The Hanseatic Museum was a complete ripoff without a guided tour. I see positive reveiws -- and almost all of them are with a tour. We went with a family armed with a Bergen Pass (a ripoff) and simply paid the entrance fee without a tour guide (and no discount from Bergen Pass! thank you very much).
This is a classic bait and switch: The one room that you can see through the half opened door from where your money is taken is the best. It has signs in three languages and explains the Hanseatic League and trading areas. If the entire museum were like this -- I'd be at four or five stars.
After that, there is virtually no signage at all. With each room, the amount of signage dwindles to nothing. By the third floor, you are looking at grandmother's attic: there are old things, but you have no idea what they are. No signs in any language. And the feel of the place is that they ran out of stuff, but had the extra rooms.
My familly learned nothing about the amazing Hanseatic League. WIth 2 hours and some posterboard, I could use the Internet and wikipedia to come up with a good 10 signs that should be added to this museum. Worst museum hands down in our tour of Northern Europe.
Under no circumstances should you go to this without a tour guide, and the guide would have to be very good to make this museum worthwhile. If they cared about history or guests, there would be a lot more signage.
Also, given the age of the house, the flooring of course is very uneven. Totally understandable, but I saw folks in their 70s and 80s going around these rooms in a vain search for something to look at. Not worth it without a guide, and even then a bit of a rough go if you have trouble getting around. read more