Norway in summer any advice?

[kazste]

As above thinking of going to Norway in July, will be going for around 7 days and like seeing cities and countryside. Not massively keen on a group tour for the full time but would happily do a self drive tour.

Opening up myself to the ph knowledge and any ideas, advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks for taking the time to read and have a good day.

Ohhh budget, have heard it can be quite expensive once there so would prefer to come in at under £2k to get there, hotels and excursions to allow (I'm hoping) for a total cost of no more than £3k.

[oldbanger]

It depends on how you roll, but a cheaper way to see the country over a week is as follows

Get a ferry to Bergen. Drive north along the coast for 2 or 3 days, stopping at "Hytte" along the way, then turn inland and drive southwards to Oslo. Spend a day in Oslo then drive back to Bergen and get back on the ferry. Alternatvely, you could drive south to Stavanger then turn north to Oslo.

You can pre-book Hytte e.g. see http://www.norsc.co.uk/cottages.html or just follow the fairly frequent accommodation signs.



see also http://www.visitnorway.com/uk/Where-to-stay/Campin...

[Hackney]

Ferry to Bergen and heading North gets you to some spectacular places. Geiranger - full of tourists / cruise ships but for a reason

You're not far from Alesund then which is a lovely fishing town completely rebuilt 100 yrs ago after fire.

Then there's the Atlantic highway which is a great drive.

And in Summer, smoke cigars in the evening.

[Logbert]

Ferry to Bergen. Where from are they doing crossings to Norway again?

Did Newcastle to Kristiansand 2005 I think it was. I thought the North Sea routes to Norway had stopped.

Would love to go back again.

[oldbanger]

Logbert said:

Ferry to Bergen. Where from are they doing crossings to Norway again?

Did Newcastle to Kristiansand 2005 I think it was. I thought the North Sea routes to Norway had stopped.

Would love to go back again.

Oh no just checked google and you're right, they've stopped the ferry to Bergen

Apparently the freight line will take passengers when there's space http://freight.dfdsseaways.com/dfds_ferries/north_...

[kazste]

Thanks for the replies I think we would prefer to fly as guess it would be a long ferry crossing. Thanks for the location suggestion though.

The only thing stopping me booking it now is I have been told that the winters of 2013/14 will be the best for a number of years to see the northern lights,which makes me think a trip in winter 2014 might be a better option.

[Logbert]

Yes that's right. We are flying to Helsinki then to Kuusamo just below the article circle and not far from the Russian border in Febuary. hiring a car and staying in a lakeside log cabin . All with the intension off seeing the Northern lights

[jinkster]

Norway is a stunning place. It is a real shame that the ferry route stopped. How much is it on the dfds cargo line?

[CHIEF]

You can fly to Bergen for less than 200 quid but the airport is 30 minutes or so away, the bus you get outside the airport is Flybussen and costs around 18 quid return but it doesn't start running until 8 in the morning so if your flight arrives in the early hours you'll either have to spend the night at the airport like we did or get a cab which is around 80 quid one way.

Your only scratching the surface in 7 days but as expensive as it is 2k will easily be enough

Have a quick butchers at the bottom of this thread

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=5&a...

It is an amazing country and the people are great and genuinely love the English.

Have fun

[Hackney]

If you're going in Winter I think you can fly direct to Tromso from some UK airports (if not, change at Oslo). Tromso is a lovely town in the Arctic Circle, very picturesque in summer and winter.

[Catz]

We went back in July 2008, when they had a bit of a heatwave and temps hit 35 degrees! Also reading a book in daylight at 11pm was a bit of a novelty.

Unfortunately the ferry route from Newcastle to Stavanger which we took is no longer.
From there we drove North up the West of the country with a bit of camping before we ended up at our chalet for the week in a place called Olden. Not a lot happening there but it was perfectly located for some great driving days to visit other areas. I spent a fair bit of time researching which were the best roads to drive and best places to visit but as it was over 4 years ago I can't totally recall everywhere we went. I made up a wee youtube vid of stills which mentions some of the places we visited though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-DrHP4-OjM

Norway's beautiful! Well worth a visit.

[cptsideways]

Midge season

[Catz]

cptsideways said:

Midge season

The Summer? And everywhere?

We must have been lucky to have hot weather to deter them then as we had none.

Although maybe Norway midges are less fearsome than Isle of Skye midgies which I have the pleasure to meet every year.

[kazste]

Hate flying stuff especially including midges! Thinking we will change it to November in order to hopefully include a look at the northern lights. Thanks for all the help.

[blueheron]

If you've not already found it, here's the thread I started about Tromso. Some good advice within

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Recommend checking the moon phases for NL viewing - avoid a full moon. Go during a new moon.