My wife and I will be spending 9 nights in Norway in late May (20-29th). We are arriving in Bergen from Boston ~10AM on Friday 5/20 and departing Oslo around lunchtime on the 29th.
We love to explore cities but aren't big museum people. We like to walk around, sit in parks people watching, sample food and drink and get the feel for the neighborhoods. We also love nature and usually build in slower paced spots into our trips.
So, my initial itinerary is something along the lines of
Friday -> Sunday, Bergen
Monday Morning -> Friday Morning, Fjord Country
Friday Lunchtime -> Sunday Lunchtime, Oslo
The longer time in Bergen vs Oslo was because Friday we will be in zombie jet lag mode and it seemed like there may be more interesting half-day hike / trips we can do from there.
The real thing I am trying to figure out is the four days in the middle. Essentially I think we want to do a "4 day Norway in a Nutshell" instead of the 1/2 day I see frequently discussed. During this time we would like to see the Scenery, fjord cruise, do some light hiking, and relax in a beautiful place.
While she is perfectly fine being active in the day, my wife isn't the biggest fan of sleeping in different locations each night, so my thought was to find 2 locations where we can spend two nights each. After reading a guidebook cover to cover I am struggling to figure out which 2 locations make the most sense. We are open to train, ferry or bus travel or even renting a car if it made more sense.. although we wouldn't be making a loop so it seems expensive.
Some of the places that I have found that seem intriguing for these 2 night stays are Aurland and Balastrand in the Geirangerfjord area as well as Eldfjord, Ulvik and Utne in the Hardangerfjord area.
Would it make sense to try and do one spot on each Fjord or are they similar enough that we would be wasting time traveling? Any thoughts on advantages or disadvantages to these places for a stay? Other places I missed entirely?
I had also considered Lom as a more mountainous stop but I think in late May it is still to early to really take advantage of johuntenheim park? On a simiilar note, is the weather similar in the G-Fjord and H-Fjord areas in May? Guide book stats make H-Fjord seem much more prone to rain but not sure how true that is..
Sorry for so many questions, as you can probably tell my head is spinning :)
Thanks very much!