Late August to September trip to Sweden and Norway

Did you check flying out options OSL and CPH? Backtracking to Stockholm is really not meaningful imo.

I would think about flying from Stockholm to TOS or EVE to board a Havila / Hurtigruten trip from tromso or Svolvaer to Bergen.

Northern Lights: Sept 3 2016 I experienced them close to Svolvaer - above polar circle more likely than below.

With a rental car (check prices for one-way) also the way south of Odda is a nice route to Oslo after driving parts of Hardanger scenic route.

Myrdal is not recommended for longer stays with ental car.

Thanks Mark for your thoughts. A couple of things:

The only reason I was doing roundtrip Stockholm was because it was so much cheaper. It was more expensive to fly to Stockholm and then back from Oslo.

The nine days we are doing in Sweden will be Stockholm and then some geneology stuff and travels as my great, great grandfather emigrated from there. (And yes, going to the museum. Some staff are helping me with research. They actually have a copy of his autobiography there.)

Why isn't Myrdal recommended for rental car. Actually, I think we would rent it for four days in Voss. We were actually wanting to ride the Flam train up and then hike down. We wanted to explore the countryside and the Borgund Stave church and take the hike around there. I just thought it would be much easier for those 4 days to drive where we wanted to go, drop off the rental car at Voss and continue the train to Bergen.

Yes, flying to Stockholm to Kirkenes would be more efficient. Oh wait, you suggest flying to a more southern airport. So you don't think we need to take the whole route down? So then after the cruise would I just take the train from Bergen and go to Voss. Spend the 4 days in the area, then go to Oslo? That said, I am getting conflicting reports about whether it would be good to take the cruise north or south...

You will always get conflicting views on the Hurtigruten route. It is designed to be an 11 day round trip. What you pass by day northbound you pass by night southbound and vice versa.
For instance you only get time in Trondheim and Tromso, also a visit to the North Cape northbound.
Southbound really has no extended port calls.
Thus for my own personal likes, if I could only do a half voyage I would probably pick northbound, but that is totally me.

To answer the question about Myrdal, there's little there besides the train station where you switch from the mainline train to the Flamsbana. I'd be extremely surprised if there's any sort of car-rental facility there. If you zoom way in on Google Maps, you basically just see the train station. Wikipedia shows a picture with a few buildings in it.

Yes, I know I had Myrdal, but that was an old version. After research, I discovered Voss is where I would rent the car. Have it for 4 nights and return it to Voss and take the train to Bergen. Or Oslo depending on which way I need to go. Still working on which direction: Flying to Kirkenes from Stockholm, taking Havila cruise, then doing the Bergen, Voss/NiN, Oslo and fly home

Sorry, I should have double checked.

It would be great if you could try to structure your posts a bit more, I find it hard to follow this stream of consciousness. I've had to read it several times and I'm not sure I understand what you're actually planning.

But, you can't drive to Myrdal so having a car there is not possible. And hence it is not possible to rent a car there either. You can rent a car in Flåm though.

You might be able to see the northern lights, especially if you go a bit north and inland. A cruise is not a good way to see the lights in general. A few nights in Abisko is a good option if you want to see them.

I'm not sure there is a big advantage in going all the way to Kirkenes considering the time you have. A good option could be Abisko-Narvik-Lofoten-Bodø and then south. Either on Hurtigruten or by train, the views from the Bodø-Trondheim train are great.

My entire family (8 Travelers) just visited Norway this past Late August - Early Sept.
We enjoyed the cities (Bergen & Oslo); but preferred the countryside.
The weather was perfect, although, one of our guides said that this was the last week of the season and the rubber inflatable boat tour would be closing the next week.
I can confirm that the only place that you will be able to rent a car in the fjordlands will be Voss. That said, driving in Norway is pretty easy.
We flew in and out of Copenhagen on SAS as that was the most economical. Short hops to/from Oslo and Bergen.
The highlights of our tour were the rubber boat tour in Flam and swimming in the fjord in Bergen. Skip the Ice Bar in Bergen.
We did not see any fall colors in Oslo, Bergen, Voss, Flam, etc. However, we took a side trip to Lillehammer and Jotunheimen National Park that was spectacularly autumnal in early September.
We have complicated dietary constraints; so AirBnB's and shopping/cooking rather than restaurants most nights. This was more difficult than you might think to accommodate every one. No alcohol sales on Saturday/Sunday.
We loved Norway. Outstanding trip. I would recommend to anyone.

I am sorry about being confusing. Thank you dpoweron, that was very very helpful.

Ok I will try to do it with the input and to make it less confusing. We haven't booked plane tickets yet, but hope to do that in the next week or so.

Fly to Stockholm and spend 9-10 days exploring the city and then taking the train into the countryside and doing some geneology research. I will post questions about that portion of the trip on the Sweden board.

Fly from Stockholm to Kirkenes and spend a night there.
Get on the Havila boat and take the 5 night cruise down to Bergen.
Spend 2 or 3 nights in Bergen
Take the train to Voss
Rent a car in Voss and find and airbnb to spend 4 nights. We like countryside, exploring on our own and would do the Gudaven cruise, the Flam railway up with a hike down, enjoy the Borgund Stave church and hike around there.
Return the rental car to Voss and take the train to Oslo. Spend 3 nights in Oslo
Take the train back to Stockholm, spend the night and fly home