In my 3-week Scandinavia trip, I have about three days to explore the Nutshell region -- so the Oslo-to-Bergen Nutshell route (do people really do it as a one-day dash?) , plus more time to explore farther afield. This Nutshell-Plus loop can end in Oslo or Bergen,as I will next be moving on to Denmark.

I will spend a night in Bergen -- or perhaps two if backtracking is warranted.

Primary goal: scenery. And simply enjoying being in Norway

I have found a couple of reports here of "Nutshell-plus" routes but the posters have used cars, and I will not be renting a car. I will likely have an Inter-rail pass, and will be traveling lightly. I enjoy multiple modes of transportation.

If you do go in the reverse direction (Bergen to Oslo), there tend to be less people booking the trains, buses, and cruise — so that's an advantage.

Yes, many people do the NIN in one day just as we did. If you have the time, then yes, do it in a few days, but if you don't, one day is entirely doable and enjoyable.

there is an overnight train or was between Bergen and Oslo and a boat between Oslo overnight and Copenhagen I believe. As for trains as per other thread check ScanRail Pass too - for lots on trains and passes check www.seat61.com; BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com. Can do NIN as a loop from Bergen and back or en route to Oslo but as mms says staying someplace on the fjord would be sweet.

Several years ago when planning my trip to Norway, I started out by trying to work out something with NiN. I decided early on to extend my trip from 1 day to six nights. I was just returning from a two week trip with National Geographic Expeditions The British and Irish Isles which disembarked at Bergen. Getting frustrated with NiN because they were not allowing the flexibility I wanted in both itinerary and hotel selection, I went to Trip Advisor and found a number of experts actually from Norway who were far more knowledgeable than most posters here. I was able to come up with an itinerary that worked very well for me and I easily booked all transportation and the hotels I wanted. While parts of my trip included some of the transportation that NiN provided, by doing my own bookings I didn't feel like I was being herded through Norway with a handful of vouchers.

I spent my first day and night in Bergen then took the ferry to Balestrand ( actually a brand new catamaran that seemed to danced across the water ) although some had negative comments on this particular mode of transportation, I believe their experience was prior to a different company taking over and having brand new boats. The ride from Bergen to Balestrand was actually one of the highlights of my trip. Once I arrived at Balestrand, I immediately got on a much smaller ferry which goes up the Fjaerlandsfjorden to Mundal where we were met by a small shuttle bus that took us to the Ice Museum ( far more interesting than you might suspect) and the onto a visit to the glacier. Another excellent tour. The only other boat we met on the fjord was a small antique wooden fishing boat. I spent the night in Balestrand at the Kvikne's Hotel. Be sure and book a room in the old part of the hotel preferably one with a view... absolutely amazing. There's not much to Balestrand which is nice but there are a lot of hiking trails and a wonderful wooden church, St. Olav, well worthing visiting. The next day, I took the ferry to Flam. I just missed connection with the ferry going to Gudvangen, so plied myself with ice cream and a tour of the massive souvenir shops. I'm not sure that an NiN ticket would've gotten me on the second ferry. The trip up the Naeroyfjord started out okay and should mention that if one wants to see the scenery they need to sit outside. The weather started to deteriorate, and I was one of the last to go inside. Yo couldn't see well, and I seemed to be overwhelmed with the smell of fries and old grease. Not at all pleasant. By the time we got to Gudvangen, I was very happy to get off that ferry. Not the best part of the trip, and I was underwhelmed with the scenery. Perhaps if weather had been better and I could have stayed outside,I might have enjoyed it more.

Gudvangen really is the pits. Nothing much there and all in shades of grey when we arrived. I did catch my bus that took me up to Stalheim where I was staying for the night. I had seen the views form this famous hotel and that was the reason I booked here for the night. The hotel itself was very quirky and not sure I'd stay there again. It really needs a couple of million dollars renovation. I did have a lovely walk the next morning before I caught another bus back to Flam again. I checked into the Fretheim Hotel which was far enough away from the touristy souvenir shops, maddening crowds and docking site for huge cruise liners that successfully blocked all views, to make for an excellent stay. Highly recommend this hotel. I did do a walk while there and next morning caught the Flamsbana up to Myrdal and eventually after several hours delay, the train to Oslo. I spent two nights in Oslo and loved it.

i highly recommend a stopover in Balestrand and, although. not a fan of Flam there are a number of activities one can enjoy there and the Fretheim is well worth a stay. Bergen needs a full day IMO. There are several other possibilities for short stays, one night stopovers, along the the general route such as Aurland and Mundal all can be done by ferry. I would never consider doing the NiN trip both ways. If necessary fly back.

My husband and I caught the train from Bergen to Oslo in June. The weather was perfect and the scenery spectacular, particularly during the first half of the trip. We booked directly through the NSB Railway website. You might want to look at their Bergen Railway page.

I can tell you about our NIN experience. We flew into Bergen on SAS from Copenhagen. We spent 2 nights in Bergen, 3 in Oslo. Before continuing to Oslo, I'd wanted to spend a night on a town/village on one of the fjords, but my husband didn't want to bother with moving for a night (he hadn't wanted to go to Norway at all), so we used our second day (or first full day) in Bergen as a base for a one-day return trip that included the Fl�m Railway, a Fjord Safari on a small RIB ( Rigid Inflatable Boat) from Fl�m to Gudvangen, then small bus/van from Gudvangen to Voss (part of it along Stalheims Road), and finally train from Voss back to Bergen . While I usually make all our own travel arrangements, for this one-day excursion I decided to book a "Basic Fjord Tour" through Norway Active, a Bergen-based company I found on the Visit Bergen website. Before booking with Norway Active, I checked out reviews of the company on Trip Advisor.

Norway Active left a packet with our train tickets and itinerary at our hotel in Bergen. On the morning of our second day in Bergen, we made our own way to its Railway Station, which was a short walk from our hotel. We got off the train at the Myrdal station and transferred to the Fl�m Railway from there. It's a popular but gorgeous train trip! We had about an hour to explore Fl�m before our RIB boat tour. Fl�m has souvenir shops, and places to eat (we bought sandwiches at the bakery). An hour in Fl�m was a little too long for me (yet not long enough for visiting nearby Stegastein Lookout).

The RIB boat tour was operated by FjordSafari. All of the 12 people on our boat had also booked through Norway Active. It was nice being with a small group and we enjoyed conversing with our fellow passengers. After the boat ride, some left for cycling excursions, the rest of us continued by small bus/van to Voss. Before dropping us off at the Voss Railway station, two more passengers were dropped off for White Water Rafting. Due to this slight detour, we missed our train to Bergen and had to wait almost two hours for the next train to Bergen. This was the only letdown of the day.

Bergen is known for being rainy, but Scandinavia was experiencing exceptionally dry and warm weather. On our first day in Bergen, we visited KODE museum(s), walked around, visited the Tourist Information office (which will also book tours for you), and took the funicular up to Mt. Floyen. In such weather, the views were fantastic. If you are a keen walker and have time, you can walk to the top (and/or back down). If we'd not missed our Voss to Bergen train connection on that second day, I would have liked to have taken the Ulriken Cable Car as well.

There's lots of info on the internet about one-day Norway in a Nutshell tours. Here's a link to someone who did the trip from Oslo to Bergen:
https://www.dangerous-business.com/2...tshell-review/

Thanks to all of you for the suggestion for how to put together a good three days in the Nutshell area (for lack of a better phrase).

Now, as I look at all I want to do in Norway, Sweden and Denmark and at my available time .... well some items will be put on the “next trip” list!

That tour Diamantina took sounds awesome - yeah you can do on own but that means a lot of separate train, bus and boat rides - we did it in a day but it was rushed - I'm totally anti-tours but this one makes sense.

Once again Pal you seem to be making assumptions. If one only has one day time limit NiN is certainly the answer but if wanting to include visits to other places, it's very easy to do it on your own without a lot of extra transportation. Easy peasy. My trip of spending 4 nights to get to Oslo where I spent two more nights involved 3 ferries 2 buses and Flamsbana up to Myrdal and train to Oslo.I believe the one day NiN requires train to Myrdal, Flamsbana to Flam,ferry to Gudvange,bus to Voss and train to Bergen.Five types of transportation in one day as opposed to six on my itinerary not including the Flamsbana, neccessary and not to be missed if catching train at Myral.Big difference was that mine was spread over 5 days not one.As stated with limited time there are less options but if one has a couple of extra days to include places not on NiN. It's very easy and rewarding.

Well yeah - OP has 3 days in Bergen so yeah 2 days on the NIN or variants would be better and fulfill desire to stay in smaller town on fjord.