traveler318

I am looking for advice regarding a trip to Norway planned for next June. The trip will include 10 days with a rental car, mostly driving around fjord areas (starting in Oslo, driving as far as Åndalsnes and Alesund, and back to Bergen where we turn in the car and spend two more nights). All is basically booked, but I have one decision to make.

We want to take the bus/boat tour on the Næroyfjord which goes between Gudvangen and Flåm. I have vacillated whether to spend the night before we take that trip in Flåm or Aurland, and actually have hotels reserved in both places. Originally, I thought we would rent an electric car, and Aurland seemed better for charging the car, but we cancelled the electric car in favor of a gasoline model. So now Flåm seems more convenience for catching the fjord tour (no need to move and park the car in the morning).

The Flåmsbrygga Hotel costs a little more, but I have a superior room with balcony there which is a bit bigger vs the normal room at Hotel Aurlandsjord. I have received advice that people with cars should avoid Flåm (cruise ships, crowds), but (a) I’ve checked and there are no cruise ships scheduled for three days in a row when we will be there (both the day we arrive and the day of our tour), and (b) we will arrive about 6 p.m. departing the next day after the cruise on the Næroyfjord. I really want to see the Næroyfjord since it is a World Heritage site, and being on the boat gives the driver the opportunity to relax and enjoy scenery with both eyes instead of keeping one on the road. I know there are “NIN” crowds on this route, but if we take the first departure in the morning, I’m assuming that will avoid most people coming from either Oslo or Bergen.

I need to cancel one hotel since I’ve had to pre-pay for both. Am I crazy to choose Flåm over Aurland?

Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks.

mjs

Staying in Flam would make it easy to walk to the ferry and your car would be parked ready to pick up after taking the bus back from the end of the ferry ride in Gudvagen

bilboburgler

why did you turn down the EV out of interest, in a country with the highest EV usage in the world?

traveler318

We decided there were two or three days where we would be exceeding or at least pushing the safe range of the vehicle (a VW ID.3), and taking the time to charge in middle of the day would be inconvenient. And not all the places we were staying have on site (or close) charging stations. We struggled with the choice since we have an electric vehicle at home.

Any thoughts on whether staying in Flam is a mistake?

mjs

Why would staying in Flam be a mistake? We only did the earliest cruise before driving out to the Aurlandsfjellet. There was a medium size cruise ship in port but the ferry was not crowded. I suspect the later ferries might be more crowded but do not have any personal experience. We had no problems parking at our hotel in Flam and most people taking the excursions either came via train or by cruise ship in June of 2022. We saw very few tourist cars driving through the mountains of Norway from Bergen.

bilboburgler

Thanks

Norway is a very large country with no one in it. Then there are tiny centres of population where all the services are. Unless you are camping, go to Flam, if you feel crowded in, just walk out of town, it really is that easy. Saying that, after 2 weeks in the interior one time we went to Oslo (the lowest population density capital in the world) and felt hemmed in by seeing another person walking on a pavement.

traveler318

Thanks to those who have replied for your insights. Having recently been to very crowded places (e.g. Croatia) I was concerned about ignoring advice to avoid Flam since we'll have a car. Going to cancel the Aurland hotel now. Thanks again.

mjs

Flam or even Bergen is nothing like Dubrovnik