At the end of October/ early November I'm taking the Hurtigruten coastal express from Bergen-Kirkenes-Trondheim. I'm flying into Oslo, spending the night, then taking the train to Myrdal, the Flamsbana, and then the ferry to Bergen. It'll be a long day (about 12 hours of passive travel), and I debated staying in Balestrand for a night, but I decided I wanted more than a few hours to explore Bergen before I board the ship. My current plan after the cruise is to stay in Trondheim for the night before taking the train back to Oslo, flying out the next day.
My challenge is, I have another option to delay the cruise a day and stay an extra day in Bergen, then fly home from Trondheim. I know some people mentioned that you can get kind of numb to the scenery after a bit, and this is over a 2 week trip for me. Thanks in advance for any opinions on whether an extra day in Bergen would outweigh the sights on the Trondheim-Oslo train ride.
Posted by
Berlin
2815 posts
Tip: Have a look at videos from train rides between Trondheim and Oslo.
And then imagine you alread had 12 days before with 24 hrs great scenery - ok some night in between but really beautiful. Either you are the "never-enough" type of traveller or not.
The dome in Trondheim is really impressive and worth a visit.
Also Bergen is woth to exlore.
Why people travel to Balestrand - especially overnight - is really outside my experience of travelling in Norway.
Posted by
Washington DC
27593 posts
I'm curious about why you are choosing to take the express boat from Flam to Bergen rather than continuing with the other elements of the traditional Nutshell route--the Naeroyfjord ferry Flam to Gudvangen, the bus up from Gudvangen to Voss and the train from Voss to Bergen. I haven't taken the express boat, but based on what I've read, the scenery in the Naeroyfjord is more spectacular. The bus ride is also scenic.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
I was going to go to Gudvangen, then take the bus to Voss, and train the rest of the way to Bergen but it looks like most everything in Gudvangen is shut down by the time I get there (including the Gudvangen-Flam ferry while the express ferry to Bergen runs until the end of October, caught it on one of the last days). I also looked at Aurland but it's not as walking friendly and is a bit of a backtrack. I'm not exactly following the nutshell route, I found out it existed after I'd gotten deep into the planning process.