Coastal excursions
 

My husband and I are booked on a coastal ferry in early August. We've been looking over the material the ferry company sent and were aghast at the prices of the excursions. Anyone out there have experience with these? Which are particularly worthwhile Can you get to these places yourself, by public transportation? Any advice would be appreciated.

Want to give us clue which country?

It's a funny thing about this forum. You can NOT post without (initially) without choosing [one] country [or more] to "place" your post under) - - but then, that information is never displayed!<BR><BR>Barbara undoubtedly thought she WAS telling which country when she posted.<BR><BR>But we can't see your selection, Barbara.<BR><BR>Fodors staff - - wouldn't this be an easy fix? There are any number of easy places to list the country "selected" - - to the right of "post a reply to this message" or right above it, under the header itself - - of if the header does NOT contain the name of the country, just have your software append it - - thus making "Coastal excursions (Norway)" the header that Barbara intended.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Hi, Barbara.<BR>If Norway's coastline is the one you shall explore, maybe I can help you. I know, however, little about what specific excursions you've been offered and at what price. Which ferry and what ports also will give some clues. So, if you can forward such info, it probably will be relatively easy for me to evaluate the offer(s) and I also might suggest some self-arranged alternatives.<BR>Bjorn, Oslo

ttt<BR>

Was Norway a lucky guess, Rex? Because when you leave the "Text Search" box blank and highlight Norway in the "Subject Search" box, this message pops right up!

Rex, did you recommend the Hotel Paris Rome in Menton? Does it have a/c? How far is it from the beach?

To the top! Rex, can you please tell me about the hotel Paris-Rome! Need to make reservations soon! Thanks.

Jahoulih - - yes, lucky ("logical"?) guess - - and confirmed just the way you said.<BR><BR>Bev - - no, i did not mention this place; I scarcely know menton - - though i have cited something about a place in or near menton that i would LIKE to visit someday - - i dont think that this is the name of it - - maybe try searching menton?<BR>

Barbara, <BR> <BR>I took the Norwegian Coastal Voyage (Hurtigruten) May/June 2000, northbound from Bergen to Kirkenes. We took a plane from Kirkenes back to Oslo, and continued our journey to Denmark and Sweden. The trip was one of the best we've ever taken. We have never been much in favor of "tours", so were somewhat nervous about the excursions. I'm happy to say we were generally very pleased by each one we took. The Geiranger-Alesund trip was very interesting. It gave us a chance to see some of the countryside that you miss while on a boat. There was a stop-off at the house of a person who carves trolls (obviously something done for the tourists), but the rest was an educational, enjoyable bus trip. If you stay on the boat during that time, you see the same scenery you saw on the way in. You could not do this by yourself. <BR>The Ringve Museum in Trondheim was quite interesting. Our ship was in Trondheim on a Sunday morning, and so nothing in town was open. If we had been there on another day, we probably would not have taken the tour, but it was worthwhile. If you are in Trondheim on another day besides Sunday, you could pass on this one, but we really enjoyed it (and I'm not all that interested in the history of music). The guides were entertaining and informative - they are all students of music there. <BR>We did not take the Svartisen excursion, as we have been to Alaska several times and seen tidewater glaciers. If you have seen a glacier up close and personal before, you might want to pass. If you haven't, I would think it would be worth it. <BR>We took the sightseeing tour of Tromso. If we had tried to do this on our own, we would have missed a lot of information. As with the other tours, the guide was knowledgeable and entertaining. The tour took us through a few neighborhoods, as well as to a museum and the Arctic Cathedral. I also felt this was worthwhile. <BR>The last excursion we took was to Nordkapp. This was definitely worth doing. The landscape (there is a pretty long bus ride - maybe 45 minutes) was fascinating (there was still lots of snow), with lots of reindeer sightings. I like being able to say I stood on the northernmost point in Europe. There was also a really good giftshop - this may sound strange, but we hadn't found much to purchase for people back home up to this point, and there was a nice mix of the really touristy stuff (t-shirts, pens, etc.), and nicer things (paintings, carvings, etc.). Although it was cold and windy, we were there on a clear day. There was an interesting short movie to watch, plenty of places to take pictures, etc. We wished we had about another 45 minutes. On the way back we stopped at a Sami camp - obviously there for the tourists and a little disappointing. Overall, though, this was one of the most interesting of the excursions for us. <BR>The last excursion on the northbound trip was the Kirkenes-Russian border trip. It was not until after we had signed up for the trip that we found out we could not cross the Russian border (perhaps a bit naive on our part). Once again, our guide was great, and shared a lot of the history of Nazi occupation in Norway during our trip. We were close enough to the border to see the guard stations/towers, and got to see some neighborhoods in Kirkenes, too. <BR>Now that you've made it through this long note, I would definitely recommend the excursions. While we also felt they were expensive, we would not have been able to manage to duplicate them on our own. The tour guides spoke excellent English (you'll have an English-speaking bus), and were happy to answer any questions we had about any of the areas. We felt they were well worth the price. Have a great time! I hope to visit again someday! Let me know if I can answer any other questions.