Norway summer holiday – where to go?

Anyone been to Norway?

My girlfriend and I are thinking about going for a couple of weeks' holiday next year. Self catered cabin on a lake in a secluded location, mountain bikey, hikey, swimmy, maybe hire some kayaks sort of a holiday.

I know know next to nothing about Norway, though, other than having seen some pretty pictures. Can anyone give me any pointers about which areas we should consider? I guessing further north is cooler, with cooler water, and fewer people, but longer days. Midges? Hoping to ferry over in the car unless it's silly expensive.

Cheers for any help.

unless it's silly expensive

Norway IS silly expensive so be prepared…

There is no longer a ferry service from the UK to Norway 🙁

Aye – Fjord Lines used to do one and it was great fun getting drunk on the boat whilst watching the Norwegians getting properly p*ssed to the point they could not stand. To them, the £3 pints of Rignes were cheap.

And I believe I met the fisherman who was the inspiration for Paul Whitehouse's 'I was very, very drunk' character (he said he based him on a Norwegian fisherman he once met) one time I was on the boat.

🙂

[/i]There is no longer a ferry service from the UK to Norway [/i]

Yeah pretty annoying. Looks like ferry Harwich to Denmark, drive, denmark – oslo. 4 ferries could be £700!

Hmmm…

P&O do cruises up the Fjords still though – my mother and father in law have just been. Cost them £1k each for 10 nights I believe (all meals inc.)

Harwich to Denmark cost us £330 last month (was a special car goes free offer). Ferry from Hirtshals to Kristiansand is around 70 euros return when I looked this weekend.

Norway IS silly expensive so be prepared.

2nd, 3rd, and 4th'd ( it's that expensive ). i'd not go there on holiday. go to scotland instead. similar climate, similar daylight levels. if you really want to simulate norway simply poor two cans of 5hit larger away from every one you drink. easy.

Lyngen Alps or Lofoten Islands are supposed to be amazing..

if you really want to simulate norway simply poor two cans of 5hit larger away from every one you drink. easy.

LOVL!!!!
Case study… One medium pizza and one medium coke in a takeaway (in Bergen).

£28.

:-O

Norway IS silly expensive so be prepared.

Norway is silly expensive if you…

go there by ferries/car
stay in a hotel
rent a car
buy petrol
eat/drink out
drink wine or spirits
buy a car, house, or consumer goods
or take your kids

But, if you

fly there by ryanair.com or no.com
cycle around
camp wild (as lots of Norwegians do)
cook your own food (basic stuff from the poorly stocked Norwegian supermarkets)
drink local beer (again from supermarkets)
buy a week long Oslo travel card (cheapish and gets you around and out to the hills)
don't buy a house or any souvenirs/outdoor equipment
and leave the kids at home with granny

then it's not silly expensive and still enjoyable 🙂

go to sweden.

easier to get to. cheaper (relatively). language doesn't like someone gargling (i do apologise to any norwegians but that's how it sounds to me). plus if you really do want to go to norway you can jump on a handy train, cut out the middle man and set fire to all your money and come back again

I am lucky i do have good friends i stay with in Bergen and that makes it cheaper for me as i dont have to spend quite so much and flying is the best option and i can only echo what slug as said, just be prepared to rough it a little, Sweden is cheaper as is Denmark (most norwegians holiday here)
I am planning/saving for a cycle tour Oslo to Bergen up the coast in about 12-18 months time among others that i ahve pencilled in 😀

To be honest given the chance i would move to Norway.

Geiranger. Absolutely-****-beautiful. Rent a kayak and head off down the fjord for an hour or three.

Do not expect to drink while you're there. £6/500ml when I was there in May.

ditto what slugwash said really.summed it up perfectly cash wise!

ive been to oslo city and its afantastic place, clean pretty, efficient public transport.they know how to run a country properly!
(iirc women on maternity leave get full pay for 6 months!- sure thats not relavent…)

Sweden is cheaper as is Denmark (most norwegians holiday here)

Guess which country in Europe is most expensive

I've seen a lot of studies like the one above where Denmark comes out as more expensive than Norway. Norway seems to have a reputation as being very expensive which Denmark doesn't have quite so much, probably because alcholic drinks are cheaper in Denmark and that seems to be the only thing a lot of people base expense on.

Hoping to do the Norwegian section of the North Sea Cycle Route at some point and I reckon it'll work out cheaper per day than the Danish bit purely because you can wild camp in Norway (and I don't drink!)

My plan was load up the car with booze, food and bikes, fill the tank to the brim and ferry it all over to a cabin on a lake, and not really spend any money while we were there. Not excatly a cultural visit, but that wasn't the plan anyway.

The 4 ferry trips have changed things a bit, with the cost (I've had a proper look, and found £890 total cost. Cripes.

Maybe sweden, then! And maybe ryanair, less luggage and rent somewhere a bit closer to the airport!

women on maternity leave get full pay for 6 months!

I think it may be even longer than six months. When my brother and his Norwegian wife had their first child they went and lived off her full-pay maternity leave salary in the South Pacific and NZ for the best part of a year 🙂

My plan was load up the car with booze

I've found that you can shoehorn several 3 litre wine boxes into a standard sized ruc-sac or holdal. 🙂 You should be prepared to lose them or pay the duty if you get searched though 🙁

Four of us went to Norway on a road trip on July. Was great fun!

There still is a ferry – a mainly freight affair leaving from Immingham and going to Stavanger – be warned though – it goes via Gothenburg so it's a 40 hour crossing all told.

Petrol is expensive but Diesel is cheaper than it is in Cambridge (although, having said that, it's probably cheaper on the Moon than Cambridge , too.)

We lined to floor of the car with beer and food. Seemed to work well and we only ate out twice I think.

There was only a little riding around Stavanger but there were some technical trails…

We moved on to Lillehammer and found the Hajfell Bike Park which was absolutely brilliant. Fantastic place, even if I did stuff my knee on one descent…

Is it possible to get off that ferry in Göteborg?

Ryanair is your friend (for once)

Oslo a fine city. Really liked the viking museum esp.

I thought public transport was priced OK, as was camping at sites. Forget hire cars, nice hotels, alcohol and restaurants.

A touristy thing I loved was a day-tour including the lovely Flam cog railway which linked to a ferry on a fjord and then a coach back to the start.

Lofoten Islands were lovely and peaceful – but I just missed out on rowing a replica long boat (not on my own obviously). Unlike me, don't make the mistake of ordering and eating Hvale from a fish and chip shop.

There still is a ferry – a mainly freight affair leaving from Immingham and going to Stavanger – be warned though – it goes via Gothenburg so it's a 40 hour crossing all told.

The only information I can find is DFDS Tor Line going Immingham to Gothenburg, no mention of going on to Stavanger. Looks like it's way out of my price range as well.

i live here in Norway and i love it.

beer and eating out is super expensive but most other things are not so bad.

email me if you want more info. i live in a place called Hommersåk, near Stavanger

Hval (whale meat) is actually quite nice. a fishy tasting beef

I think Denmark figures high in the table because of a few things like cars and income tax. It's not as eye-wateringly expensive to eat out as Norway. Last weekend we had an all-you-can-eat brunch in CPH with salmon, chicken wings, egg, bacon etc for about 9 quid. Norway is the only country with worse cuisine than Holland. The scenery is fabulous, though …

Denmark comes top of those lists because food in general is the most expensive in all of Europe, in Norway there is a few odd bits which is super expensive even compared to Denmark, like the alcohol.

I grew up in Denmark and lived there for 30 years so i know what im talking about, been to Norway many times and its always been nice and cheap to me but i dont drink or go out to eat.

The good side to this is that now that im living in the UK i find it sooo cheap here 🙂

I would go to norway no matter what it cost though, as its such a beautiful country.

Norway is great. It's expensive if you do expensive stuff; cheap if you are prepared to muck in. We went backpacking there about this time a few years back (which is ideal as there are a lot fewer tourists clogging up the windy backroads). Alcohol is expensive but the coffee is fantastic – as are the coffee bars.

We went to the Geiranger fjord, hired a guide and a two man kayak and had a fantastic afternoon paddling about. I recommend that – much better than just taking the ferry. One time we went fjord fishing, caught a very large fish, took it back to our B&B where we exchanged it for a free night plus breakfast. We went to 'A' on the Lofoten islands which was also great – white beaches, impressive scenery, suprisingly warm sea. Did some wild camping there for a couple of nights with a bunch of Danes who'd just come over from Holland. So we made a fire, went fishing in the lake and then swapped our fish for the nice things they'd brought with them from Amsterdam. Which was nice.

Bergen was good and we got three days of sun which is apparently quite unusual. Definately go to Grieg's place. Even if you don't like orchestral music (which we got to see by chance which was a bonus), just chill out in little wooden Troldsalen concert hall for a bit. If you go to Oslo, definately go to the Vigeland Park which is pretty impressive. And if you can get the train that goes from Oslo north to Trondheim that's quite a good little journey in itself.

Avoid the trolls, unless you like that sort of tacky rubbish, in which case you'll be in troll heaven.

Hval – It was top of the menu in the Lofotons so I guessed it would be something popular. It came pan fried in a creamy sauce with fries. You're right about the taste though – slightly fish beef – it was good eating. I was puzzled but too hungry at the time to be concerned. Later the penny dropped and I felt right guilty because I don't really approve of whale hunting.

Awesome country, thoroughly recommended if you're looking for some fantastic scenery and wilderness. My wife & I went there in August 2004, flew Ryanair into Oslo for a few days urban sightseeing and then rented a car for 2weeks. Took tent and slept wild for most of the trip, easy to do. Drove north through Lillehammer, up to Jotunheimen mountains for a few days hiking and glacier snowboarding. There are several remote huts in the area allowing you to do good multi-day hikes taking nothing more than day-kit.

Then drove via Troll Wall & Sognefjellet road (wow!) for the scenery and eventually to Bergan via a days glacier-kayaking. Eventually finished trip with a return via Hardanger Plateau.

Scroll down to August 2004 for lots of photos.[/url]

Well, I’m still pretty keen on going! It really does look like an amazing country. Thanks for the stories, I'll have to check your photo's when I get home, Burts.

I reckon Option 1 is to ferry from Harwich – Holland, drive to Fredrikshavn, then ferry to Oslo.
Option 2 is to Ryanair over and hire a car.

If we end up staying in or around Gerainger, that’ll be about 2000 miles there and back + 400 extra touring, 4 tanks diesel ? 2400 miles ? conservative £250 + £500 ferries. = £750 (+ Euro Insurance?)

Crappy little hire car = £570 for 2 weeks (for next month, probably more in peak holiday next year) + flights, say £100? each for the two of us + £50 transport to and from Stansted + £70? petrol) = £790

So Option 2 = Bobbins. Even if was a bit cheaper, it doesn’t take into account the stuff (bikes, food) we can take with us, and the comfort of a decent car.

Late entrant Option 3: fly with bikes, then tour and train. Means road tyres and limited Em Tee Bee on our way around, plus £wedge on racks, panniers and associated bits and pieces. But we get to keep the stuff afterwards.

How expensive are the trains? What about the ferries over fjords? Is it easy to travel around with bikes on the trains? If we went for the backpacking, is hitching an option?

If anyone knows any good links with handy hints about travel round Norway, I'd appreciate it. I've done a fair bit of googling already, but it's been pretty directionless, and you never find everything.

Thanks again,

Ed

If you are considering rail why not get an InterRail card and travel all the way by train – non-stop all you want travel.

A bit pricey now mind you! It was just £125 when I went travelling in 1990!

Why take the ferry to Holland rather than Denmark? Is it a lot cheaper?

Im guessing here but think the ferry from Hirtshals to norway is cheaper than the ones going to Oslo aswell.
Also its alot quicker, the Oslo Frederikshavn ferry is designed to let norwegians go on it and drink all night, then they sleep a little, and drink all night on the way back.

then they sleep a little

They can't be Norwegian then. They have 24 hour daylight purely to help facilitate their non-stop drinking.

Kungsleden

I wanted to go here next year. Looks amazing but my cousin went in June last year and there were still snow storms.

Mastiles, maybe i should have written "then they pass out a little"

At least that was the case the one time i was on that ferry, helped a friend move back to Denmark from Oslo.

To get down to our cabin on the return trip, we had to jump/crawl over passed out drunk norwegians.

more serious reply/ thanks and contributions on the way, but I thought I'd share these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXZZknJWtGg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNg-aWYcuOQ&feature=related

funny what you come across on there, eh?