‘I avoided Spain and Greece and instead visited this beautiful city’

Tourists are ditching traditional summer holiday destinations such as Spain and Greece, choosing instead to head to northern Europe to avoid the scorching heat.

Destinations like Norway have seen arrivals soar as holidaymakers attempt to beat the heat.

Daily Express journalist Matthew Dooley, who went on a recent holiday to Norway, said: “We really wanted to do some hiking over our holiday – we’ve been to Majorca before and loved it but the heat would have made any serious walks nearly impossible.

“We decided to head north to Bergen, Norway over a weekend instead. The city is beautiful and we did a sunny hike locals call the ‘Vidden’. It was in the low 20s, perfect hiking weather.”

Matthew is not the only one – many tourists are now flocking to cooler destinations as heat waves grip popular holiday destinations like Greece and Spain.

New weather maps show that Greece is likely to hit sizzling temperatures of 46℃ on July 14 in the Larissa area.

According to the UN’s climate experts (IPCC), it is “almost certain” that the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events and the duration of heatwaves have increased since 1950 and will continue to do so with global warming.

Sitting near the looming Ulriken mountain and overlooking the sea and several islands, Bergen is known as the “capital of fjords”. It is the second-largest city in Norway, after the capital of Oslo.

As a UNESCO World Heritage City and a European City of Culture the Bergen region has an ideal combination of nature, culture and urban life.

The popular Vidden trail is an 8.4-mile point-to-point trail – taking at least five hours – passing between the mountains of Mount Ulriken and Mount Fløyen and providing some of the most beautiful views of the city and region.

A far cry from Greece, summertime in Bergen welcomes the average daily temperatures of around 15C, with maximums of 25C.

Scandinavian Airlines and KLM fly from Heathrow Airport to Bergen Airport several times a day. You can also take a train from London St Pancras to Bergen station via Brussels and Oslo, in just under two days. You can also arrive by train from Oslo or by car along the scenic fjords and coast to Bergen.

Other visitors on Tripadvisor also described the city as having “spectacular views” and “well worth doing”. Another said: ” This was a truly beautiful hike, with great views! We saw many sheep and were lucky to have a clear day.”