We are planning a trip to Iceland and Norway for the first 2 weeks in August. First week is Iceland. Second week is Norway. I'm focusing on Norway right now. We are a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 teenage boys 17, 13, and 13). We've mapped out what we want to do, but now I'm just trying to figure out logistics.

Brief Itinerary

Day 1 Arrive in Oslo, explore Oslo, sleep in Oslo
Day 2 Explore Oslo, sleep in Oslo
Day 3 Train to Myrdal to Flåm, activities in/near Flåm, ideally stay in Flåm. But, everything seems to be fully booked already. I do have a hotel booked in Aurland (10 minutes away). Sleep in Flåm or Aurland.
Day 4 Explore Flåm or Aurland area. Sleep in Flåm or Aurland.
Day 5 Ferry to Balestrand. Explore this area. Sleep in Balestrand.
Day 6 Fjordcruise to Fjærland - Ferry to Bergen. Sleep in Bergen.
Day 7 Explore Bergen. After dinner in Bergen, late check-in at Sol Strand Resort and Spa.
Day 8 Relaxation Day - Stay at Sol Strand Resort & Spa.
Day 9 Travel home.

We are adventurous and would love to do some hiking, glacier walking, river rafting, kayaking, biking etc. We like to travel on our own and stay in boutique hotels and don't mind going off the beaten path. However, I'm really struggling with how to do all the logistics (trains, boats, buses) on my own. Do we need to rent a car in Flåm? Where and how do we do that? If we are staying in Aurland, how would we get there if we don't have a car. How do we go about doing these activities without a car?

I'm open to recommendations for any day activities for when we are in Flåm or Aurland.
Would you go to Balestrand and stay overnight? What activity would you recommend there? If you wouldn't go there, where would you go instead for an overnight?
How do I go about booking the ferries? Is there a specific website?

Is it too early to book activities / trains/ ferries? I was trying to look things up to get an idea of times and costs and it seems our dates are too far out.

Any great hotel recommendations for Oslo and Bergen? Either an apartment, family suite or 2 hotel rooms.

TIA

I'm not sure what you can really do in Flåm, except as a start or end point for the Flåmsbana. Flåm is very small (288 inhabitants).
Again, there is nothing to explore there.

Without a car you are stuck. With a car you could for example take the road [5627] over the Aurlandsfjellet. This is a Scenic route with stunning views. Look here http://www.nasjonaleturistveger.no/e...rlandsfjellet/

And driving back you can take the „Lærdal Tunnel“, which is the longest street tunnel on earth. Look here: www.wikiwand.com/en/articles/L%C3%A6rdal_Tunnel

Again, there is nothing to explore there.

I would highly recommend to hire a car.

Cheers, Markus

I agree that a car may be a necessity. We covered a similar area on the first part of our travels in the fjord area. If renting a car yo9u might want to skip the Flåm train unless train rides are a priority for you. By car you would see much of the same area.

We stayed in the hostel in Solvorn when in that area.


They rented bikes and might even have some rentals for kayaking on glacial lakes. The Urnes stave church is a ferry ride across the fjord.


From there you could drive to the pass which is on the way to Lom,


but given the limitations of time, I would double back to Balestrand.

I went to some of these places this year, but with a car. There are a few things to do from Flam without a car, a tour to Stegastein, the fjord cruise, and the railway. But two nights seems overkill to me.

We might be the only people who didn't think much of Balestrand, and again, I don't know what you could "explore" without a car. It is a very small town. They do have the fjord cruise to Fjaerland, but we thought the Næroyfjord was a prettier fjord. We found more to see farther to the east along the Sognefjord, stave churches, glacier hike, but again did all this with a car. Some of the best things we did in Norway were just scenic drives.

Agree totally that the best things we have done in Norway were the scenic drives. I would skip Oslo, not that it's not a worthwhile place to visit, but I would rather spend the time to drive around the countryside. Look up scenic drives in Norway to get some idea of how to construct a trip. I would fly in and out of Bergen. Also bear in mind that Norway gets a lot of rain so you will not likely get a week of sunny days. The Nærøyfjord cruise from Flam is worth the time but otherwise I would find the ferry back to Bergen to be long and boring. Have not done the cruise back to Bergen but did watch a video of it and I would much rather drive.