Does your friend have an itinerary in mind? And how long is a "short" trip? Getting to them might be quite involved and time-consuming, depending on the destinations.

It would be helpful to know where and when and for how long your friend is going.

Hi!

I suggest that your friend consider doing a short Norwegian fjords cruise with a small ship cruise. These are part cruise expedition ship, part mail and supply ship to the small remote villages along the northern Norwegian fjord coast for about 6 days, going northbound or southbound or do round-trip. Your friend can walk off the ship into these small villages for a few hours and check out several places instead of just one place.

I appreciate your concern. We are doing lots of investigation and have a pretty good handle on other options. Right now we are just looking for amazing hotel options for consideration. We'll figure out if the options will or won't fit into the itinerary.

Thanks.

It would still be helpful to know your friend's basic itinerary.

The Norwegian coastline is quite long even without considering all the indentations that the fjords make. The most spectacular fjordhotels won't be at the mouths but well inland. And all those indentations mean that travel between them will be expensive and time-consuming - it could easily be several hours to go from one of the major coastal cities to a scenic location at the end of a fjord.

Another important aspect is knowing one's budget. Norway is an expensive country so amazing hotel options will likely have amazing prices. Perhaps you would clarify "amazing" for us. There are some hostels in great locations or were you looking for more upscale lodging?

It might be easier if you could tell us what places/options you are currently looking at and we could then better respond with specifics. You've given us very little information to work with.

Here's how we're working on this one (and maybe you can't help in the way we want, that's ok).

If someone mentions a spectacular lodging option, we'll give it a look, weigh the time/cost/location of it and see if it's worth building a trip around. That's all I was hoping for.

Amazing means breathtaking views with charming accommodations. Don't need to be waited on hand and foot, but a good bed and very good food would be a plus. Things to do other than just sit and look out the window -- hiking, fishing, boating on fjord would also get bonus points.

Would probably stay for a couple of nights, maybe western fjord location is best but not mandatory. Timing is June of next year. Budget will depend on lodging. It's a once in a lifetime trip, so for the right place................

I've only visited once, for 8 days total. Our cruise along the Nærøyfjord was spectacular. It's also a UNESCO World Heritage site.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1195

Here are some of my photos from that cruise. Two of the photos were taken as we exited the Nærøyfjord and entered the Sognefjord. The Nærøyfjord is a branch of that Fjord.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skywalkerbeth/tags/nærøyfjord/show/

Please take special note of the photos which have ships in them. Note the scale.

I can't personally recommend any of these, but here is a list of some I've come across while planning my own itinerary for this year.

Grande Fjord Hotel
www.grandefjordhotel.com
Geiranger

The Storfjord Hotel
www.storfjordhotel.com

Brekkeseter
www.brekkeseter.no

The Stalheim
www.stalheim.com
Stalheim

Kvikne's Hotel
www.kviknes.no
Balestrand

The Fretheim Hotel
www.fretheim-hotel.no
Flam