Norway coastal trip in September - Planning advice please

Geoff, welcome to the forum. I have a couple comments, but I'll preface this by saying I have never traveled by rental car in Norway, only public transportation including the Hurtigruten coastal ferry from Kirkenes to Bergen.

Regarding logistics, would you consider starting your trip in Norway first? You could fly from Paris to Kirkenes with a connection in Oslo. At the end of your Norway adventure you could fly nonstop from Bergen to Gothenburg before continuing on to Copenhagen by train. I'm guessing that Copenhagen would put you in a better position to fly back to New Zealand.

I'm not sure how you would go about meeting any Sami people outside of a tourist type event. As you probably know, the Snow Hotel offers a Sami Experience as well as an opportunity to see reindeer.

You'll have a better chance of seeing the Northern Lights in September. Besides dark skies you also need clear skies and there is no prediction when the phenomena will occur. Tromso might be the best location that offers night tours away from the light pollution.

I think you'll be too early for Orcas, but you should find sperm whales and other sea life around Andenes in Vesteralen.

Good luck with your plans. It sounds like you're going to have a great trip.

Thank you for that. Yes leaving Gothenburg and Copenhagen till the end is definitely an option we will look at.

It seems that you underestimate the size of and distances in Norway (and resulting travel times), as well as the time you need for destinations? You need time for such destinations.

1 day for Copenhagen is really some kind of ridiculous imo because it is nearly impossible to get a touch to Danish culture. Gothenburg is smaller but 1 day is tight as well, depending on you interests. Shall the 1 days include the train travels? I hope not.

we would love to see include reindeer, moose and marine mammals (especially orca)

• Reindeers only up in fylkes Finnmark and Nordland, not on Lofoten. Driving along E6 North of Tromso will show some.
• Moose: more in the mid areas of Norway, e. g. Helgelandkysten. Not in the North fylkes and not around the fjords - not their favorite landscapes.
• Orcas: main season is November to March; they just follow their food.

I know that Hurtigruten offer excursions to meet the Sami on the northbound passage (so the opposite direction to what you intend) on a port to port excursion between Kjøllefjord and Mehamn- https://www.hurtigruten.com/en/extras/excursions/sami-culture
For instance you could fly into Honningsvag.

Mehamn also has it's own airport (one of the 800 metre runways of Northern Norway)- the northernmost airport in Europe.

Any such trip is inevitably going to be a little bit touristy- but that is probably as authentic as you are going to get, and it sounds as if the Snow Hotel experience is pretty well thought out.

I also see the Hurtigruten excursion as a chance to see a bit more of the area than you do just by sailing in and out of the little ports.

There are always time compromises in these trips, but it is surprising how often Alesund is seen as a must do, but not Trondheim (the Capital city of Norway in the Viking Age).

You wouldn't do it as a drive with no stops, but it is around a 6 hour drive from Trondheim to Alesund, quite a bit to do on the way including the cities of Kristiansund and Molde, also the Atlantic Coast Highway (which should be on any road trip itinerary in the area in my opinion). Both cities are worthwhile stop overs which the Hurtigruten schedule sadly does not give you time to visit. If I had to choose one it would be Kristiansund. I've been there several times by cruise and on the inter-city bus network.

Svolvaer by the way only has direct flights to Bodo, Rost and Tromso (also Oslo seasonall)

Thank you everyone for your advice.

Based on that we haven't modified our trip so far as follows.

Fly into Tromso and rent a car for 5 to 6d visiting Lofoten Senja and east for Reindeer and Sami experience.

Fly to Alesund for 5 to 6d and rent a car to tour Fjords and surrounding country.

Thinking about getting Port to Port Hutigruten ferry to Bergen (1am start!!) so we get to see some of the coastline from the water. Spend 2 to 3d in Bergen then fly out.

We will leave Gothenburg and Copenhagen for a future trip when we are able to spend more time.

Still keen for thoughts on the current.plan, any further advice in general and to hear about some specific places to target in these regions visit please.

Thanks

Geoff