Bus Between Gudvangen and Voss

When you come off the ferry, you will see a row of buses. Most are going on the route you want but just ask the driver. Remember, you're in Norway. Just about everyone will speak English.

The ferry dock is not the town. There are two buildings....one is a gift shop/snack bar and the other, I believe, are the toilets. The buses will be in front of you.

Thank you, Frank II. It sounds as if it will be pretty easy to find a bus going on the scenic route. And, just to confirm, we would ask the bus driver if it’s the scenic route and we would buy our tickets then from the driver?

It will be pretty hard not to find the bus you want.

I don't remember if I bought the ticket from the driver, from someone from the bus company, or from a machine. Don't worry, it will be easy and there will be lots of other people doing the same as you. You won't have a problem.

Thanks, Frank II, for the reassurance!

It's really easy and to be honest you are making this more complicated than needed.

You are correct that it is bus route 950 you need to get to Voss. It is a regular bus route operated by the local public transport company Skyss. And just like any local bus it is not possible to prebook a trip. Gudvangen is a small place so just look for bus a bus that says 950 towards Voss (Or Vossevangen, or Voss stasjon) and it will be the correct one. It is as mentioned operated by Skyss, and their livery looks like this:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Volvo_buses_in_Norway#/media/File:Skyss_8233,_Kong_Oscars_gate,_Bergen,_2019_(01).jpg

Tickets can be bought from the driver using Visa or Mastercard or you can download their app and buy your tickets in your phone.

I did this last month. It is indeed very easy to identify the bus you want, or there may be multiple 950 buses waiting.

I saw a lot of people with paper tickets. This seems to be a new possibility. I suspect they had combo ferry+bus tickets, perhaps purchased at the so-called Visitor Center in Flam. Seeing those folks with tickets, which I did not have, made me nervous, but it was no problem to buy my ticket from the driver. I did not see a bus-ticket machine anywhere.

I believe the route taken by the 950 bus has changed--probably not for the better. I can't be sure, because my June trip on the bus was my first. I wouldn't describe the route now being taken as following the Stalheim Road. It travels on that road only rather briefly, going only as far as the Stalheim Hotel and then retracing it's route to the main road. I think it follows the same route as the regular bus except for the detour to the Stalheim Hotel. Who knows--maybe this change is related to the spike in fuel prices.

There is still a brief stop (I think 10 minutes) at the hotel. You can walk through the hotel lobby to reach the terrace, which has photo-worthy views. There are also clearly-marked toilets off the lobby, and it seemed OK to use them. There's a small shop as well, but one would have to act quickly (and probably skip the terrace) in order to have time for shopping.

Stalheimskleiva is closed. (The road is destroyed and there are no plans for repairs.)

Oh; that explains it. Thanks for the info.

Thanks for all the helpful replies and indeed it does sound very easy. What a shame that the scenic (?) part of the route was destroyed but I’m sure the rest of the trip will still be beautiful to us first timers to Norway!

We are planning the same DIY trip later this month. Given the Stalheimskleiva is now closed - is it more scenic to take the (NiN) electric boat from Flåm to Gudvagen, then bus to Voss, and finally train to Bergen OR to just take the ferry between Flåm and Bergen? Thank you for your advice.

I have not taken the express boat to Bergen, but all sources I consulted indicated that the trip to Gudvangen is more scenic.

I just did this trip two weeks ago. The 950 route is still pretty for the most part although there are no dramatic views.
Just outside the ferry landing, there were a lot of tour busses and I was a bit confused. Only two other families on the boat was going to Voss by bus 950. The others were taking the tour busses. Then I found the bus stop sign - Nutshell busses and public busses - in front of the toilet/waiting room building.
I took some of Rick Steve’s’ suggestion and did not rush through the trip. booked directly with vy.no for the train, the Flåm hostel for the night and just enjoyed being in quiet Flåm. I had booked the lustrabane ferry that left Flåm at 11:15 and reached Gundvangen at 13:15 - not through Norway’s Best. The next bus was at 14:50. There were hourly busses after that - just that the busses are synced with Norways Best ferries, not Lustrabane ferries. This was the only sticking point for me - I had not looked into the bus times and just expected one to meet the Lustrabane ferry as well. Having said that, I enjoyed the trip and all the suggestions by RS.

One family had paper tickets, the other tickets on their phone. As a “retired” person, I paid 31 nkk. The full fare I think is double that. The driver pointed out some highlights along the route. The bus ends about 50 minutes later at the Voss train station about 50 ft from the station entrance. Electronic signboards show the trains arriving on each platform. Very easy from the bus to the train.

Please don’t plan to pay in cash for your bus ride. In fact, don’t plan on paying in cash for most anything in Norway. We arrived Saturday in Bergen (today is Thursday) and have yet to use kroners anywhere! Our hotel advised us that since Covid almost everything is paid by card. In fact restaurants are required to accept cash as payment but are not required to give change if you don’t have exact amount! They even told us that grocery stores would accept cash but we would be given an eye roll for doing so. They have embraced contactless payment whole heartedly. I was uncomfortable not having a bit of cash on hand for incidentals so took out 40 bucks in Kroner from an ATM. Starting to think it might be a souvenir purchase now; still have two fresh 200 kroner notes on hand.

DO make sure you have a couple working debit or credit cards with you in Norway. It’s is jaw dropping beautiful here!