PistonHeads Viking Tour 2011
One of our favourite tours of 2010 is back again for 2011, thanks to Petrolhead Nirvana
It's also been largely untouched by tour companies because of the difficulties in getting there, but we've worked hard to find a way as we know it's well worth it.
The Trolstigen (the Norwegian Stelvio), the Snow road, the visually stunning Ash road, the Laerdal Tunnel and the amazing Atlantic road are all on the tour agenda and many take in a beautiful waterfall or landmark Fjord along the way. In addition, we’ll also take you through the unique spiral tunnel and book you onto a party boat as we head to Hans Christian Anderson Country.
In addition to the fantastic roads, we will also pop into the Koenigsegg factory to get a behind-the-scenes tour, where we will be talked through exactly how these great cars are made.
So, this is a tour with everything a petrolhead could want, and can genuinely be described as the trip of a lifetime, and probably something that only we can do.
The tour takes place from 16th June to 26th June 2011
Day 2 – 200 miles - We arrive in Denmark and from there it’s a relaxing day to cover the short trip north to our next ferry. Two hours later we arrive in Kristiansand, Norway.
Day 3 – 200 miles - The adventure really begins as we traverse mountains and valleys and fjords on the way to our ski-resort (during the snowfall at least) fjordside hotel. En-route we’ll drive along a fantastically twisty mountain road that is so good it almost makes entire the trip worthwhile (we did say almost).
Day 4 – 150 Miles - Today we head further north, taking us deeper into the Norwegian countryside as we head towards the 24.5km Laerdal tunnel with its three large caverns allowing some scope for photos and mischief. Once again we'll stay at a waterside hotel with fantastic views across the Aurlandsfjorden.
Day 5 – 145 miles - We’ll head hrough the Laerdal tunnel again, or up and over the mountain (if you prefer) to the picturesque lookout at Aurlund. From there we drive towards (and around) the Jostedalsbreen national park before arriving at our next waterside hotel - are you spotting a theme yet?
Day 7 -220 miles - As soon as we leave Andalsnes it's apparent why we chose this town, because it's at the foot of the world famous Trollstigen (The Troll's Ladder). Don't worry though, we've allowed plenty of time to go up and down more than once and we’re even planning a ‘dawn raid’ to ensure we have the roads to ourselves. We then head back into the hills near Nord-Aurdal for our overnight stop.
Day 8 – 130 Miles - On our last day in Norway we'll be playing in the hills before pointing towards Oslo along some stunning back roads, but before we get on the ferry to Copenhagen we make a stop at Drammen - home of the 1650m Spiralen tunnel. That's right, a six-spiral corkscrew tunnel through volcanic rock, rising 200m through the mountain, it’s a marvel of ingenuity and (unsurprisingly) a lot of fun to drive. We then get onto the Oslo to Copenhagen party boat for the night crossing.
Day 10 – 185 Miles - Leaving Copenhagen, we take a leisurely route across the beautiful Danish countryside on our way back to Esbjerg and the ferry back to Harwich.
Day 11 - We arrive in Harwich early on the Sunday afternoon, allowing time to get home to unpack and sort through the photos of your most memorable Viking adventure.
As part of the package, you'll get two tour support cars, tour managers to guide and take care of you, full sat-nav files, the use of one of our powerful walkie-talkies, route guidance notes and a full drivers pack. We're also including dinner as well as bed and breakfast at all the hotels we visit.
Car numbers are restricted as the ferry company has made a special dispensation for us. The maximum on this tour is 15 cars and, as it is always popular we advise that you book early.
Tour prices:
The booking deposit is £500 per person.
If you would like to book, please call us on 0845 838 7363.
- What's included:
Return ferries from UK to Denmark, (2 nights accommodation)
Return ferries from Denmark to Norway (1 fast ferry one overnight)
7 nights in hotels including dinner, bed and breakfast
An exclusive tour of the Koenigsegg facility in Angelholm Sweden
Two tour managers in lead and chase cars
Sat-nav files,
Licensed walkie talkies
Info packs with route notes, maps and general info,
- What's not included:
Lunch, drinks, food on ferries,
Internal ferries and tolls.
European breakdown cover (for your own peace of mind we make this a requirement on all tours
I'll post a few more pics later on, but in the meantime we'll happily answer any questions you may have.
Any details on the walkie talkies? Do they have hand mics and VOX? What frequency band / modulation do they use? I'm a licensed radio ham and it'd be a lot more fun (as a single car occupant) if the radio had a hand mic / handsfree.
Any details on the walkie talkies? Do they have hand mics and VOX? What frequency band / modulation do they use? I'm a licensed radio ham and it'd be a lot more fun (as a single car occupant) if the radio had a hand mic / handsfree.
they have performed much better than any of the others we have used in the past.
We had an external aeriel on the support car on the alpine tour and could hear it from 18kn away
We can provide headsets, although they do have a handheld speaker/mic option as well i believe.
You don't have to take anyone with you on the tour, there were a couple of people who wennt on their own and shared with other solo drivers.
As Voicey said the days are not as full on as some of our other tours so driving on your own is no problem at all
Voicey, thanks very much for the vote of confidence, really appreciate the feedback.
Assuming the hotels are the same - all were very good bar one. I'm sure Harsh will agree with me when I say it wasn't quite what we had in mind and I don't think it'll be on the 2011 route. From memory we stayed at...
Night 1 - Cabin on boat
Night 2 - Very good city hotel in southern Norway
Night 3 - Exceptional ski lodge on a mountain side
Night 4 - Beautiful fjordside lodge
Night 5 - Quirky lake side hotel (was a little old fashioned but I didn't have a problem with it)
Night 6 - Good city hotel
Night 7 - Dodgy corporate hotel
Night 8 - Cabin on boat
Night 9 - Excellent city hotel and the meal was one of the best I've had in years
Night 10 - Cabin on boat
Yes the faceless corporate hotel has gone for 2011 and has been replaced by one far more in keeping with the rest on the tour, plus the route to that hotel has been changed and will include more back roads including some we did on the 2007 trip and will mean we'll approach the Spiralen Tunnel from the other direction.
)(£4600 + £500 fuel, discounting time spent on ferries for two people in a car)
The ferries cost money too so should be included in the calculation as they are part of the trip and you'll be using fuel wherever you drive your car.
which considering the hotels, ferries, breakfast and evening meals are included is actually pretty good.
last year we got our share of Ferraris and Porsches but also Nick in the Focus RS, Pete in the M3 and Matt in the Elise,
it's far from an elitist trip, but as i mentioned before, sadly Scandinavia is an expensive place
Not many people I know would want to go on their own in a car!
Would be nice to see a half decent breakdown (obviously a tour company will want to make some money though so fair enough!)
Ferries they are expensive! - Quick google (all two people) - I've got £750 for harwich - denmark, £500 denmark - norway. One of the hotels you mention is currently £50 a night, but could obviously cost a lot more in June etc. and the others could as well.
So for two people £2500 would be a reasonable estimation if you assume the hotels ramp up a bit + food + fuel + tolls.
But for the pain of organising it all and a load of things i'm sure i'm forgetting a load of stuff + Petrolhead Nirvana's cut. - The costs seem about right I guess?
Not many people I know would want to go on their own in a car!
Would be nice to see a half decent breakdown (obviously a tour company will want to make some money though so fair enough!)
Ferries they are expensive! - Quick google (all two people) - I've got £750 for harwich - denmark, £500 denmark - norway. One of the hotels you mention is currently £50 a night, but could obviously cost a lot more in June etc. and the others could as well.
So for two people £2500 would be a reasonable estimation if you assume the hotels ramp up a bit + food + fuel + tolls.
But for the pain of organising it all and a load of things i'm sure i'm forgetting a load of stuff + Petrolhead Nirvana's cut. - The costs seem about right I guess?
as you've found ferries are expensive, and we've gone for the extra option of outside cabins to make the journey more pleasant on all of them.
the hotels are expensive and June is high season, food is not cheap either.
The costs are based on two people sharing so it's actually us trying to keep costs for the solo driver down that should be the surprise, it should be more taking the ferry costs into account. there were 3 solo drivers on the 2010 tour and the miles are not prohibitive for that, plus being in a group means you're never alone so it makes no difference whether you are solo or a couple.
There is a lot to arranging a tour and running one, we have full tour operators insurance, there's the fact we have to finance it ourselves first and ensure everyones money is safe, tour managing, leading and chasing the pack to make sure everyone knows where they are going and has a good time incurs a cost as well. Our profit margins are actually very small.
if you try to do this trip on your own at the same time i very much doubt you would be able to do it cheaper.
even if you could, you wouldn't get the security of having people around you and the pleasure of driving with other petrolheads
even the walkie talkies cost around £75 each.
I understand if it's not for you and that is fair enough but you are implying we are profiteering and that is so far from the truth as to be insulting as we have cut things down to the bone on all our tours so please stop trolling.
Everyone who has traveled with us in the last two years or so has felt we offer exceptional value for money.
I shall keep an eye open for future tours though.
Having helped organise a few tours, I know where the costs go. On the whole this isn't a bad price, given that Scandi, Norway in particular, is an expensive place. If I could afford it, I'd definitely come along. Sounds brilliant.
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