driver by card or buy online.
Taxi (~NOK 500-700): About 25 minutes to the centre and priced accordingly; every Bergen taxi takes cards and most take contactless.
Car hire (From ~NOK 700 per day): Worth it for the fjord roads; tolls and most car ferries bill automatically to the plate or the rental agreement rather than taking cash.
⚠ DCC trap. When the ATM or terminal asks if you want to be charged in your home currency instead of the local currency, always decline and choose the local currency. Accepting locks in a 3-13 percent markup that your no-FX-fee card cannot undo. Full DCC explainer →
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need cash to get from Bergen (BGO) to Bergen?
No. The Bybanen light rail ticket machine, the Flybussen and every Bergen taxi take cards, and the tram runs from the terminal door.
Can I order Norwegian Kroner before flying?
Rarely worth it for Norway. Cards cover Bergen end to end and kroner reconvert poorly. If you want a small float for fjord farm stalls, CEI Currency Exchange ships Norwegian kroner to your US address in 2-5 days, but a few hundred kroner is plenty.
Are there ATMs at Bergen Airport Flesland?
There are machines in the terminal, but the count is small and you should not build your arrival around them. Norway runs on cards to a degree that makes airport cash infrastructure nearly redundant, so a broken or empty machine is not backed up by three others down the concourse. If you specifically want kroner in hand, try in the terminal, and if that fails, withdraw in central Bergen where the bank branches are, rather than assuming Flesland will solve it.
Should I exchange money at BGO?
There is very little to exchange with, and no reason to look. Norwegian ATMs dispense at the interbank rate without heavy surcharges, so a card withdrawal beats any counter transaction. The larger point is that you probably do not need kroner at all: the light rail into town, the funicular, the restaurants and the fjord cruises are all card operations.
How do I get from Flesland to central Bergen?
Take the Bybanen. Bergen's light rail line terminates at the airport, with the stop immediately outside the terminal, and runs to Byparken in the city centre in roughly 45 minutes. Buy from the machine on the platform or the Skyss app with a card, and validate before boarding. The Flybussen airport coach is faster on a clear road and costs more, and taxis are considerably dearer, which is normal for Norway. All of them take cards, none of them need a krone note.
Can I use Vipps as a tourist in Norway?
No, and it catches people out because Vipps is everywhere in Norwegian life, from splitting a bill to paying a market stall. Signing up requires a Norwegian bank account and a BankID, the national electronic identity, which visitors cannot obtain for a short stay. What this means in practice is that when a small vendor says they take Vipps or card, the card half is your route, and if a stall is genuinely Vipps-only you will need cash or you will not be buying. That is the narrow case where a small krone float earns its keep.
How much cash should I carry for the fjords?
A modest amount, and mainly for the countryside rather than Bergen itself. In the city you can go an entire trip on contactless. Once you head out to Hardanger, Sogn or the smaller villages on a fjord tour, you meet roadside farm stalls, honesty boxes for fruit and eggs, small craft sellers and the occasional rural cafe that has no terminal or no signal for it. A few hundred kroner covers that. Do not withdraw a large float for the fjords expecting to spend it, because you will bring most of it home.
Are my old Norwegian banknotes still valid?
Check before you rely on them. Norway replaced its banknote series in recent years, and the older designs stopped being legal tender once their redemption windows closed, so kroner left over from a trip several years ago may no longer be spendable in a Bergen shop even though it looks like perfectly good money. Norges Bank handles redemption of withdrawn notes under its own rules and time limits. If you are digging cash out of a drawer for this trip, compare it against the current series rather than discovering the problem at a till.
Is Norway or Bergen expensive to pay for by card?
The card itself is not the expensive part, your bank is. Norwegian merchants and ATMs do not add much, so the cost of a trip depends almost entirely on your own card's foreign transaction fee and the exchange rate it applies. A card with no FX fee, such as Wise or a fee-free travel card, converts at the interbank rate, while a standard home-bank debit card can quietly add 2.5 to 3 percent to every coffee, every ticket and every restaurant bill in one of Europe's priciest cities. That compounds far more than any ATM fee here ever will.