Norway road suggestions
Jun 14th, 2002, 03:51 PM
#1
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Norway road suggestions
My husband and I are leaving on July 1st for our first trip to Norway. We have a few days in Oslo, then we fly to Bodo for a day and pick up the coastal steamer for 2 days and depart in Aalesund where we'll pick up a rental car. We stay there for 2 nights, and go to Gerainger staying one night, and then 2 nights in Balestrand. We then ferry to Bergen via Vik for a 3 night stay. Finally, we take the Myrdal/Flaam/Gudvangen/Voss route and stay 2 nights in Voss before returning to Bergen by train and home. So my question is which road routes do you recommend between our destinations to take in some of the beautiful scenery as well as day trips at the places where we are staying. Also, any suggestions to how best enjoy the fjords (ie by land or on water). One last question for anyone who knows. We are stayin gat the Bristol Hotel in Oslo. Should we taxi into town from the airport or is the hotel near enough to the train to come in that way?
Thanks,
Linda
Thanks,
Linda
Jun 14th, 2002, 04:24 PM
#2
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Linda,
Sounds like a great trip!! We were in Oslo last spring and also stayed at the Bristol. The Hotel has the most beautiful lobby!! We drove into town from the Copenhagen via the Western Coast of Sweden. The hotel location is about 1/2 mile walk from the train station(or a very short cab ride). We walked there to catch a train to Myrdal/Flam. It was no problem, but we only had 2 medium backpacks since we were going to stay in Aurland (a ferry stop on the nutshell tour) for two nights before returning to the Bristol. One suggestion, if you can work it in is to take the first boat of the day on your fjord tour. We took the 8AM train to Myrdal, then the train to Flam...very crowded with tour groups who all piled on the next boat. We hopped off the boat in Aurland, spent the night at the Aurland Fjordhotel and continued our boat trip to Gudvagen the next morning at 9AM.....no crowds at all. We practically had the boat to ourselves. Feel free to e-mail me with any questions you may have....have a great trip.
Devona
Sounds like a great trip!! We were in Oslo last spring and also stayed at the Bristol. The Hotel has the most beautiful lobby!! We drove into town from the Copenhagen via the Western Coast of Sweden. The hotel location is about 1/2 mile walk from the train station(or a very short cab ride). We walked there to catch a train to Myrdal/Flam. It was no problem, but we only had 2 medium backpacks since we were going to stay in Aurland (a ferry stop on the nutshell tour) for two nights before returning to the Bristol. One suggestion, if you can work it in is to take the first boat of the day on your fjord tour. We took the 8AM train to Myrdal, then the train to Flam...very crowded with tour groups who all piled on the next boat. We hopped off the boat in Aurland, spent the night at the Aurland Fjordhotel and continued our boat trip to Gudvagen the next morning at 9AM.....no crowds at all. We practically had the boat to ourselves. Feel free to e-mail me with any questions you may have....have a great trip.
Devona
Jun 14th, 2002, 05:27 PM
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Linda-You will love Norway-we just recently returned and it was spectacular. We did the Norway in a Nutshell tour as well (the only unfortunate part was that our time was limited so we did it in one day-Oslo-Mrydal-Flam-Gudvagen-Voss-Bergen-Oslo) and it defintely would have been better to overnight (our choice would have been in Bergen) and enjoy more of that city-you will love it!
Hotel Bristol is just off the main pedestrian street in Olso, Karl Johans Gate, and very near the University area. The surrounding area is very nice.
Oslo's airport is about 30 miles or so north of the city-a taxi into town will be very expensive($100 or so),so I would recommend either the train-which will put you at the Oslo S (Central train station, which is where you'll catch the 8:11am train for Mrydal) or the flybussen, which takes about 45 minutes (depending on road construction/traffic) from the airport into downtown Oslo. From the Oslo S, you're about a 20 minute or so walk to the Bristol, which really isn't that bad. You'll find lots of people pulling luggage so don't think anything of it.
Have fun and take more film with you than you're planning on taking-you'll see why once you get to Norway. ENJOY!
Hotel Bristol is just off the main pedestrian street in Olso, Karl Johans Gate, and very near the University area. The surrounding area is very nice.
Oslo's airport is about 30 miles or so north of the city-a taxi into town will be very expensive($100 or so),so I would recommend either the train-which will put you at the Oslo S (Central train station, which is where you'll catch the 8:11am train for Mrydal) or the flybussen, which takes about 45 minutes (depending on road construction/traffic) from the airport into downtown Oslo. From the Oslo S, you're about a 20 minute or so walk to the Bristol, which really isn't that bad. You'll find lots of people pulling luggage so don't think anything of it.
Have fun and take more film with you than you're planning on taking-you'll see why once you get to Norway. ENJOY!
Jun 15th, 2002, 01:14 AM
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Regarding Bristol and the airport. The walk from the central station is as was said 15-20 minutes, and if your luggage is relatively light I would simply walk up Karl Johan from the train station which is a nice trip... Though if you are bringing heavy luggage I would consider the Airport Bus, one of which I'm pretty sure stops at max a few hundred meters away from Bristol. Ask the Busdriver he should know... Even though the bus might be more direct I would suggest the train, Norways only high speed train... 
Sindre
Sindre
Jun 15th, 2002, 05:18 AM
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Highly recommend you drive to Geirganger from Aalesund via Aandalsnes and the Trollstigen, actually we found our favorite part of this route was after the ferry between Valldal and Eidsdal-the drive down to Geirangerfjord. This is an extremely scenic routes with enough things to stop and look at too. Total driving time Aalesund-Aandalsnes-Geiranger was about 3.5 hours not including stops.
I posted a trip report here from our holiday last year. It's titled something like "Just Back from Norway-bliss"
P.S. If they're selling strawberries in the roadside stands-definitely stop and buy some in the "Strawberry Valley".
I posted a trip report here from our holiday last year. It's titled something like "Just Back from Norway-bliss"
P.S. If they're selling strawberries in the roadside stands-definitely stop and buy some in the "Strawberry Valley".
