Long Story ShortReadHide
- What it is: a low-rise residential and retail suburb in the north of Bergen, built around one of Norway's biggest shopping centres.
- Who it suits: families who want space, gardens and the forest and fjord, and are happy to drive.
- What it costs: below the city average; no separate figure is published, so we show the Bergen average of about 66,000 kr per m².
- What people complain about: car-dependence and sprawl, with a mall for a centre.
First impressions
Åsane is Bergen's northern suburb, a spread of low-rise houses and retail on the peninsula about ten kilometres from the centre. Its de facto middle is not a town square but a cluster of shopping centres off the E39 highway, anchored by Åsane Storsenter, one of Norway's biggest malls, with IKEA and big-box stores alongside. Beyond the retail, the residential villages sit among forested hills, and the fjord wraps the peninsula with swimming spots.
It is practical, quiet and car-friendly, family suburbia in the northern hills, with heritage at Salhus and nature all around.
This is a suburb built for driving and families, and it is honest about being that.
Who lives here, and what the streets look like
Åsane is a classic Bergen family suburb, built out in the 1960s and 1970s, with a broad age mix and family life at its centre. The housing is low-rise, spread across villages separated by forested hills.
The streetscape is suburban: detached houses and low blocks, the E39 running through, and the retail hubs off it. There is no traditional high street; daily life orients around driving to the mall and the schools.
Getting around
Åsane runs on the car and the bus today. The E39 highway runs straight through, which makes it fast by car and heavy with through-traffic, and Åsane bussterminal beside the shopping centre is the interchange for northern-Bergen routes. The Bybanen light rail to Åsane, line 5, is approved and in detailed planning but not yet running, so a light-rail commute is still years off.
Typical weekday minutes from Åsane terminal, with the icon showing how. Times via Google Routes API for a typical weekday around 08:00, measured from the neighborhood centre; the icon shows the fastest sensible way (walk, bike, transit or car)., 2026-08.
Daily life
Day to day, Åsane is the mall and the villages. Meny, Kiwi and Rema 1000 sit in and around Åsane Storsenter, which anchors everyday life with around 111 shops, and Gullgruven and a big IKEA add to one of Norway's heaviest concentrations of retail. Life orients around driving to these hubs rather than a high street. For food delivery, Foodora and Wolt both cover Bergen, though coverage to the outer suburban addresses can be patchy.
Local Places Worth Knowing
Independent and close by, chosen on merit. Nobody pays to appear here. Links are being confirmed.
The old Salhus knitting mill of 1859 turned museum, with workers' housing, a heritage trail and rooms of knitting and sewing machines; open Thursday to Sunday.
View on Google MapsThe defining retail hub of northern Bergen, with around 111 shops, groceries and services and the bus terminal all together.
The reliable coffee stop inside the shopping centre; a chain, since the independent café scene here is thin.
View on Google MapsA sit-down Chinese restaurant at the shopping centre, one of the few non-fast-food options in the immediate area.
Checked August 2026. Places close and change, so tell us if something here is out of date.
Schools and families
Åsane is built for families, with many primary schools and kindergartens across its villages. The nearest lower-secondary schools around the central Åsane and Ulset area are Blokkhaugen and Kyrkjekrinsen, with others across the borough. Norway publishes school results through Udir, but not at a per-district grain, so we do not rate schools here. Bergen has free school choice, so it is worth checking admission before you sign a lease or purchase.
Kids Friendly. A built-for-families suburb with many primary schools and kindergartens, fjord swimming spots and a big indoor mall for rainy days; the caveat is that it is car-oriented until the light rail arrives.
Pet Friendly. Low-rise houses with gardens and easy access to forest trails at Eidsvåg and Åstveit and open shoreline make this an easy place to keep a dog; the national leash rule applies from 1 April to 20 August.
Green space, leisure and eating out
Åsane's green is generous: the Eidsvåg and Åstveit woodlands, the peak Veten for hiking, and a shoreline on three fjords with swimming spots at Vollane, Tømmervågen and Storåkervika. Culture is the Salhus village and the Textile Industry Museum, plus stretches of the historic Trondhjem postal road, and there is a trotting track at Bergen Travpark. Eating out is concentrated in the mall, mostly chains and fast food.
What it costs
Åsane is an outer suburb, so it typically prices below the city. No Åsane-specific sale price is published, so we show the Bergen city average of about 66 292 NOK / m² (about €6,000 / m²) ≈ $650 / sq ft, and this suburb usually sits below it. Rent is set by the market rather than any first-hand system, so no local figure exists; the wider Bergen two-room market runs around 11 870 NOK / mo (about €1,100 / mo) (SSB, 2025).
Weather and climate
Seasonal averages for Bergen, one representative month per season. MET Norway 1991-2020 normals (Bergen-Florida) via Wikipedia climate box.
The honest downsides
Car-dependence. With the light rail still years away and the E39 as the spine, life here effectively assumes a car; the bus works to the centre, but the whole layout is built around driving and parking.
Sprawl and a mall-shaped centre. Åsane has no traditional town centre, its de facto middle is a cluster of shopping centres off the highway, and the residential villages are spread out and separated by forested hills.
Crime and safety
Åsane reads as a calm, low-rise family suburb, and Norway does not publish neighborhood-level crime figures, so there is no local number. Any petty issues cluster around the large retail concentration, as at any big shopping-centre district, while the residential villages are quiet. Visible street homelessness and begging are minimal here and are associated with central Bergen rather than this outer suburb. The fuller Bergen picture is on the city safety page.
Is this you?
If you want a house with a garden, forest and fjord close by, and one of Norway's biggest shopping hubs on your doorstep, and you are happy to drive, Åsane is roomy, practical family suburbia. If you want to live car-free, walk to a high street, or have the city at the door, a central or light-rail district will suit you far better.
Want to know what homes here are actually worth?
Join the waitlistHow we source this
How we put this together. Gathered on the ground by our local field team and written up by the Apraiz research team. Every figure above carries its own source and date. The scores are not computed by the build; walking and transport will use open map and transit data first, then Apraiz's own model. We update prices quarterly, transport and amenities twice a year, and school data when the source publishes.
Sources: Krogsveen prisstatistikk, Statistics Norway (SSB), Leiemarkedsundersøkelsen, Store norske leksikon / Wikipedia, Statistics Norway (SSB), table 08487.
Safety and crime in Bergen →Nearby: Nordnes · Sandviken · Møhlenpris