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Flåm to Gudvangen ferries

My sister & I are going to take a ferry roundtrip from Flåm to Gudvangen later in May, said by some to be the most beautiful fjord trip one can take in Norway. I understand it can be cold, windy and rainy & one shoulc bring a waterproof jacket and warm clothes, especially a puffy jacket that can be folded into a tiny bundle. There are two choices: Norway's Best or the Lustrabaatane. I have read in an older conversation here (now closed), that at the time, the Lustrabaatane had dirty windows (not so good if it's cold & rainy).

As of May 2025, a round trip on Norway's Best would be 960 NOK and the Lustrabaatane is 780 NOK. Has anyone taken both those ferries & if so, is Norway's Best worth the extra 180 NOK (a tad less than $18) for a round trip? If you have only taken the Norway's Best boat, were the windows sparkling? And if you only took the Lustrabaatane, were the windows still dirty? For either, what did you most like or dislike about the trip? E.g., was the cafeteria expensive? Was the food worth it? Was the crew friendly? Are there announcements in English about what to look at as one passes through? etc. etc,

Posted by
11 posts

We only did the Norway's Best one-way as part of our Do-It-Yourself "Norway in a Nutshell" coming from and back to Bergen* in later June last year. If the weather has been and is bad, those windows obviously will get dirty throughout the day. If not, it's pretty darn clean. We had good weather, and even though we were on the second trip of the day, the windows sparkled. And it's SILENT.

I don't remember any commentary on loudspeakers though.

The cafeteria wasn't cheap, but heck, Norway itself isn't cheap. As to English, only other passengers don't speak English. I never once had to ask anyone Scandinavia if they spoke English--their grammar was better than mine.

Posted by
179 posts

We did Norways Best one way in May 2033.

Were the windows sparkling? I suppose so. There are lots of large windows and we never had a problem looking through any of them. There is a lot of indoor space if the weather keeps you from the decks. There are also a lot of deck area to watch the view from.

I don't recall commentary over loudspeakers. I had a copy of a map of the fjords, so it was easy to follow where we were.

Norways Best operates an electric boat so it is quiet. I don't know about the other company.

Yes, the crew was friendly, but there is really little interaction with them.

We did not purchase food on board. We had a picnic in Gudvangen before we boarded.

Just looking at the pictures of the other company's boat, if the weather forces you indoors, it looks like you would have more limited viewing from the smaller windows