Katalini

We are hoping to head to Norway this mid-July with our kiddos (aged 12 and 14). We have about two weeks to travel, and I'm trying to figure out how best to take advantage of our time. I'd ideally like to see the fjords outside of Bergen as well as the Lofoten Islands, but I'm wondering whether we're trying to cram too much into one trip.

Right now I'm thinking we'd arrive in Bergen, train to Myrdal to bike and zipline our way down to Flam. Join a two-night kayak/hike/camping trip in the Naeroyfjord, take the ferry to Balestrand and do some biking and/or hiking, head to Voss via ferry and bus for some hiking/biking and then either train to Oslo or head back to Bergen via bus to catch a flight to Svolvaer . In Lofoten, we'd rent a car and have 5 nights to make our way to Nusfjord, Reine, and A. We're planning to hike, bike, RIB ride the trollsford, and maybe kayak. Then we'd head home via Oslo, overnighting to check out the city. I'd love to take the ferry to Bodo, but my husband gets pretty seasick, so we weren't sure if that would be a good idea

The questions I'm grappling with are the following:

• Are we trying to do too much? Would we be better off spending all of our time in one area or the other and digging in deeper?
• If it was the fjords, then maybe we'd add in a glacier hike/kayak, maybe rent a car and get more off the beaten path in the mountains towards Geirangerfjorden or elsewhere.
• If it was Lofoten, we'd slow down our pace, maybe add in a surf lesson in Unstad. I also realize that bad weather could disrupt our plans, so maybe it's good to have some buffer days. I'm just having a hard time giving up the dream of seeing both, as I'm not sure when we'd get back to Norway.
• If we kept both, should we knock anything out? We could skip Voss potentially. When I looked online, our kids are too young for their rafting and canyoning trips, but our kids are also super tall, so maybe they'd make an exception? Or we could just hoof it to Bergen and Oslo to buy ourselves more time in Lofoten or elsewhere.

We're active and trying to avoid too many days of just sitting in a car or train, as I think that would be lost on the kids. Any advice greatly appreciated! Takk!

menachem

Lofoten but that's me. Correction: and Tromsø

OlavE

Hi, it's difficult to advice whether you should skip the fjords or Lofoten, as they are both spectacular. I would suggest you keep both.

I would suggest you skip Voss. It's a place more suited for adventure and extreme sports. But when you are in that are, you are pretty close to the glaciers. Why not spend a couple of nights at one of the tourist huts of DNT and do a glacier hike. This one is fairly close to Flåm and Nærfjorden, and should also have guided glacier tours from the hut.

https://ut.no/hytte/10296538/tungestlen-turisthytte-dnt

You could also check DNT (The Norwegian Trekking Association) for more info on huts and tours. The hut and trekking network the manage is massive!

https://english.dnt.no/

Btw; along the Norwegian fjords Flåm, Loen and Geirangerfjorden are by a margin the most popular and touristy areas. Get away from these areas and you'll see less tourists and crowds.

Katalini

This is super helpful. Thank you! We had been thinking about trying to add a hut; this is great!