carmicar

Hi, I am planning on going to Norway for the weekend of Easter(Fri morning to Mon morning). Arrive in Oslo and was planning on taking overnight trains to the fjords. Found out later that during that weekend trains will not run overnight.

Plans have changed sure but I can still make it by taking overnight bus. I am planning on going to either Stavanger or Sognefjord, and if I make it to this last one I would like to take the Flam railway and experience the beautiful ride through the fjords. Problem is I don't know where I should take the bus to.. from Oslo to..? I checked the bus website (http://bestilling.nor-way.no) but all I see are buses TO Flam.. but the initial plan was to go to Myrdal and from there take the railway..

Where should I book the bus to, in order to be able to get that flam railway? are those overnight buses as comfortable as the trains?
believe my best shot would be the buses.. Otherwise I will only have the saturday to enjoy as I will be traveling Fri and Sun for most of the day...

Would you recommend me to go to Sognefjord over Stavanger? what would the stop be for Stavanger if I decide to go there?

Thanks!

arvin

If I understand you correctly you are planning to be in Norway from Friday April 22nd to Monday April 25th.

Easter and in particular the Easter weekend is traditionally a very quiet period in Norway. It is quite common that public transport operators scale back services during the Easter weekend running something like a Sunday schedule on Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday in the Easter weekend.

Almost all Norwegians have the period from Maundy Thursday to the Monday after Easter Sunday off from work. Both days included. In addition it is not uncommon for Norwegians to take the first three days of the Easter week off from work.

Some hotels at popular winter destinations charge extra during the Easter week.

There are no buses to Myrdal simply because there are no roads to Myrdal The only way to get to Myrdal is by rail. During the summer you can also get to Myrdal by bike on a dirt road. This is quite popular.

If you want to see the Norwegian fjords you should definitely chose the Sognefjord area over Stavanger. Stavanger is a nice city, but does not provide the same nature experiences as Sognefjord does.

You do not say when you will arrive in Oslo or when you will be ready to start your journey towards Sognefjord. When do you need to be back in Oslo?

carmicar

Hey thanks for that!
I also thought Sognefjord seemed like a better idea.

You got the dates right, I will arrive in Oslo on Friday 22 just after 10am and depart on Mon 25 at around the same time

Kinda just assumed we would be going to take the overnight trains to go and come back.. but the timetibles are interfeering our plans as Easter seems to slow things down in Norway.

If I do the trains, I will be able to catch the 4pm train to Myrdal, arriving there after 10pm and apparently there aren't buses leaving Myrdal at that time... oh and most hotels are closed until May!!I've been told I should try and avoid staying there anyway as there's nothing more than the train station.

Even if I did have a way to leave Myrdal, that would mean I would do nothing on Friday. That schedule would do of Sunday a very similar day too..

Bus then: there are overnight buses to Flam, BUT! i really want to take the Flam Railway. I know I will have to go to a train station for it.. which would you say would be a city I could go to, in order to take that train?

I wouldn't want to get to Flam by bus and then take the train to Myrdal and go back to Flam again... Some people said go to Bergen.. But I dunno.. wouldn't mind staying in Flam by the Fjords, or even Slovorn, I heard is an amazing place

Maybe the Flam Railway would go from a diff station other than Myrdal?

Or I can always take that bus to a certain point and then transfer to a train to Myrdal...

I dunno.. What could you recommend me to do in order to take the Flam railway?

arvin

The Flåm/Myrdal rail line only runs between those two stations. Myrdal is also a station on the Oslo/Bergen line.

Here is one trip you could do:

1) On the Friday travel by bus from Oslo bus terminal at 13:05 which is arriving at Gudvangen 21:02. You need to change bus twice. I think this would be quite an interesting journey with much nature to see during the trip, in particular during the part after the first change of buses at Fagernes.

2) Stay overnight at Gudvangen. http://gudvangen.com/

3) On the Saturday go by boat from Gudvangen at 11:50 arriving in Flåm at 13:25. This is a sightseeing boat which will take you through the Nærøyfjord which is on the UNESCO world heritage list.

4) Travel on the Flåm railway departing from Flåm at 14:50 arriving at Myrdal 15:40

5) Travel by train from Myrdal departing at 15:56 arriving in Bergen at 17:52. There are no connecting trains from Myrdal to Oslo that day.

6) Stay overnight in Bergen

7) Spend the day sightseeing in Bergen. Visit places like the mount Fløyen, mount Ulriken and Bryggen.

8) Travel by night train from Bergen at 22:58 arriving in Oslo at 06:26.

carmicar

Wow

Sounds great.

It does though look like it'll be a lot of commuting

I would like to spend the friday in Oslo, so i checked overnight buses... and adding up your ideas and mine came out with this

Fri, overnight bus to Aurland (it gets there at 9am, even better than Bus to Flam, that arrives at 11am or so)
Sat, railway to Flam, and maybe stay there for the night, I was thinking either by the fjords, or else in Slovorn, as I heard is a wonderful place... Or try and do those 2places in Sat(dunno if is doable), staying in Flam that night
Sun, take the boat to Gudvangen(would you happen to know the website for that?) spend the day there and take overnight bus back to Oslo, arriving there at 5.30am...

It is a bit less commuting, leaving me fri, sat, sun, in places rather than on buses/trains. What do you think?

I know i am not doing Bergen that way.. but I haven't done much research about the place and again is less time commuting

What do you think?

Ps. Gudvangen looks amazing. Really appreciate the tip!

arvin

I think it's a good choice to skip Bergen and focus on the Sognefjord area.

The overnight bus to Aurland involves a change of buses in Lærdal where you will have to wait outside (I think) from 04:15 to 08:45. It might be hard to sleep during that period.

There are two overnight buses to Flåm. The one you referred to is a bus to Bergen where you change buses at 9 in the morning before arriving in Flåm at 11:50. The other overnight bus to Flåm is the same bus as the one for Aurland, but instead of leaving the bus in Aurland at 08:45 you stay on to the next major stop, which is Flåm.

These overnight buses have seats that can be tilted back somewhat, but they are far from fully reclining seats. As far as I know, the buses used on the night lines are the same ones used during daytime.

If you want to travel on the Flåm to Myrdal railway without returning by train back to Flåm, you will have to continue from Myrdal towards Oslo or Bergen. Also, there is no rail line from Aurland to Flåm.

Solvorn is quite a distance away from the Aurland/Flåm/Gudvangen area, and I don't see how you would be able to travel there and back on public transportation within the available time.

This early in the season there is only one boat per day between Flåm and Gudvangen. This boat also stop in Aurland. The timetable can be found here: http://www.fjord1.no/filesystem/2010..._2011_2388.jpg

I think you will find that Gudvangen and the fjord outside Gudvangen has the most interesting nature views of Flåm, Aurland and Gudvangen.

Here is one trip plan with a focus on Gudvangen:

1) Overnight bus departing Oslo at 22:05 arriving in Gudvangen at 09:45.

2) Stay the Saturday in Gudvangen. Do a walk from Gudvangen along the west side of the fjord out to Bakka. You can see this place on Google maps. The walk will take around an hour in each direction, but you probably want to stop several times, so it will take longer. Since you more or less will have been up all night, you'll probably want to sleep a few hours sometime during the day. There is a small food store combined with a petrol station at Gudvangen. I expect this place is open all days through the Easter weekend. Stay at the hotel I mentioned earlier.

3) On Sunday travel by boat from Gudvangen to Flåm departing at 11:30 arriving at 13:40.

4) Travel by the Flåm railway departing at 14:50 arriving in Myrdal at 15:40.

5) Travel by the Flåm railway departing from Myrdal at 16:00 arriving back in Flåm at 16:45.

6) Travel by bus leaving Flåm at 22:25 arriving in Oslo 05:25.

An alternative to traveling back from Myrdal to Flåm would have been going by bike on the dirt road from Myrdal to Flåm. This is a very nice ride, but this early in the season the road will still be covered by snow in many places.

While you are on the Flåm railway trip, you can store your luggage in boxes at the tourist information office in Flåm.

PS: Which airport will you be flying through?

carmicar

Hiya! haven´t been online sorry!!

I haven´t had the time to sit and study all the places the way I did last week but hopefully by the end of the week we will have a sorted schedule

Thank you so much for all your help and info

I will be arriving and departing from Rygge, should be very straight forward getting into the city center and viceversa

I have one more question.. If I were to take the bus, on Friday night right, from Oslo and instead of going to Flam or Gudvangen, let´s say I will try to aim for Myrdal.
I know buses don´t go there, but if I take a bus, then transfer to a train towards Myrdal, doesn´t matter what time or the city, as I will most likely have to do so for any of the other options anyway, do you know if that could be possible?
So I take the Myrdal-Flam railway that Sat morning and either go to Gudvangen that Sat night or Sun?

I think that could also be an option and then going back from Gudvangen to Oslo that Sun night

I couldn´t thank you enough for all the tips and info! We were actually so lost with everything, booked Oslo and then realized should go to fjords and then situation with trains not working that weekend..
Didn´t think a good plan was possible, but here we are now! thanks to you!!