Det Hanseatiske Museum

In college, I double majored in Economics and History...I'm a nerd for this sort of stuff. If you're not, its probably more of a 3 or 4 star kind of museum for the 90kr/$12 entrance fee.

Walking around this old fishing building was like stepping back in time...if I could turn back time...if I could find a way...

This is a wonderful experience and highly recommended.An excellent depiction of a traders house built in 1704. You feel you have walked in the past and have a much better understanding of Bergen and how the Hanseatic League shaped this country and city. Also, very impressive is the accompanying Norwegian Fisheries Museum which is on the outskirts of town and can be accessed by the free Shuttle bus. And this where our only complaint comes in: the driver of the shuttle bus was unfriendly and snippy when we asked simple questions concerning the various stops he made. On our return we were waiting at the designated point and when he did not show up at the scheduled time we waited 5 extra minutes and decided to walk back (in the rain).
One minute into this walk here comes the bus which we tried to flag down but he waved us off even though we had been on the bus 3 times before (he knew us).
So, bottomline, museums wonderful but shuttle bus service is a serious letdown

It was extremely interesting to see how merchants were living in the past.
I thoroughly enjoyed visiting this museum with my friend.

As an excellent preservation of the history of the Bryggen area, this is the best way for you to really get an image of what life would have been like for a Hanseatic merchant. However, I think the best way to experience this is as part of the guided tour that starts from the Bryggen Museet (and includes this museum as part of the tour fee). I'm not sure if information such as the bit about the beds of company managers and journeymen being accessible through small trap doors from the dorm room of the apprentices, so that apprentices could make the beds without entering the rooms of their bosses, are included otherwise

I would say it's important that you visit this and the Bryggen Museum if you visit any museums in Bergen. So visit both as part of the tour, and I think this museum will end up meaning more to you.

Agree that this is an absolute ripoff without a tour. The tours/times are not listed on the website. Major part of the museum is closed. We were told there is a bus to take us to the Fishery museum, but the bus never came.

The Hanseatic Museum was a complete ripoff without a guided tour. I see positive reveiws -- and almost all of them are with a tour. We went with a family armed with a Bergen Pass (a ripoff) and simply paid the entrance fee without a tour guide (and no discount from Bergen Pass! thank you very much).

This is a classic bait and switch: The one room that you can see through the half opened door from where your money is taken is the best. It has signs in three languages and explains the Hanseatic League and trading areas. If the entire museum were like this -- I'd be at four or five stars.

After that, there is virtually no signage at all. With each room, the amount of signage dwindles to nothing. By the third floor, you are looking at grandmother's attic: there are old things, but you have no idea what they are. No signs in any language. And the feel of the place is that they ran out of stuff, but had the extra rooms.

My familly learned nothing about the amazing Hanseatic League. WIth 2 hours and some posterboard, I could use the Internet and wikipedia to come up with a good 10 signs that should be added to this museum. Worst museum hands down in our tour of Northern Europe.

Under no circumstances should you go to this without a tour guide, and the guide would have to be very good to make this museum worthwhile. If they cared about history or guests, there would be a lot more signage.

Also, given the age of the house, the flooring of course is very uneven. Totally understandable, but I saw folks in their 70s and 80s going around these rooms in a vain search for something to look at. Not worth it without a guide, and even then a bit of a rough go if you have trouble getting around.