flam norway
 

staying in flam for two nights
in heimly pensjonat

most people would overnight only- i know but we really want to have somewhere to base ourselves to see myrdal, stalheim
the naeroyfjorden and gudvagen and voss and vik and maybe even eidfjord ( but we can see the latter on the drive to oslo when we are on the last leg of our journey )

we might even shoot over to bergen for the day ( if we dont do that on the express boat from balestrand)

we wont be doing the nutshell since we have the car but we will rail over to myrdal from flam since you cant drive that part anyway

would have loved to stay in stalheim for the view but will have coffee or lunch there instead.....
cant justify a night there if we are staying in balestrand and then flam........????

i know flam is tiny but it does seem a nice spot to stay for a bit- we get a view hopefully!


is there anything north east of flam worthy of a daytrip?
thanks people!

Hi lanejohann

I'm disapponted that you're not planning at least two nights in Bergen...it is truly one of the beautiful places, world-wide. Hopefully, you'll reconsider.
stu t.

Another vote for Bergen. Flam is picturesque and worth a visit but I would spend just one night there.

Tower
i too am thinking that two nights in flam
might be the wrong choice

but OH is leaning that way and we have booked the heimly pensjonat
i just spoke to the owner and she says it is easy to get to bergen albeit 3 and half hours via scenic route

we are not one for museums and i dont think we will visit griegs house

so upon your recommendation we will do the funicular and walk down
there is also a walk to the city wall andthenup to ytremarkeveien and finalyl to the theatre and olav kyrres gate
i think that will do us

we might catch the fast ferry from balestrand before we go - 1t about 8 am and it gets us back to balestrand at 830
we may be able to drive to flam then - ferries run til 11 pm from around balestrand
it will be a long day but that clears the days in flam where we can do the naeroyfjord rail to myrdal visit stalheim and then maybe get down to voss and east of there

there are some nice walks round flam away from the crowds where you get into fields and we might hire our own boat to go round the fjord a bit

bergen was my initial choice but we started to run out of time because of our three day stay in geiranger - in a cabin on the fjord
we will try to get upto alesund and molde on a day trip
but we have crossed off stavanger since we are not planning on bergen accommodation

since we are driving we wont do the traditional norway in a nutshell

i will do some more thinking about bergen but to my way of thinking - since we have the car we might as well see the little towns round the fjords from there not bergen
dont know why but bergen is not calling to me - i have seen a dvd and pics on the net
i could very well be wrong!!!!

lanejohan;


Main thing, don't rush around too much....just fit in what you're conmfortable with regardless of what any of us try to influence you on...whatever you choose, you will love the scenic wonders of Norway. If you do decide to do more of Bergen, Grieg's home is not just a tiny museum,, it's the beautiful tranquil surroundings about 15-20 minutes out of Bergen...a short country walk from the bus stop.

Enjoy!

stu t.

sorry couldnt respond earlier cos had trouble like lots of people with logging in yesterday

thanks Tower and Padams
i have been pondering and my head has swelled to the size of pumpkin with all of the thoughts and decisions to make
OH is off O/S so i cant really make the final decisions at the moment but i have booked all accommodation including the two nights in flam to use a base primarily

we are used to driving distances - long distances for holidays at home

so im thinking that even a three hour drive to bergen ( scenic route according to via michelin ) will be ok
if we leave early-ish in the morning from flam we could be in bergen before midday -or sooner if we dont keep stoppping to sightsee
we could stay in bergen til 6pmor even 7pm - have an early dinner and head back the quick way to flam- a little over two hours and it will still be light when we arrive at heimly pensjonat
we could explore bergen on foot - i have been looking up places to park cos i know you cant drive in the centre
we really need one more day in bergen but im loathe to take it from balestrand or flam because there seems to be so much beauty there in the fjords and we do need to do a tiny bit of rail somewhere so we know what everyone else is raving about!
ill start another thread and share our itinerary with you all
please suggest anything that we might need to do in the travel days - when we arrive quite late in the afternoon for instance
thank you all again !!

lanejohann-- usually you picked home bases that facilitate sightseeing, not make it more complicated than need to be. You are staying in Flam but are actually sightseeing in Bergen....? At a minimum, split your stay with an overnight in Bergen continue on to Flam. I do agree there are tons of things to see around Flam. I loved Urnes, Borgund, and a tiny town called Undredal that has the most amazing medieval Stave church. In getting to Undredal from Flam we picked a countryside road, I even had to get get out of the car twice to get goats out of the road. It was hilarious. Undredal has the most spectacular fjords backdrop, we even joined in to play ball with 4 kids by a coffehouse right in town.

Do NOT miss VIK. Word of advice, to get to Vik you have to go up a windy mountain road, a lot of fog at times, doable but just take it easy. There is a cybercafe with a webcamera right on top of the hill road. You have got to stop there and take in the amazing view. Check it out at http://vikjavev.no/?spr=en:-D

I loved the Sognefjord area and the Geirandefjord Region. NOTHING beats driving around these regions and stopping at leisure.

Viajero
thank you for all of your posts re scandinavia
your advice has been invaluable and has helped us a lot
yes i remembered you recommended vik and the church and i circled it on our map
i think of you whenever i look at vik on the map!

now about bergen
...
i dont know why we suddenly changed our plans
we were going to book pensjonat skansen in bergen for two nights
but then we found ourselves coming up through lillehammer and geiranger and it all seemed far to drive to bergen from there to warrant a two night stay when we actually wanted to do our own version of the nutshell route by car
so we are stopping overnight in balestrand and then heading to flam

it is a three and half hour scenic drive to bergen and a 2hr one if we take the shortest route on the way back to flam- OH loves driving - these distances are nothing compared to the 8- 10 hours we drive to get to a destination in a day
we have done very ambitious roundtrips here at home lol

we are going to oslo after this (staying in geilo) so i thought itd be better to base ourselves closer to oslo than to bergen and just do a daytrip to bergen

we will try to see alesund and molde up north so we will get a taste of that sort of coastline but like you said there is so much to see around voss and flam

wouldve liked to have stayed in stalheim but that steep winding hill doesnt lend itself to in and out trips for a couple of days
gudvanger is cheaper than flam but it was the heimly pensjonat's views and reasonable prices that lured us

when OH gets back next week fromO/S we will sit down again and discuss the itinerary
he doesnt like towns and he does want a base
we could break it up and do a night in bergen and a night in flam
but we do like just having a place to come home to after a daytrip
maybe that isnt sensible in this case
will keep thinking!
again thanks for your insights

Lanejohann- that was the sweetest compliment I ever got! VIK is a magical place in my view. That view on the webcamera is EXACTLY as you see it from the cybercafe parking area. The camera is on the roof. Totally understand the driving thing, my husband LOVES road trips, for him driving 8-10 hours is a joy. Lucky us!! :-D

Bergen is definitely worth a stop, even more an overnight. The town has a wonderful history that you can almost "read" on the buildings as you walk down the streets. Very interesting town. A practical note: Bergen has a nice laundry facility within easy walking distance from centre town; you just drop the clothes load(s) and come back in a couple of hours they are all clean and nicely folded. Let me know if you need details.

I had posted before about Geilo; loved this place, nice stop, excellent tourist info center and post office. On the road Geilo-Oslo, there are some really beautiful spots to stop and take it all in. Another practical note: Norway is a very expensive country (not clear why...). Supermarkets make great stops for pre-made sandwiches, snacks, sodas, etc... Do not worry about English, it seemed everybody spoke English. I love to tell the story about the two young (very young!) girls selling lemonade by a very (very!) rural countryside road (we were lost...). I insisted on stopping and asking the girls for directions to my DH's protest (how are we going to understand their explanations?"). We did stopped, asked as slowly as we could in English and BOTH replied in perfectly clear, articulate English with perfect directions to our destination. Go figure.

Have a fun trip. Norway is a dream land, so different and beautiful.

thanks again for posting your thoughts Viajero!

i am toying with staying in bergen for a night
will run it past OHwhen he is back from O/S

see we both like our 'bases' but it might be more convenient to have a night in places and move on

see it would look like this
lillehammer: 1 night
geiranger: 3 nights
balestrand: 1 night
flam: 2nights
geilo: 1night
oslo: 2nights

if we take one night from flam and stay in bergen it would make a lot of sense but that means packing again! sure i can just do the overnight bag thing but it is so nice to just come"home' from a day out

wish there was something between bergen and geiranger - that is a long trp 7-8hrs and i do want to stop and look and linger a bit
so much to see
thats why i thought balestrand would be good- it's 4 hours away from geiranger and we could do it in 6- with stops- right?

but then balestrand is pretty close to flam...
bummer
voss is a good stop it seems but i have been told it isnt as pretty as flam and then theres the sports festival and a soccer tournament...lodgings are booked heavily

so we are back to flam- just as a place to dump our gear- see all around

bergen is bugging me no end
i wish i wasnt compelled to go to bergen
but you people are so insistent!!!! youre ruining my sleep!!!

im afraid i will be the only person who hasnt been to bergen!!!!!!!!!!!and youll all be tittering: look theres the stupid girl who stayed in flam for two nights and didnt go to bergen!!!
lol
this is doing my head in !!
thanks
seriously
youre on my map
( whopping big map it is, too!)

lj,

I am having the same thoughts as you, so you may not be the only person who does not see Bergen.

I will be traveling by rail/ferry, so I do not have the flexibility you will have by car (I don't like to drive in a new country alone).

I want a couple of days to walk, wander through small towns, etc. on my June trip. So I am leaning toward Oslo as my city stop and Flam or Aurland or Balestrand as my country base for walking and ferries. I'm still looking at information to see which would be easier to access trails and transportation.

I think I will only go to Bergen this trip if it makes more sense time and money wise for me to catch my onward flight rather than Oslo.

lane-- I have taken the time to map your route on my Norway map. I have to say that you stops may still need a bit of work. In a synopsis, you need to tighten up the loop.

First off, why and how are you going to Lillehammer for a day?

Also, Geiranger is quite out of the way for this trip. Not sure what could possibly justify going to Geiranger for three days when you are already covering Flam/Bergen/ Sognefjord area. Those beautiful pics of Geiranger you see could be taken in just about every other town in the Sognefjord area. I would definitely trade days off Geiranger (or skip it) and head down to Bergen.

If there is time while at Geillo, consider a visit to the Hardangevidda National Park, which is stunning.

oh youre good Viajero

thank you for taking that time to have a good look at what we are doing

firstly the lillehammer bit

see
when we went to book in oslo
hotel after hotel was booked out - shipping convention
so we decided to tack on oslo at the end as we fly out to london from there anyway

we will be arriving from stockholm by train ( we might get a plane but we are leaning towards the train)
so we arrive in oslo round 2pm
we pick up the car then
and for our first leg i thought that lillehammer would suffice- it is still quite a distance even though it looks so close to oslo
but i figured we will need to pick up the car - sort things out ..leave some time to get out of oslo and figure out the navman etc lol
so we arrive in lillehammer probably round 6 or 7pm
whether we stay a bit in lillehammer or drive out early will depend on the weather and how we feel about the place
that day we will have a mass of driving and sightseeing cos we are doing the troll road down to geiranger

we do like having our bases - and geiranger will serve as one
i talked to the camp ground owner on the phone and have exchanged several emails
from geiranger we can go to alesund and molde
we can visit a number of villages ( not in themselves spectacular but there are awesome lakes and rivers round there that can be done as daytrips- in other words we can get off the beaten track and just explore without having topack up every day )

i was on the net looking at peoples pics of the region and i was close to tears - moved by the beauty of the region
i dont want to rush through this area
we dont have anything like this at home
mind you - OH is in canada at the moment so he will be all ''laked and mountained out!! but that is something he will have to deal with as i oooh and ahhh my way through norway

why geiranger?
well originally we say a dvd featuring trondheim
OHreally liked it but then we decided it was too far north for our trip so we toyed with kristiansand/sund (whichever isthe northern one lol)
then we thought of using alesund as a base
and just visiting geiranger
if we werent so keen on stopping for two or three nights at a time our journey would be more efficient i know
petrol is a killer - i think it was over $3USD a litre
but it is only for ten days so we will do it

i keep reading that bergen is this beautiful place but my friend said she didnt like it as much and my tastes are similar
whenever i see a view with buildings i feel it is spoilt
( unless youre strictly looking at cityscapes)
we do need one more day for bergen
i agree
ill wait till OH finally comes home from skiing and we can nut it out some more


i know that geilo is principally a ski resort so we will try to get out to the national park

thank you again for trying to help me with this bit of our trip!
i so appreciate your input Viajero!

KAY hi!

YOU MUST

SEE BERGEN !!!!!
no-- seriously lol

now
when you email your lodgings, ask a few questions of the owners/ managers and get a phone card and maybe even ring them directly for a chat like we did

the bergen tourist info has its own forum
and you can join up and they will send you newsletters

i believe that voss is a good base and you can do the train thing to flam and that nutshell route and also do bergen

( remember yourenot to come home unless youhave a full bergen report! lol..that is my promise to myself anyway!)

i have emailed voss tourist bureau and they were great with their suggestions
only thing was - the time we aregoing in june , voss has a big soccer tournament on and later an extreme sports festival so accommodation was heavily booked

we chose flam cos of its beauty and the fact that the heimly pensjonat was recommended and was available

the women who talked to me on the phone at balestrand hotel were lovely
one sister is in the states forthe winter but her sibling was manning the phones and was very helpful with info about ferry travel and routes etc
we might do express boat from balestrand to bergen
the ferry leaves at 8 am and you can get back by 830
yes it is not as scenic as Marija here points out but it might be convenient for you
the balestrand hotel rates well

so does the stalheim one - but i dont fancy driving that hairpin road if we are to stay there a couple of nights so balestrand and flam got the vote from us

i have written out directions for a walking tour of bergen and we will ride the funnicular and that i think will be it for bergen

now KAY if you and i end up the only ones who dont see bergen we can watch it on film over and over again and self- flagellate!

lane-- consider renting a hybrid car (i.e. Toyota Prius). We ended up with one for the Norway trip and loved it so much that we bought one when we returned home (traded the old Ford!!).

RE: Route -- As you go over the rationale, it makes more sense, just make sure you have fun. Be also prepared to look forward to Oslo at the end of the trip as you may get "nature overdose". Take lots of pics, breathe in the wonderful fresh air, have a great time.

oh thanks Viajero!
have just been looking at a dvd of the amazing stockholm archipelago
wow!
and you can stay on the islands for one night at a time i think as long as you treat everything with respect and close the gates for the farmers

no wonder the swedes get confused trying to do that in the UK..cant see an openarm welcome from a brit farmer when he sees people on his land lol


about the car
that is OH's domain
i have written down your recommendation
as far as the latest on the car- he has a car booked with hertz this time
sixt had a better deal but it elapsed by the time he went to look again

what do you think about getting an allwheel drive?

i doubt we will get any real fourwheel driving but it might be nice tohave something hardier than just a town car
lots of people suggesting we go for diesel but i think theyre hard to come by when renting..dont know

how was the FOG when you were driving Viajero
???
i have been trying to study up on fog formation and predicting it but have concluded it's pretty nigh impossible
twould be a shame to get all the way to the top of dalsnibba road and see nothingand then have the awesome drive down the hairpins
yes...fun lol !

i think we will have a good mix of the natural and city environs in the trip overall
but i know that you can OD on the same sort of scenery
we did that in croatia- so i think you need to treat the 'palette' to something different every few days - be it food or scenery

when did you go and what did you pack?
was it windy in some places?i hear it can be on the west coast

im looking to buy waterproof walking shoes for norway .something with a gortex lining
i have already bought some lace up black suede and patent leather shoes for russian cities ( very flexible soles)but need something hardier for norway i think

ill pack layers but everything i read talks of the weather being so unpredictable even in june...
i feel the cold terribly so i doubt ill pack more than two tshirts
only allowed 20 kgs and 8 kgs handluggage the way we are travelling..mooooaaaaan! still ill be the one lugging it so it is for the best i guess

cheers!

We only encountered fog when driving up to Vik; not a lot, by the time we turned around it was all gone. Many fjords areas do have a kind of grayish, misty envelope. We went at the end of June -beginning of July. We lucked out beyond belief with weather. The only day rain put a damper on our two week trip was when we visited Soumenlinna, the 18th Century Sea Fortress off the Helsinki Harbor. I remembered it was in the lower 80's when we visited Oslo. That said, I did have a windbreaker with a wool liner that I used almost every day in the evening. The key thing about weather is clothing; THERMALS are perfect thing to take because they are not bulky, yet provide great layering. Make sure you take comfortable, but sturdy pair of shoes, waterproof even better, not sure about suede, though. Two compact umbrellas are a MUST as well. Get a nice backpack for sightseeing comfort.

K thanks Viajero
that was great luck you had with weather - esp fog!

i bought some gortex hikers - very ligthweight so hopefully they will be perfect

waiting on stocks of cheap raincoats tocome in to stores- am not investing in gortex there because i will cry if i leave an expensive raincoat somewhere

didnt think of umbrellas but am looking for a peak or a hooded raincoat but i guess you need shelter for your whole person- a raincoat wont protect your jeans

so you reckon i will need thermals even though it is summer- ish???

i planned on packing a couple but though id get by with cotton long sleeve tees and sweaters and hoodies plus a thick jacket

i guess the temps fluctuate a lot

In what is a very beautiful area, Voss is decidely average.

True, it is bigger than some of the other towns and villages round and about, and right on the railway - so accomodation, eating out and onward travel are all easier, but it probably wouldn't be my choice for a base.

i have heard the same of voss

but it seemed like a good location - thats all