Bryggen

On Bergen's waterfront, Bryggen lines the quay with the colourful wooden façades that recall the city's days as a Hanseatic trading post. The district took its present shape after the fire of 1702, on foundations dating back to the twelfth century, and still keeps the tight layout of the old merchant yards: narrow passages, stacked warehouses, carved wooden signs. Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1979, it's best explored on foot, between the alleys of the Bryggens Museum and the Hanseatic rooms of the Schøtstuene, which tell the story of the dried cod once traded here for wine and beer from the south. At dusk, its lit façades make Bergen's best-known postcard view before heading on to the city's brewers.