12 day norway itinerary for first timer in mid to late june

I only have a little pertinent info for you:

There are two companies running ferries up and down the Norwegian coast. Did you check both Hurtigruten and Havila? As of summer 2019 Hurtigruten's southbound ferries left Alesund at 12:30 AM and arrived in Bergen at 2:30 PM. They were operating five days a week at that point, I think. I don't know anything about the Havila schedule; I'd hope that one or the other company would have a ferry each day.

Airport transportation in Bergen is extremely easy; there's light-rail service, both frequent and reasonably priced. I did some preliminary research on lodging near the Alesund airport in 2019. I'm nearly certain there was bus service out to the airport, but it wasn't very frequent. Of course, you only need for it to run at a time suitable for catching your plane, and the buses may well be timed to the flight schedule.

I don't understand your reference to "Bergen NIN, get off at Voss". There are various flavors of Norway in a Nutshell, but all of them go to the Sognefjord. Voss isn't on a fjord. Are you just taking the train from Bergen to Voss? That's fine, but it's not Norway in a Nutshell. You will not be experiencing the Flamsbana or the Naeroyfjord (though you will see other fjords, so that may not be important).

For Geiranger Fjord there are few ways:

-day trip on boat

-private tour (check on Viator for example)

-regular public transport on bus and ferry

-rental car on road and ferry

Here's a summary of the last two, with a little map: https://www.kimkim.com/ab/alesund-to-geiranger

Some of my research for my own trip seemed to find you could do the boat trip one way and bus and ferry the other, but might depend the timing and frequency of trips and whether you intended to stay overnight in Geiranger area or not.

day 4 - oslo to alesund (train and then bus)

This is a long day. We broke this trip by heading to Lillehammer for a night. For the Rauma railway section you will need to book tickets in advance as the train is only two carriages and often one whole carriage is booked out by tour groups.

day 10 - preikestolen
day 11 - kjerag

These are just geographical areas, not towns. If you are planning to visit these using public transportation it might be challenging. If you are staying in Stavanger then you can find tours to Preikestolen easily.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

acraven, to my understanding the NIN path that starts in Bergen consists of Bergen->Voss->Myrdal->Flam>Naeroyfjord->Gudvangen->Voss->Bergen. I was thinking I would just get off at Voss on the way back and skip the final Voss->Bergen transport. Is that not possible? and thanks so much for the info about the havila ferry. I was only looking at hurtigruten. Overall, do you think the ferry is preferable to a flight? The flight will give me a whole day in bergen while with the ferry i am only arriving at around 2:30 PM. I assume the ferry is scenic though. What are your thoughts?

Laurie Ann, thanks so much for the info on geirangerfjord. It's exactly what i was looking for. I plan on staying in Alesund that night (and even possibly flying out that night).

Aussie Nomad, for day 9-12 I will be staying in Stavanger and doing round trip transportation from there as you said, sorry for not making that clear.

Does anyone know if the three hikes are "worth" it or are they just very touristy and equivalent to other less famous hikes that might be easier to plan for?

OK, I understand now about the Nutshell transportation. You can certainly do as you intend. I can't vouch for onward transportation from Voss to Odda and from there to Stavanger, but I assume you've checked on that.

I'd recommend buying the Flamsbana ticket ahead of time in case there's a large cruise ship in port the day you want to take that trip. It seems that everyone passing through Flam or Myrdal wants to take that train. I don't know whether there's a need to buy the Flam-Gudvangen ferry ticket early. The mainline train between Myrdal and Oslo can be less expensive with early ticket purchase and can be quite full. I don't know for sure about the western segment of that trip, the part you'll be on west of Myrdal; it's not as busy, and I'm not sure the rail fare on that part is variable.

The coastal scenery in Norway is beautiful, definitely worth seeing. However, you have to balance that against your desire to have time for hiking in southern Norway, which will also be scenic (as are the fjords). Norway has lots of great possibilities. Do keep in mind that the weather in western Norway tends to be wet. Though June is one of the driest months of the year, it rains ten days that month, on average. Very rainy weather can affect views significantly.

Fares on both coastal ships and flights are demand-sensitive and are likely to be lower if you buy your ticket earlier. The flight will probably be a lot cheaper than the ferry if you want an overnight cabin on the ship (which I certainly would, but some folks manage to sleep sitting up). But Norwegian hotel rooms are pricey, so some of the extra cost of the overnight coastal ferry will be balanced by not needing a hotel room that night. Overnight cabins on short segments are only available if they haven't been grabbed by people taking the full cruise. I wouldn't want to wait too long before booking a cabin if you decide to sail rather than fly.

Bergen is a lovely city, worth multiple days of exploration, so arriving earlier by plane has the advantage of providing more time at a highly desirable destination. You might like to go up the Floibanen funicular or the Ulriken643 cable car and hike at the top. The views are said to be very good, and I think perhaps you can hike between the two lifts, making a sort of loop trip.

i checked and there is a Havila night cruise on the day i need it. It leaves at 1:30 AM and arrives at 2:30 PM (or was it 2:45, cant remember) the next day. For the people who have done it? Is the scenery worth the time spent?

I decided if I take that night cruise I will add an extra day to Bergen and will extend my trip to 13 days instead of 12. Now it's just a question of if the cruise is worth it or if I should just fly.