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

Rather than joining the ship at gone midnight I would think about joining at 2115 at Molde. There are car rental drop off facilities at Molde Airport, with an airport bus into town.

You could go to Andalsnes that day, then Rodven stave kirk, then the Afarnes to Solsen cross fjord ferry (every 20 minutes, 15 minute ride), drop the car off, then have dinner in Molde before embarking the ferry.- https://www.fjord1.no/eng/routes-and-timetables/Moere-og-Romsdal/aafarnes-soelsnes?date=26.02.2026

This is easier and cheaper by public transport (using the Vestnes to Molde ferry), but as you have the car, that is one option, and a stave church into the bargain. Yes it will incur a one way drop off fee.

We are planning 2 weeks in September with the following itinerary. Train from Oslo to Bergen. Rent car in Bergen. 2 nights in Lustrafjord, 2 nights near Stryn. Back to Bergen. Boat to Tromso. (4 nights). Rental car in Tromso with 2 nights in Senja and 4 nights in Nusfjord. We will have an 8 hr drive va k to Tromso to catch our flight home. In this way we hope to be able to do some nice hikes, experience fjords and coast. It is tough to choose just a couple of areas in such a vast and diverse country!

One tip, Geoff, that jeanm. above pointed out to me (and which I was very grateful for), is that if you use Auto Europe to book your car rental (which I did), make sure you spell out Alesund as "Aalesund."

I had not done that and was really getting confused because it looked like I couldn't return a car in Alesund through Auto Europe. I like Auto Europe and prefer to book with them when possible. Once I added the extra "a", it popped up in the box and everything was good from then on.

One other tip is if you are running it in Alesund, I would also try to return it in Alesund. Norway has extremely heavy fees for dropping a car off in a different location than the one you picked it up in. I speak from experience here. 😊

Thank you very much for the additional information everyone. Might have to put things on hold at the moment and see what is happening in the middle east. Flight prices have just doubled overnight!!