Norway In A Nutshell -- do you need a few hours in Flam?

My date is in June. Does this sell out so quickly that I should just grab what they are offering?

NIN is a very popular thing to do and June is peak travel season. But if your travel dates are locked in, the real question is whether you are
willing to forgo the whole thing if you wait too long to purchase tickets. I myself would buy the tickets to ensure I get them, but that's me.

Am I wrong and it doesn't really matter how long you spend in Flam (at least that 1 hour vs 2 hours doesn't matter, since there's not so much you can do in either time frame)?

I did NIN on my own and the transfer at Gudvangen was about 15 minutes. I stayed overnight in Flam and that was probably a wee bit too long but I'd spend more time there if given the choice.

Is there a chance they will find more availability for the better timing?

I kind of doubt it, but it's 6 months out. It could potentially be related to the day of the week you're traveling (you didn't say so not sure). One of the Norway experts may have better insight.

You can book almost everything for NIN in advance, some pieces way ahead and others 60-90 days. I believe the bus from Voss to Gudvangen is the only thing you have to do day of (the busses are queued up in tandem with the train/ferry schedule). If you have any give in your schedule, you might also check the cruise line docking schedule for Flam - that can significantly impact enjoyment there.

We have done this twice, once back in 2015 and then again this past August. We booked through Fjord Tours because I planned this right after my mom passed and I did not have it in me to do piece it together myself. I am glad we did that as we saw so many people along the way that did it themselves and something got messed up.

Anyway, Gudvangen is tiny so we opted for the short layover there. We had a few hours in Flam, which if there is not a cruise ship is really nice. But if there is one, they are so massive that you can't even see the fjord. That was a disappointment for us, as this was my daughter's first time. So definitely check the cruise ship schedule (google it, and it will pop up) and work your dates around those. We spent our time walking around the perimeter of the town, mostly to just get away fro, the extra almost 7k people from the ship.

The Fjord tours lets you book now, but then they too can't reserve until the 90 days before, but they are on it and you are set. NIN is very popular, so I would book now. We booked in January of last year for a late August trip. I did book our hotels separately though, as we knew what we wanted. I did book excursions through NIN which was good as that allowed enough time for them.

BTW, I highly recommend Porter Service for your luggage. We used it last summer and it was so nice to not have our bags, even though they are carryon size. So many people were struggling with their bags, and then what to do with them with the stops along the way etc. Porter Service was $35 per bag and it worked like a charm for us.

I did the classic NiN itinerary in 2022, in the Oslo-to-Bergen direction. Layovers vary, depending on your direction of travel. I chose to spend a couple of nights in Flam, primarily because I wanted to see the Borgund Stave Church and the public-bus schedule wasn't tourist-friendly. I really liked the NiN trip, but I don't think there's a great need to spend several hours in Flam unless you want to go round-trip between Flam and Myrdal--perhaps to ride a bicycle down the mountain--or do some hiking. Flam itself is not spectacular; it's location is great, but only if there's not a monster ship in port. And you will in any case see a lot of the area during the ferry trip from Gudvangen to Flam and the ride on the Flamsbana. When you cover the entire NiN in one day, you don't have time for a lot of activities along the way.

If you happen to end up with extra time in Flam, the little museum about the building of the railroad is perhaps the best place to spend an hour or so. I think there's a luggage-storage option in the area, but I'm not absolutely sure since I didn't need that service.

I found it easy enough to book the individual components of the NiN trip myself. This is what you would need coming from Bergen (assuming the individual schedules work together as I've laid out the segments):

• Mainline train Bergen to Voss; buy tickets from vy.no. You'll probably need to pay with PayPal. PayPal will let you charge the tickets to your credit card. Be sure to conduct the transaction in NOK rather than dollars; otherwise, PayPal will take extra money from you.

• Public bus from Voss to Gudvangen; I just bought a ticket from the driver, but perhaps one can now do that online. I'm nearly certain the bus schedule is available on the NorwaysBest website, but here's the Skyss website: Skyss Schedule Look-up. You'll be traveling from Voss Stasjon to Gudvangen ferjekai, Aurland. It's too early now to see June departure times; the bus will run more frequently then than it does in the winter and early spring. The 950 goes right down to the ferry dock; there's also Bus 450 that stops up at highway level. Skyss says it's then a 6-minute walk to the dock, but that should be downhill.

• Naeroyfjord ferry from Gudvangen to Flam; buy ticket from NorwaysBest.com.

• Flamsbana from Flam up to Myrdal. Buy through ticket from Flam all the way to Oslo from vy.no.

• Mainline train from Myrdal to Oslo. See immediately above.

The Vy website says tickets go on sale 90 to 120 days ahead, so it appears you'll need to wait a bit. Transportation cannot sell out when tickets aren't yet on sale. There have been comments on this forum about the trains between Oslo and Myrdal sometimes being full (and I've seen that myself when checking schedules online), and the fare on that segment will increase as the travel date approaches. There have been suggestions that the Flamsbana sometimes sells out, too. Therefore, I think it's important to buy the Flam-Oslo tickets well ahead of time. I don't recall reports of ticket-availability issues with the other parts of the NiN itinerary, but once you're locked in on the Flam-Oslo trains, it makes sense to buy the ferry ticket, too. I think the Bergen-Voss trains can't sell out, but you might as well take care of that ahead of time, too.

Hello, I am in the same situation in July, travelling from Bergen to Oslo, and the earlier ferry is completely sold out (I checked their website). I'm wondering if large tour companies are holding those reservations.

Naeroyfjord ferry from Gudvangen to Flam; buy ticket from NorwaysBest.com.

The real problem here is that there are two boat services from Gudvangen to Flam (and also the direct bus which goes through the tunnel). There are the tour boats run as part of the Norway's Best organised tour (which you book through Norway's Best or Fjord Tours) and there is the public service which independent passengers would book.

I am seeing no obvious availability problems with the public boat service between the two ports either in June or July (in either direction). The public service (on far less fancy boats) also has early departures from Gudvangen (before any bus connection arrives in) which allows you to stay overnight in Gudvangen (as opposed to Flam for those doing a two day version) and thus use off peak trains from Flam to Myrdal and arrive in Oslo at a decent time of night.

I’m surprised no one mentioned the Flamsbana train! It leaves from Flam up to the Myrdal train station through the most gorgeous scenery. We took the train up and then returned bikes at the station and cruised back to Flam, all the way down, through the most gorgeous scenery on the planet! I lost count at 50 waterfalls! The bikes are returned in Flam. We stayed 2 nights in Flam, loved it.