Has anyone followed the 3-week no car itinerary laid out here? https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/scandinavia-itinerary
Looking at the month of August. Active middle agers we enjoy nature, great food, history, museums, coffee and lots of walking. Feedback?
All of Rick's suggested itineraries allow inadequate time in major cities for me, and this one is not an exception. Perhaps it's the right pace for you--especially if you aren't much interested in the many museums found in the capital cities, but maintaining that pace for 21 days is different from doing it for 10-12 days.
The one specific thing that sticks out for me is the route between Oslo and Bergen. I wouldn't just go to Flam or Aurland by train and Flamsbana and then take the express boat through the Sognefjord to Bergen the next day, which is what the sketchy phrasing of the linked itinerary suggests. Instead, I'd continue with the classic Norway-in-a-Nutshell route beyond Flam/Aurland, as follows:
Naeroyfjord ferry from Flam or Aurland to Gudvangen (highly scenic).
Bus from Gudvangen up to Voss (also very scenic).
Mainline train from Voss to Bergen.
In case it matters, just about everything in Norway is quite expensive. The exception is food in supermarkets. Maybe also Oslo hotel rooms in August when business travel is light. I found Norwegian hotel breakfasts often exceptionally good, which is a fine thing, since you may not have an option to book a room without the included breakfast.
Lodging in Flam is limited and demand is high. That's a reservation to make as soon as you have dates pinned down. We've had reports of sellouts on some parts of the Nutshell route--I think primarily the mainline train from Oslo to Myrdal and the Flamsbana from Myrdal down to Flam. I don't believe that is an immediate concern; in fact, I don't know that August train tickets are even on sale yet. However, you'll want to buy those tickets well ahead of time. You can monitor the vy.no website to see when August tickets go on sale.
We found ground travel in Scandinavia to be terribly expensive--as is everything in the region. We chose to visit the larger cities of the region by cruise ship back when we could spend a couple of days in beautiful St. Petersburg.
We flew over to Oslo and took the Norway in a Nutshell train/ferry ride out to Bergen. And we flew out of there on Norwegian Air Shuttle.
Excellent information, thanks so much for your help, I was thinking of cutting out the Estonia / Finland section as well to slow things down though I have heard Old Town in Tallinn is unique.
I don't find Rick's suggested itineraries to be slow travel.
We spent 2+weeks without a car just in Norway (including a 5 night Hurtigruten coastal ferry along the West coast) in 2023 and barely scratched the surface.
Your available flight choices from your home airport might influence your itinerary. For example, when we traveled from Chicago, the only nonstop service to Scandinavia was to and from Copenhagen and Stockholm.
True, slow travel was probably the wrong phrase. Great information thank you!
