Driving in Norway- Desperately need help
 

Desperately needed some help for Norway. We wanted to go to Geirangerfjord, Trollstigen Road and Jotunheimen after doing the Flam rail & Sognefjord. I believe there is no train or bus directly so thought we would rent a car. How is driving in Norway ?

1. Stay: We could spend the night at Balestrand or is there any other place near Sognefjord from where it would be convinient to go to Geirangerfjord. Which would be the best place near Geirangerfjord to spend the night.

2. Distance: Any idea of the distances between Balestrand and Geirangerfjord and then to Jotunheimen.

3. Car Rental: And can we rent a car in Balestrand and return it in Oslo or Jotunheimen ?

Check with Autoeurope for rentals. As for distances, you can get point-to-point distances from Google maps, and distances and estimated time on viaMichelin.

Very slow, but no problems. On our trip by car we averaged 35 miles per hour. But, you don't have any problems. Lovely country.

Driving is very easy in Norway. In Nordic countries there is not that much traffic and, in general, people are very disiplined, follow all the rules. Speeding is close to impossible. The police is very strict and the fines (for speeding) are expensive.
Some might call the traffic even boring compared to Mediterranean countries like Spain, Italy, Greece or Turkey.

Actually since we drive on the left would prefer less traffic so that should be good. Google was great for distances and routes.

Checked Auto Europe but they didn't have any cars on the route we wanted.

Plan to take a car from Sogndal and return it there or in Oslo. Anyone know of some other rental companies ?

someone here - a very helpful person !
recommended meitwagenmarkt
OH just had a look and says theres about 500 dollars savigs in it for us - over the ten days we intend to drive from oslo up through lillehammer down to flam out to bergen and then through geilo back to oslo


it seems meitwagenmarkt gathers deals from all car rental companies - at least OH recognised many we have looked into


we are staying in balestrand for a night at the family run balestrand hotel ( spoke to both sisters in norway and they seem very helpful and of course knowledgeable of the area)

we are staying in geiranger for three nights at the camping ground ( in a cabin ) right on the fjord- we will do the trolls road down to geiranger and then the next morning will drive to allesund for the day

we are staying in flam for two nights as well - so we can explore the areas round there


the locals i have spoken to also reinforced the notion that driving is slow - even though the distances look doable -
we are going in june so then i will have some firsthand experience but at the moment im relying on the good folk of fodor and a few phone calls when im making booking enquiries

Autoeurope offers one way rental between these points: Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim. Other pick-up/drop-off locations might require an extra fee, and the one-way rental might not be available at all locations. At least that is what they told me.

As for mietwagenmarkt, some of their rental agencies in Bergen are clearly identified as Autoeurope (!!!)--symbol and all--but Autoeurope-USA knows nothing about that and I could not find a contact number to ask if I could decline the CDW because my credit card would carry it. Otherwise there was a stiff excess/deductible.