Hi all
Hope youre all good, been off here for a few years...
I have three weeks off at the begining of July as both children will have fininished college/school exams (17,16yr old boys)
Havent booked any type of holiday as yet due to severe stress and anxeity but here we are and time is looming ! We're used to long road trips.
is 3 weeks in Norway overkill ?
Rough plan ??
drive or fly and hire a car ? thoughts ?
spend a few days getting out of any type of cities ( we dont do cities for more than a few hours !)
10 days in one place - nice lake views mountains etc self catering
then some travelling around or a loop of some sort ?
we like cooking our own food with the odd meal out, so food expense wont be an issue.
if take the car we'll have bikes which would be a bonus/take dog !
I know nothing about norway places etc any help would be great
thank you
If you are bringing mountain bikes then Nesbyen is a must, imo.
Andalsnes is another must see. There's something about a 1km high sheer cliff face that my brain just can't get it's head around no matter how many times I look at it.
Apart from that I really like Trondheim but it's maybe too close to being a city. Still worth a visit, I reckon.
I've been to quite a few bits of Norway and I can't think of any that have disappointed! My main bit of advice would be to try and find out where there's going to be cruise ships and avoid that area. When we were first in Flåm it was absolutely hoaching with tourists and a bit uninspiring as a result. Went back through a few days later and it was like a totally different place.
Wherever you do end up staying there's likely to be a few local geographical features that are fairly low-key in terms of promotion but mind-blowingly beautiful.
We've done it quite a few times by ferry, which more recently means a chunk of driving but nothing too stressful (using Hull - Rotterdam ferry for the first bit). Doing it that way also let's you use other ferries and see bits of Denmark or Sweden. They can be expensive, but cut out chunks of driving and can serve as overnight accomodation (also quite pretty sailing in / out of Bergen). The scribbled map below shows some of the ferry options, plus various others to Oslo. Lots of permutations to make a circular trip.
Just watch the Hirtshals - Stavanger overnight ferry if you are travelling on Friday or Saturday. It can get messy 🙂
I would consider hiring a camper and going where it isn't raining. If not drive yourself, car hire is quite pricey. 3 weeks isn't overkill, you will want to go north at some point, and along the west coast, and have the time to do it properly,. I was going to recommend that from Bergen up to Trondheim, but north of Trondheim is good too.
Tips - Norway is a big, big place, so I'd start scanning good earth for what looks interesting - what do you like to do , see? I also wouldn't rule out staying in the cities now and then as they are smaller and make a nice break at some point.
spend a few days getting out of any type of cities ( we dont do cities for more than a few hours !)You can get out of Oslo in about an hour on foot. Semi wilderness in two.
HolidayAutos got me a big 4x4 for only 300 Eur for 8 days earlier this year, so nowhere near as expensive as it used to be.
HolidayAutos got me a big 4x4 for only 300 Eur for 8 days earlier this year, so nowhere near as expensive as it used to be.
Yeah - we hired from Hertz in Sogndal and the day rate wasn't bad. Rinsed for one-way drop-off back to Bergen though.
Bottled booking an EV - seems like every backwater has chargers though.
(FWIW, got to Bergen by LoganAir from Newcastle and then scheduled ferry to Sogndal: transport+fjord viewing rolled into one grand, dry afternoon).
> try and find out where there's going to be cruise ships
+1. Found that Flam etc. ports often publish the cruise ship arrival/departure/size.