Traveler_India

Hi,

I'm planning a trip to Finland and Norway from 13th March to 3rd April (21 nights). We are a family of 4 adults, love scenic places, unique experiences, sightseeing spot and are not into museums, hikes or nightlife. We loved to do as much as possible in the given time. As of now, I've planned this itinerary:

Day 1 - Arrive Helsinki at 10 pm
Day 2 to 4 - Helsinki sightseeing with a day trip to Tallin
Day 5 - Fly to Ivalo, rent a car and drive to Saariselka or Inari - Try our luck with northern lights
Day 6 - Snowmobile and Dog sledging and luck with NL
Day 7 - Drive to Rauna Zoo, evening do floating NL tour and stay in Rovaniemi
Day 8 - Santa Claus village, Atrium and stay in Arctic hotel glass igloo (ice hotel dinner and outdoor Jacuzzi)
Day 9 - Check out and drive to Levi. Stay at Northern Light ranch
Day 10 - Drive to Tromso (It's a crazy flight with 2 stopover and 8 hrs in total, so I chose to drive as we can see more)
Day 11 - Tromso
Day 12 - Drive to Svolvaer
Day 13 - Svolvaer -Trollfjord cruise
Day 14 - Reine
Day 15 - Reine
Day 16 - Either drive to Evenes, Drop car (I know one-way cost is expensive) and catch a flight to Oslo or take a ferry to Bodo. and catch a flight from there (Can't find ferry timetable for March)
Day 17 - Oslo
Day 18 - NIN to Bergen
Day 19 - Bergen
Day 20 and Day 21 - Plz help decide
Day 22 - fly in the morning

I have 2 nights. Any suggestion where should I add them? I'm struggling whether to add it to Oslo or Tromso or Inari or maybe even split the journey between Levi to Tromso. So in all, I went crazy going back and forth between these 4 places for adding 2 nights. Would love to know your suggestions.
I know I'm doing a lot, but then I may won't get a chance to come back.

Thanks so much.

menachem

I'd take out nights. Remember that you're early in the year, and your drives will be longer than you think. Your itinerary looks like that of a tour company. Did you copy it from that? But tours rely on long days and lots of driving to accomplish their site seeing goals. For instance, you stay in Reine multiple days, but in the Lofoten you only do the Trollfjord cruise, whereas the Lofoten are beautiful and worthy in their own right. It would also help if you set up your schedule counting nights, not days. You need 2 nights for a full day somewhere. But now it seems you spend your days mainly driving. Bodø to Bergen you might do by Hurtigruten.

Lots of things to do from Bergen, Hardangerfjord for instance, but you must remember that days are still short and that roads may be closed.

Traveler_India

Thanks for your comments. No, I made this itinerary with the places I want to visit. I had 3 nights in Tromso and 3 in Inari and 2 in Oslo. But then I added road trip to avoid maniac flight from Tromso to Rovanemi, so had to add a night in Levi to shorten the drive. so can't decide I should remove from where.
And I'm confused. Reine is not Lofoten? Other than the Trollfjord cruise, I just found places to drive around in Lofoten. So we have 3 full days for it.

Also, I looked at Hurtigruten but they were offering bunk beds which we are not comfortable with.

menachem

Ah ok, I see you reasoning. If you book Hurtigruten for stretches that are shorter than 24 hours, you do not have to book a cabin. But just curious: what do you consider bunk beds? Polar cabins don't have them. But you have to remember Hurtigruten is public transport and not ordinary cruise ships. But 10 hours' sailing along the coast does get you from Bodø to Bergen in comfort, better than the mad dash via Oslo to Bergen. Can I also say that NIN is overrated? There are loads of places where you can go from Bergen, but again, note the season and the state of the roads.

Traveler_India

I've seen Hurtigurtenfrom Tromso to Lofoten but on the dates no cabin is availble. Also, without a cabin for the entire night looks too much of a hassle. Bunk beds basically where you have to climb tiny ladder to the top bed. And I want to see Oslo and Bergen. So hurtigerten to Bergen doesn't make sense when I can fly in 1 hour.

BritishCaicos

TravelerIndia

Slow down.

You are visting one of the most stunning coastal areas in the world but I’m not sure what you are trying to achieve.

By by the time you get to Bergen you will be sick of the sight of Fjords.

I’ve done most of what you are suggesting other than Finland. One concern I have is the idea of hiring a car in Finland and driving to Evenes. March is the back end of winter and the day / nights are beginning to equal out, by April you will have lots of daylight. However, snow could be an issue and snow storms can occur with huge winds. We were in Tromso at the end of February, 3 years ago and enjoy 100mph winds with heavy snow which is quite an unusual combination. One Hurtigruten boat was damaged, our boat had to change course and use the islands as a barrier. Car travel for long distances may be fine but may be dangerous.

The second issue is the car hire itself. Have you actually had a quote?

Many of the hire companies are family locally owned franchises and the last thing they want to do is to trek out 300 miles through bad weather or road conditions to bail out a renter with “issues”. For this reason many companies charge a “go East “ or go West” surcharge for straying far from their base. We have been quoted e300.

Then you will be charged a cross border surcharge which the last time I checked was around e300.

Then you will be charged a one way drop off charge which is usually at least e300 but many operators are clamping down and increasing these charges.

In addition to a car that will be quite expensive to hire compared to many other European destinations, the car could costs you nearly e1500 to hire. That may not be an issue for you.

Personally I would skip Finland, you will miss the ice hotel but gain time to see more of the rest of Norway.

Fly into Tromso, do your husky sledding, NL watching there. The weather is slightly more cloudy that inland Finlandbut the Aurora index is the same as Finland. If you were there during the next 3 weeks you would see the lights every night if the weather was clear.

Take the fast ferry (one hour) to Finnsnes and hire a car to see Senja island which is stunning. Spend a few nights there.

Dump the car back in Finnsnes and then take the fast ferry (2 hours) down to Harstad. From there drive down to the Lofotens and rent a cottage for a week in the middle of the island, there are some stunning properties and this will allow you to see the islands at a better pace. Drop the car off at Evenes which I think is close enough to Harstad to avoid a charge.

From Evenes take a Wideroe flight directly to Bergen and do NiaN which like menachem I’m not keen on as it’s a bit of a let down after everything you have seen but it gets you to Oslo to fly home.

The coast of Norway is jaw dropping, we have just booked to go to Senja (south of Tromso) in February next year.

Be warned, its addictive.

PalenQ

Book Oslo to Myrdhal and Voss to Bergen train tickets in advance at Norwegian Railways' site for possible discounted tickets - Myrdhal-Flam and Flam-Gudvagen and Gudvagen-Voss can buy as go or ahead of time in Oslo. You could consider doing as a day trip from Bergen to be more leisurely sans luggage to haul around.

Traveler_India

Hi,

Thanks for such a detailed response. Yes, I have got a quote from car company. When I factor in price of flight for 4 people from Rovaniemi to Tromso and Tromso to Evenes, it doesn't turn out to be super expensive. Expensive yes, but willing to pay.

" one of the most stunning coastal areas" - What exactly you mean? Is it from Tromso to Lofoten or Tromso to Bergen?
Thanks once again.

Traveler_India

Thanks so much for the tip.

PalenQ

https://www.nsb.no/en/frontpage

Norwegian Railways official site.