The visit was way shorter than the recommanded (round 1 to 2 hours), but still impressive to see the result of the reconstruction after the 1944's explosion. This is a nice building with character! Included with the Bergen card so take around 30 minutes to take a look at it.

If you have the Bergen card it is worth the visit. You need about 40 minutes to do it properly, but you can zip through in under 30 and still enjoy the visit.

Medieval castle and hall in the central north of Bergen. Some of the oldest buildings in the city. The entrance fee covers entrance to both the castle and the hall. You guide yourself round but there re plenty of explanatory signs in both English and Norwegian.

Hakon's Hall is a great and can be walked through in about 45 minutes or less. The hall itself is great and I'd get there as soon as it opens to get the entire hall to yourself. There's some other rooms to walk around and they are cool if you're into history but I can see how some might think it's a bit plain. Also, the hall is FREE to enter if you purchased the Bergen card.

We got free tickets because the museum was being renovated. But this hall was closed for a private function. Bad timing all round. Just the way it goes when you travel.

The hall itself is just an empty space with a high table at one end and a minstrel gallery at the other. The area outside with views over the harbour was more interesting.

The hall itself is very impressive. The rest of the building is pretty much full of chairs and tables. It is obviously used for meetings or groups etc. You can get in free with the Bergen card. Make sure if you go to the tower first and buy a ticket for that you tell them you have a Bergen card ( if u have one) as although on the sign for the tower it says 'No discount for Bergen card' you still get in the Hall for free. We made this mistake. Some small narrow stone staircases.

For me, didn’t worth the visit. They charge 15€ to enter and visit a two step place that is refurbished. The hall is a place with 2020 chairs and doesn’t recall an ancient place.

A truly impressive building, especially the great hall sends you back in time to the middle ages.

The highlight of the visit is the Great Hall. The exhibition truly merits many more descriptive paques as well as arrows showing the flow of the visit. There are stunning hand woven pieces adorning railings, but fibre lovers would love to know more about the sources of wool, the looms used, and the artists themselves. Still and all, it is very much worth the visit.

Håkonshallen The main building in Norway's first castle complex, built between 1247 and 1261 by King Håkon Håkonsson as a royal residence and banquet hall. Håkonshallen has stood at the entrance to Vågen for more than 760 years. The stately hall has housed both royalty, Danish generals, soldiers, prisoners and presumably rats and mice. It has had various names over the years: Steinhallen, Breidastova, Langhuset, Magasinhuset and Provianthuset. See short guide to your visit to Håkonshallen From the 13th century Håkon Håkonsson had the large and stately stone hall built between 1247 and 1261. In 1247 there was a major event at the royal court in Bergen, namely the coronation of King Håkon. Cardinal William of Sabina came to town to crown the king in the summer. According to the saga, this was the worst rainy summer in living memory and Håkon has no large enough halls available in the royal court. It all ends with the coronation party being held in a large boathouse. This was not worthy of a king, so Håkon built two good stone halls in the royal courtyard. The first time we hear of it being in use was in September 1261, for the wedding and coronation of Magnus Lagabøte and Danish princess Ingeborg. Then it says in the saga that the kings lived in the stone hall. The second stone hall is often referred to as the Christmas Hall and is today in ruins on the west side of Håkonshallen. Two other royal weddings also took place in the stone hall, Magnus Lagabøte's son, Eirik Magnusson married first in 1281 to Scottish Margrete Aleksandersdatter and again in 1293 to Scottish Isabella Bruce. When Eirik died in 1299, the main seat moved from Bergen to Oslo. Without a son to take over the crown, it was his younger brother Håkon Magnusson who became Norway's king. He was already a duke in Oslo and is building Akershus fortress. From the 16th century At this time, the royal estate was in disrepair. The Danish king sent his general Jørgen Hanssøn to Bergen to restore the somewhat dilapidated royal estate. The previously stately stone hall needed major repairs to the roof, among other things. It eventually became an expensive affair and the Danish king asked for repairs to be carried out as cheaply as possible. As a result, the hall was without a roof for approx. 40 years in the 17th century and then get different roof shapes. Soldiers were embarrassed inside the hall when it was without a roof and eventually the former party hall was converted into a warehouse with an attic. At that time there were, among other things, 1,000 barrels of grain stored in the hall. From the 19th century What the hall was originally built for and by whom had been completely forgotten in recent centuries. It's J.C. Dahl and Lyder Sagen who have subsequently been given the honor of rediscovering the hall's significance. A historian in the 17th century, Edvard Edvardsen was on board with the idea, but that was it. In 1840, the middle room in the hall's basement was furnished as a church for the prisoners who were in Bergenhus Fortress' penal institution, known as Slaveriet. Two large windows were then knocked out in the west wall to give light to the church room. Slavery was in use until 1887. The hall was fully restored and decorated the first time in 1916 and the second time in 1961. Håkonshallen gets its name from Henrik Wergeland in an attempt to create attention and collect money for the work. The last restoration was done after the explosion accident in 1944 and the hall was fully restored for the second time and reopened in September 1961. Today Today, Håkonshallen is a national cultural monument, which is both a museum and an arena for royal dinners, official events and concerts Håkonshallen Hovedbygningen i Norges første slottsanlegg, bygget mellom 1247 og 1261 av kong Håkon Håkonsson som kongebolig og festsal.

Feels like a soulless mass gastronomy for hire place. Certainly not a museum, certainly not historically or architecturally interesting, and certainly not worth you money. Skip.

Nice place. A maximum of 30 minutes could be enough to finish. Also free entrance with Bergen card.

Beautiful, but entrance is a bit pricy and not included with the rest of the fortress.

In my eyes the only real reason to go is the Great Hall, which is impressive! It's light on any other exhibitions making it hard for me to justify the 120 NOK entry price.

Too expensive for the very little experience

Obviously the history and size and all that are impressive in its own. But hearing Wardruna play in the main hall sealed it as a bonafide memorable experience for me.

Very expensive for what you get. Just a big salon and some rooms full of tables. Nothing especially interesting. If you go to Bergen just avoid.

An impressive hall, but a little light on detail about the rooms and various features. I had the Bergen Card, so no extra charge for me to go through: if I had paid full cost, I probably would have been disappointed.

Historical site that you must visitin Bergen.

A majestic, stately castle featuring a regal stone hall - imposing and monumental.

It's amazing, but I prefer the tower ❤️

Beautiful hall with a lot of history, decently priced as well.

Interesting building; however, two things made this a sub par use of time. First, there is little in the way of explanatory placards; even the pamphlet provide little information - so we didn't really know what we were looking at, when it was built, why various aspects of the architecture might have been significant. Second, much of the hall has been renovated, reconstructed and modernized - making it all the more confusing, as a visitor, to understand the historical significance. I would only go if in the area + don't care about money spent on ticket price.

Nice place but it’s under reconstruction now