stephpaige

My husband and I spent 9 wonderful days in Norway in June. Overall, we agree that Norway has the most spectacular scenery of any Nordic country, and most other places we've visited too. We found the people to be friendly, though not gregarious, and while it was definitely expensive the strong dollar made it bearable. We loved that everyplace took credit cards, and WiFi was good throughout the trip. We would happily go back - here's a little trip report!

OSLO

• We took the Vy train to the city center from the airport, not the more expensive Flytoget. Just go past the Flytoget kiosks to buy the Vy tickets. There are lots of nice people working in that area too who will help if it's confusing. Easy ride into the city, modern train with WiFi.
• We stayed an an AirBnB about a 5 minute walk from the train station, past the cool opera house. Easy city to navigate. Oslo was in the middle of a heat wave, 90 degrees and the only places with a/c were grocery stores. Our AirBnB was very nice in a modern building, on the 7th floor with a balcony. They had a fan on a stand, this was the only model we saw throughout Norway, and it was much lower velocity than we're used to with US fans. It was better than nothing, but if you visit Norway during a heat wave, consider bringing some cooling towels or at least carrying a water bottle - the public water is fantastic.
• Of the city center sites, city hall/Radhusetwas our favorite. The folk tale carvings outside on the front are really neat, and the inside is stunning. We saw several weddings when we were there, which was fun.
• We also enjoyed the Vigeland sculpture park, we took a tram from in front of the train station, although it was really hot.
• For coffee, we liked Kaffebrenneriet. I drink decaf iced Americanos and that was no problem for them - some places don't have decaf espresso. We saw many outposts across the city.
• We shopped at Kiwi and if you like chocolate - I highly recommend grabbing a bag of Smash! They are basically chocolate covered Bugles, made with really good chocolate. That might sound weird, but they are fantastic!
• I eat mostly vegan and we really enjoyed Nordvegan. They have several bowl/salad options that come with tons of toppings.
• We rented a car from Hertz in the Radisson Blu hotel for our drive to Bergen. Easy to pick up there and the car was great - a hybrid Suzuki. There are many electric and hybrid cars in Norway and lots of charging stations.

ROAD TRIP

• Day 1 - we drove from Oslo to Grotli, through Lillehammer. Easy drive, nice roads. There are tolls, no stopping though - they automatically read the plate. You see a sign before the reader. We were told that speeding tickets are no joke in Norway so we made a point not to exceed the limit. There were signs for speed cameras. We stopped in the cute and touristy town of Lom on the way. I was so excited to see snow on the mountains farther away - little did I know how much more I'd see! The Lom bakery is very good and popular, it's sort of behind the waterfall. Recommend the pistachio roll/pastry. The stave church is nice too, it's not free like many churches but worth it. It smells fantastic inside! Also, it was much cooler for this and the rest of our trip. We wore light jackets. So, be flexible in your packing and bring layers. We stayed at the Grotli Hoyfjellshotell and loved it - it was our favorite hotel of the trip. There is nothing around it (except chargers for electric cars!) so get the buffet dinner. I told them I was vegetarian and they made me a special cauliflower steak, which was so nice. The rooms are a bit dated and small, but the bathrooms are remodeled and the rest of the hotel is so charming and beautiful. The buffet was really nice, multiple entrees, sides, salad, breads, desserts, etc. Equally as impressive at breakfast the next morning.
• Day 2 - We drove the Gamle Strynefjellsvegen summer road and it was AWESOME. Highly recommend! We stopped so many times to take pictures of the mountains, snow, turquoise water and even ski lift with snowboarders in June! There are little pullover sections of the narrow road for when there's another vehicle coming from the other direction. We drove to the LOEN skylift, which was also fantastic. Amazing views from the top. Windy! Then we drove to Sognalsfjora for the night and stayed at the Hofslund Fjord Hotel. It was fine, dated room and bathroom, but did the job for 1 night.
• Day 3 - We took the car ferry from Kaupanger to Gudvangen. Definitely recommend taking a boat on the fjords! There were only maybe 20 people on ours, and we sat outside the whole time. Just lovely scenery, lots of great pictures with little hamlets reflected on the fjord water, so pretty. We stayed at the Jaunsen Gjestgjevarstad in Granvin, whose original building was built in the 1600s. Cute guesthouse, spacious room and nice bathroom, the floor of the room was tilted but that added to the charm. We did dinner there, and the owner told a story about the history of the house, how she came to own it, then showed us her remodeled small house/shed out back where we all had cider from the region.
• Day 4 - Drove to Bergen, stopped at the Steindalsfossen, which is a waterfall you can walk behind. Dropped off the car in suburban Bergan and our AirBnB host picked us up to take us to the apartment

BERGEN

• We stayed at an AirBnB just down the street from the entrance to the funicular (Floibanen) - which we recommend! We rode up and walked down on a sunny day. You get to pet tame goats on the way down!
• Speaking of sun, Bergan was the least sunny place we visited. However! It never rained hard, and most days it was just more gray and maybe rained for 10 minutes - that's it. I like that kind of weather since I'm fair, and I liked that it was so much cooler than Oslo.
• There are way more Americans (and probably other tourists) in Bergen than we say in Oslo and driving. It's a cruise ship port and that's reflected in all the tourist shops, etc. Glad we waited to get souvenirs in Bergen because they were everywhere.
• We really liked the Bergenhus Fortress/Haaken's Hall/Rosenkrantz Tower. Bryggen gets all the props for the coolest place to visit, and it is unique, but at least when we were there it was packed with tourists.
• My favorite place to eat in Bergen was Daily Pot - great vegan bowl and curry options, and non vegan stuff too. Right by it is another good place, Pingvinen. I loved the Norwegian feta salad - who knew they even had Norwegian feta?
• Easy tram ride to the airport from Byparken stop in town for our flight home.

Melnq8

Good coffee, chocolate and fabuous views. My kind of trip.

I'm currently struggling to put together an itinerary for Norway in March, so trying to soak up as much info as possible. I'm overwhelmed to the point of paralysis.

Thanks for posting!

stephpaige

You'll have a great time, MeInq8! The summer roads will be closed in March, but the main roads we took were also stunning, if you choose to drive at all. Lots of tunnels! We also heard really great things about the train between Oslo and Bergen, we just had extra days so we chose to drive.

mjs

We were in Norway last June and agree that Bergen and Flam were full of tourists, many who were American and there for cruises. Saw very few tourists driving around the fjords and countryside which would be my preference for visiting Norway. Do think I went through more tunnels distance wise than in my entire life. Fantastic scenery if the weather cooperates with many options for hiking if that is an interest.

Fyris

That is true in general in the Nordic countries. In Norway speeding tickets start at 1100 kr (≈€100) and can go up to 15100 kr (≈€1500). And the speed cameras also measure your average speed. In addition, there are also high fines for other traffic violations, using your phone while driving or not keeping the appropriate distance to the vehicle in front of you can also lead to a fine of around €1000.

Bergen is one of the rainiest cities in Europe. It gets on average well over 2000 mm of rain every year and is often cloudy.