Holiday in Norway by bike rather than by car

Posted by Willow on 02/09/26 04:00 PM

Hi everyone. My partner and I are thinking about visiting Norway this August. The plan is to arrive by boat in Bergen and have roughly three weeks to ride together. We've done several cycling holidays in other countries before and really enjoy multi-week tours, so we're wondering if a bike ride would be an option instead of travelling by car. However Norway feels like a different scale compared to most other countries and I'm not sure what to expect. I'm wondering if a bike tour in Norway is actually doable in that time.

Does anyone know how suitable the Norwegian roads are for touring cyclists in terms of traffic, road surface, tunnels, and overall safety? Or is travelling by car a better option? I've heard the scenery is incredible but also that there can be a lot of climbing, how demanding is the elevation on a day-to-day basis? Finally, are there recommended routes starting from Bergen, and how easy is it to find campsites or other accommodation along the way?

A lot of questions! If anyone can answer just one of them I'd already be very thankful!

Posted by Mardee

Duluth, MN🌲

02/09/26 05:48 PM

11276 posts

Hi, Willow—I normally hate to just give links, but I have not yet been to Norway, although I will be there in July for several weeks, (we will be traveling by car). At any rate, there will be some others here who can probably help you. In the meantime, I thought you might want to check out these links.

https://www.visitnorway.com/things-to-do/outdoor-activities/cycling (scroll down to "Plan your 2-Wheel Adventure" to find many different options and routes listed).
https://www.visitnorway.com/things-to-do/outdoor-activities/cycling/national-cycle-routes/
https://cyclenorway.com/en/

Posted by David

Arlington, Virginia

02/09/26 05:53 PM

531 posts

Eurovelo is a great resource for cycling all over the continent. I've toured by bicycle on many occasions all over Europe (but not yet in Norway) and other regions around the world. If you have questions about cycling in other places, I'd be happy to help.

https://en.eurovelo.com/norway

https://www.vegvesen.no/en/traffic-information/traffic-information/national-cycle-routes/

Posted by dpoweron

02/10/26 01:55 PM

276 posts

I am not fit enough to even consider this. I am mightily impressed that you are. That said, when we visited Norway by train and car there were some tunnels that were many miles long. To be honest, I was claustrophobic even while speeding along in a car. I don’t even know if a bicycle would be allowed or what the detour would look like.

Posted by Willow OP

02/10/26 02:50 PM

3 posts

Thanks for your answers guys, very helpful links, especially https://cyclenorway.com/en/route-index/ and https://www.vegvesen.no/en/traffic-information/traffic-information/national-cycle-routes/. I've already seen a few interesting routes.

@dpoweron
Thanks for the suggestion about the tunnels! I did a bit of digging, and it looks like some tunnels have special bike lanes, but not all of them do based on my research and what I can see on Google Maps Street View. And some of them are really long like you mentioned, so I think it may be best to avoid if that is possible. I'm currently looking into finding a good route.

Posted by Mark

Schwerin

02/11/26 12:06 AM

4464 posts

Done a few thousand kilometers on Norwegian roads. I have seen multiple tour bikers in Norway but most prefer other (more flat) regions, e. g. Helgelandskysten or Lofoten.

One critical thing in Fjord Norway are the fjells, means the passes over the mountains between the fjords. They can be up to 1,500 meters high and have no wind protection for cyclists. On this altitude trees are not growing. So, after a long up-hill part you have kilometers of cycling in a different climate zone which can be very cold, rainy and windy. In some parts you can see still ice or rests of snow up into early July.

Also the weather is not always the traveler's friend, example photo from Trollstigen. This has also security aspects.

The distances are huge and even driving them by car is an intensive experience because of a lot of narrow and curvy streets which need permanent high attention. Lean-back driving is possible in some parts but this can change rapidly.

You can get some cycling impressions from Eidfjord up to Hardangervidda by searching for videos of annual triathlon Norseman. Although the same distance Hawaii Ironman is by conditions some kind of vacation against this.