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NIN On Our Own?

OK, I've been researching doing NIN as a round trip day trip from Oslo. Originally we decided not to do it, because on the official website it was going to cost us 10,600nok, or about $1200, for our family of four. Today I started looking at the DIY option, and if I'm reading things right, it looks like we can do it for a little over $700, or almost HALF of the tour price on our own! In the Rick's Scandinavia book, he mentions that the prices between choosing the tour and not choosing it are pretty close, so
I'm afraid I did something wrong, because that is a huge price difference!

We're looking at going June 18, four adults. Here's what I got doing it DIY:
--Train Oslo-Flam (6:35-13:10) 2556nok
--Ferry Flam-Gudvangen (13:20-15:30) 1260nok
--Bus Gudvangen-Voss (15:40-16:55) couldn't get an exact price, but the most expensive single tickets seem to be 268nok
--Train Voss-Oslo (17:11-22:35) 1596nok

All of these times match the NIN official website, so I assume they're all the same transfers. Does this really look like it will work? The times just seem so tight. Anybody recently took this tour, either through the website or DIY, and can assure me that these times will work??

Posted by
1612 posts

I just did NIN yesterday, self booked, using the schedule on the official site as a guide. It worked. For 3 of us, it was a savings of almost 200 Cdn, but ours was a different route (Bergen to Oslo).

It looks to me like you are missing a leg. The train does not go directly from Oslo to Flam. You would need to transfer at Myrdal to the Flamsbana to get down to Flam, unless you are including that in your cost. It does seem to be included in your trip duration.

Your savings would come mainly from the regional train portions to and from Oslo if you book early enough to get the minipris.

Posted by
5835 posts

NSB Minipris (advanced purchase) tickets are potentially significantly cheaper than standard fares. Minipris pricing is demand driven. See: https://www.nsb.no/en/our-tickets/minipris

Note terms and conditions including: Once purchased, Minipris tickets are neither exchangeable nor refundable. I don't know the consequences of a missed connection.

Also note that on-line purchases have been difficult for North Americans in the recent past (past forum topics). NSB says:

https://www.nsb.no/en/our-tickets/buying-your-nsb-ticket

You can book your train journey using the Travel Planner. 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.

We are continuously working on establishing secure payment for our
customers. If you are having issues with payment, please contact our
customer service or try booking at scandinavianrail.com .

Posted by
36 posts

@BB, yes the first leg is actually Oslo- Myrdal-Flam, but since we can book it as one continuous leg through nsb, I just posted the one price.

@Edgar, yes, I realize that minispris tickets are set in stone,and that we'll likely have to make a trans-Atlantic call to secure them, which is why I wanted to double check that the connections are do-able.

Thanks, both of you, for your input!

Posted by
544 posts

If you have trouble with the NSB site, consider using PayPal for the payment. That should work. Typing in a Visa/Mastcard number may not work because they have extra security that not many banks in the USA are compatible with.

Also, I wasn't able to use my USA zip code and phone number, so I typed in the first 8 numbers of my phone number and used a four-digit Norwegian-style zip code. I used the postal code where many of my relatives live, but I would suggest using the postal code of your hotel in Oslo. 0021 is one of the zip codes in Oslo.

These instructions were on the "create your profile" page on the nsb.no website: https://www.nsb.no/en/registrering