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Finse Railway Station Webcam – Norway’s Highest Stop
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About this webcam
The Finse Railway Station Webcam looks along the platform at the highest railway station in Norway, 1,222 meters (4,009 feet) up on the Bergen Line between Oslo and Bergen. The red timber station building stands to one side of the frame with the track running past it, and the bare slopes of the Hardangervidda plateau close off the background. Finsevatnet lake lies just below the tracks. No road reaches Finse, so nothing arrives by car: the platform stays empty until an express pulls in, a few people step down with bicycles or skis, and the train goes on into the mountain. Weather here changes on a scale of minutes rather than hours, and snow covers the ground from late October into June in a normal year.
About Finse
Finse belongs to Ulvik Municipality in Vestland county, 302 kilometers (188 miles) from Oslo along the Bergen Line and about two and a half hours by train from Bergen. The station opened on 10 June 1908 to a jugendstil design by Paul Armin Due. Fifteen people lived in the Finse and Hallingskeid statistical unit in 2025. The post office, opened on 1 March 1904, is the oldest and highest in the country. Access is by train, bicycle or on foot.
For most of the twentieth century this was the Bergen Line’s snow-fighting base, with two locomotive depots holding snowplows. The old alignment west toward Hallingskeid ran 10.5 kilometers (6.5 miles) under snow sheds and still drifted shut, sometimes for days at a time. King Harald V opened the Finse Tunnel on 16 May 1993, and the 10,300 meter (6.4 mile) bore took that stretch underground. Its summit, at 1,237 meters (4,058 feet), is the highest point on the Norwegian rail network, higher than the station itself. Trains cross it at up to 170 km/h (106 mph) against 70 km/h (43 mph) on the line it replaced.
The place carries more history than the railway. Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton all trained on the snowfields around Finse before their polar expeditions. Hardangerjokulen glacier, roughly 5 kilometers (3 miles) south, stood in for the ice planet Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. The Finse Alpine Research Centre, run jointly by the University of Oslo and the University of Bergen, has studied the plateau’s ecology since 1972.
Weather and Climate in Finse
Finse has an alpine tundra climate, with numbers closer to the Arctic than to the coast two hours west. The 1991 to 2020 averages put January highs around minus 6 C (21 F) and lows near minus 11 C (12 F), and the record low stands at minus 38.1 C (minus 36.6 F). Snow lies from late October or November until late May or June. Through those months the Finse Railway Station Webcam usually shows a platform cut between banked snow, floodlights on early, and under six hours of daylight around the winter solstice. Trains pulling in through blowing snow in the dark are ordinary here.
July is the warmest month, averaging 12.5 C (55 F) by day and 5.5 C (42 F) at night, against a record high of 24.2 C (76 F). The annual mean is minus 1.1 C (30 F), and precipitation runs to 968 mm (38 inches) a year. Summer light stretches to nearly 19 hours around midsummer. Even in July, snow patches hold on the higher ground and in the shaded cuttings, and low cloud often hides the far shore of the lake while the platform itself stays clear.
Things to Do Near Finse
The Rallarvegen, the navvies’ road built to supply the railway’s construction, runs 82 kilometers (51 miles) from Haugastol to Flam and passes the station. Finse sits about 27 kilometers (17 miles) along it from Haugastol, with another 20 kilometers (12 miles) west to Hallingskeid, and cyclists routinely unload bikes onto this platform and start their ride here. The route is usually rideable from July to September. The Rallarmuseet at Finse covers how the line was built, along with the huts, guard stations and bridges that survive beside it.
Blaisen, one of Hardangerjokulen’s outlet glaciers, is the standard walk from the station: southeast on the Rallarvegen to the east end of Finsevatnet, then south to the ice, about 10.6 kilometers (6.6 miles) round trip with 400 meters (1,320 feet) of climbing and three and a half to four hours on the move. The ice cap covers 73 square kilometers (28 square miles) and reaches 1,863 meters (6,112 feet), making it the sixth largest glacier in mainland Norway; going onto the ice needs a guide. Finse 1222, the hotel next to the station, and Finsehytta, the Norwegian Trekking Association lodge, both stand within sight of the tracks. A drag lift and cross-country trails serve the winter season.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Finse railway station?
In Finse, a settlement in Ulvik Municipality, Vestland county, western Norway, on the Bergen Line 302 kilometers (188 miles) from Oslo. Bergen is roughly two and a half hours away by train, Oslo about four.
What can you see on the Finse Railway Station Webcam?
The platform and track, the red station building, and the open mountain ground and Finsevatnet lake beyond. Expresses stop several times a day in each direction, and passengers with bicycles in summer or skis in winter are a regular sight.
How do you get to Finse?
By train, bicycle or on foot. There is no public road, and Oslo to Bergen expresses stop roughly four to five times a day in each direction.
How high is Finse station?
1,222 meters (4,009 feet) above sea level, the highest railway station in Norway. The highest point on the national network is higher still, at 1,237 meters (4,058 feet) inside the Finse Tunnel just west of here.
What is the weather like in Finse?
January averages run from minus 11 C to minus 6 C (12 to 21 F) and July from 5.5 C to 12.5 C (42 to 55 F), with an annual mean of minus 1.1 C (30 F). Snow cover normally lasts from late October or November to late May or June.
When is the best time to watch the Finse Railway Station Webcam?
Daylight hours, which swing hard with the season: close to 19 hours around midsummer and under six hours near the winter solstice. Watching around a scheduled express arrival gives the most movement on the platform.
Was Star Wars filmed at Finse?
Yes. The Hoth exteriors in The Empire Strikes Back were shot in 1980 on Hardangerjokulen, the glacier about 5 kilometers (3 miles) south, with the production based at Finse. The village ran a Star Wars festival on the strength of it from 2017 to 2020.
When can you cycle the Rallarvegen from Finse?
Usually July to September, once the snow has cleared from the high ground. The full route covers 82 kilometers (51 miles) between Haugastol and Flam, and Finse is a common starting point because bikes come off the train there.
Source: Bergens Tidende