Hello all. I am in the very rough stages of planning a trip for 2019 or possibly 2020. Since I am wanting to get specific for budgeting purposes, I would like to nail down a rough ininerary. As this will not be the only stop on our trip, I would like to maximize our time (other portions will be Iceland and Copenhagen). So, travel experts, what would you suggest as an itinererary for the fjord region for 5-6 nights? We most likely will be flying into Bergen and departing from ????, possibly Alseund. We would like to spend some time on Sognefjord with a home base of Balestrand but would also like to see Geirangerfjord and stay there for a couple of nights. I would appreciate ideas of how to incorporate NIN sights (and others) using Balestrand as a base. Is it important to complete all aspects of NIN if we will be staying on the fjord for some days? Thanks in advance for your input!
Posted by
Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico
1743 posts
I think you are trying to cover too many bases for 5-6 nights.
If you do 5 nights, you should limit yourselves to 2 bases. Maybe 2 nights in Balestrand and 3 nights in Bergen.
If you do 6 nights, you could stretch to 3 bases, but it's a stretch. You could do 2 nights Balestrand, 2 nights Bergen, and 2 nights Geiranger. But even then, I think you'd be better off staying in 2 places and taking day trips.
Another alternative would be something like this: https://www.norwaynutshell.com/geirangerfjord-in-a-nutshell/bergen/. It doesn't include any time in Balestrand, but you would get the entire NiN plus Geirangerfjord, and you'd get some time in Oslo. However, I wouldn't begin to attempt to do it in the minimum 4 days they suggest. I think Oslo is worth more than one night, and I think you should start with a couple of nights in Bergen. You could do this itinerary but end in Alesund and skip the final leg back to Bergen. You can also book all your transportation and lodging for this itinerary independently rather than through the NiN website.