Hi -
I'll have several days in Oslo in late May/early June and I'm SO excited. I'm mostly interested in seeing the natural beauty -- which I guess means the fjords. Is that do-able from Oslo? Should I take a guided tour -- or is it easy to tour these areas on your own, for example, by train? Do you suggest renting a car? I'm assuming that when you get to the fjords you tour by boat. If so, how would I find these boats?

Thanks so much for your help!

Oslo is at the end of a fjord of course, but others are to the Northwest, over in the Atlantic Coast area. Which is why some take the Norway in a Nutshellto Bergen. But there's plenty of beautiful country and Oslo itself is nice.
Ozarks Bill [email protected]

A popular way to see the fiords is called the Norway in a Nutshell tour, which leaves from Oslo's main train station at 8am. You can actually do the whole trip in one day...arriving back in Oslo late that same night, but most opt to stay for a day or more in Bergen, which is on the western coast and is a beautiful city itself.

Wise to buy your tix in advance. It is written up in many travel books. Rick Steves writes a lot about it. That is where we scoped it out and we did the trip in summer of 03. Wonderful.

If you want more info besides what you can get in the tourbooks, email me [email protected]
Also....make another fodor's post saying Norway in a Nutshell summer 05 and you'll get plenty of responses

Thank you SO much. "Norway in a Nutshell" seems to be exactly what I'm looking for. My only decision will be where to stay overnight. Stalheim seems popular.

Bergen is nice to stay overnight, too! Stay in the Bryggen area, down near the docks.

Even if you don't stay overnight at the Stalheim, make sure to read the "instructions" well...for when you get off the ship. You catch a bus for a short ride back "up" to the main train line. Some of the busses don't swing thru the Stalheim hotel. That is something you DON'T want to miss. The view going up that road to the hotel is spectacular.
If I had to do it over, I would have broken the trip into 2 parts and stayed overnight at the Stalheim, for sure.
Going on to Bergen is certainly do-able...and Bergen is spectacular too. Some even catch a very late train and get back to Oslo in the same day (I think).
Also...the first few hours on the train going out of Oslo are not especially picturesque. You can even plan to catch a bit more sleep, or read tour books and do more planning.
EK