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NIN by ourselves?

hi.

I was reading thru some of the posts here and I gathered in some posts that the Norway in a Nutshell could be done without going thru the fjords tours? I seem to have read that it is just a matter of knowing where you want to go and buying tickets at the railroad stations or ferry stations.

so far this is our itin flying out of the US july 31. (we are seniors):
2 ntess hamburg
4 nites Copenhagen
4 nites Stockholm
7 nites in Norway
still planning after Norway

thanks in advance for some clarification. oh, and we could include the hurtigruten cruise with the NIN.

olivia

Posted by
5835 posts

...buying tickets at the railroad stations....

Cost savings of DIY is buying discounted advance "minipris" tickets. Minipris tickets cost more as time gets closer to day of travel and disappears when some kind of quota is reached. Oslo to Mydral does seat reservations.

Last time I bought NSB train tickets was about 5 years ago. Credit card use has since changed and recent dialog on this forum talks about needing to call if you don't have a chip & pin card. https://www.nsb.no/en/our-tickets/buying-your-nsb-ticket

Should you experience problems using your debit or credit card, please
contact the NSB Call Centre , phone number 815 00 888/+47 23 62 00 00.
Press 9 for information in English.

Hurtigruten is a coastal route while the NIN fjord travel is the inland portion of the fjord.

Posted by
1613 posts

My post in this thread: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/norway/bergen-sognefjord-stave-church-oslo-how-to-details discusses how to do it.

All the official NiN booking does is look after the details of booking the different methods of transportation for you and putting them together in a nice little folder. In other words, this functions more like a travel agent than a tour, per se. There is no tour guide. Now, that can be useful, as it can be daunting to make sure everything lines up, but it is definitely doable and can save money.

I booked most of my tickets in advance and took advantage of the minipris on the Myrdal-Oslo leg. The only ticket I haven't booked in advance is the bus between Bergen and Gudvangen, because it wasn't possible (and supposedly isn't necessary) to do so.

Even if you are going a different route than I booked, most of the website links and phone numbers I gave should apply to your bookings, also.

Start by going to the Fjord Tours site and choosing the Norway in a Nutshell route that appeals to you. Go through the steps of booking it for your dates without completing the booking. You will be able to see an itinerary with times. Use that to figure out what to book and when. (Optionally, if you are not trying to do the route all in one day and have the leisure to choose alternate times, you may be able to use the itinerary to avoid the Nutshell times in hopes of avoiding the crowds, since you will be travelling at a busy time.)

Posted by
204 posts

thank you, BB, for the detailed explanation. it is a little clearer now.