Can anyone recommend a reputable firm in Norway that will book a rental car, provide an itinerary and make hotel/B&B reservations? Not sure where we want to go, but thinking something like Bergen to Tromsø for 14-16 days. Time frame would be June-August 2023 (a better time?). We'll be flying in from Germany, so no jetlag issues. Our planned Norway cruise was canceled two years ago due to Covid, and I think we don't want to try a cruise again. We are not much of train or bus travelers either. We had good experiences with the rental car itinerary route in Ireland and New Zealand.
Posted by
Washington DC
27092 posts
I have no agency to recommend, but rooms for the summer are pretty scarce in the popular fjord areas and in at least some coastal towns. I doubt that an agency will be able to help you if all the rooms are booked. I'm not saying that's the situation right now, but availability is probably only going to get tighter.
Have you considered taking part or all of the Hurtigruten coastal trip? That would solve both the transportation problem and the lodging problem for that part of your trip. This is Hurtigruten's Norwegian website, which might be a bit cheaper than the international (.com) website: https://www.hurtigruten.no/
I'm not going terribly far north. I decided to take the overnight trip from Bergen to Alesund, stay on the ferry for the detour into the Geirangerfjord, then hop off when the ferry makes its second stop in Alesund. I'll spend the night and most of the next day in Alesund, then get another ferry up to Trondheim. I plan two nights in Trondheim before heading back to Oslo by train.
Since you're willing to drive, you'll be able to see a lot more than I will, but I'm pleased with what I have planned so far.
For the car-rental part of your plan, you might contact some or all of AutoEurope, Kemwel and Gemut. Those are companies that work with multiple rental agencies. AutoEurope seems to be the one more people have used. It draws a lot of positive comments.
Posted by
OP
Oberpfalz, Germany
1289 posts
Thankz acraven. Looks like I've got some searching and studying to do. We welcome any ideas/help. Hurtigruten was who we had booked our canceled cruise through (Nordnorge). We had picked our cabin and everything. We had booked about 1 and half year ahead, then came Covid. Was very disappointing. Several years older now. Maybe we should try again?
Posted by
Washington DC
27092 posts
I think being cooped up on a boat is risky, so I'm not going to urge you to do that. I just decided that my odds of spending 3-1/2 months in Europe without catching COVID are not great, so one 24-hour period and one 14-hour period on a Hurtigruten ferry probably won't matter all that much. I'll have recently had my second booster and will be wearing N95 masks; I'm hoping to get out of super-costly Norway before I get sick (if it happens). If the virus catches up with me on the ferry, I will at least have gotten through Oslo, the Nutshell area, Bergen, Alesund and to Trondheim.