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Norway in a Nutshell on our own

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My husband and I will be in Norway in a few weeks and are interested in the overnight NIN tour from Oslo. We have already purchased Global Eurail passes (since we will also be traveling through 6 other countries during our 3 week trip). I am wondering how to book/plan/do the NIN itinerary without having to pay for the trains all over again. The train from Oslo to Myrdal should already be covered by our Eurail pass so I hate paying hundreds of dollars again to book via a tour company. Any suggestions on how we can plan this on our own? I've been trying to figure out how to book just the fjord cruise boat in Flaam and the bus trip from Gudvangen to Voss (we are going to train from Voss to Bergen to spend the night in Bergen before heading back to Oslo the next day) but I can't find a website allowing me to do that. All the tours are very expensive and seem to include all trains and even overnight stays. We have already booked our hotel in Bergen so I just need only the fjord cruise boat and then the bus to Voss. Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Our NIN tentative Itinerary...
Saturday, September 10
train from Oslo to Flaam (covered by our Eurail pass)
fjord boat tour from Flaam to Gudvangen (need help figuring out how to book this)
Buss from Gudvangen to Voss (need help figuring out how to book this)
Train from Voss to Bergen (covered by our eurail pass)
Overnight in Bergen (already booked hotel)
Sunday, September 11th
Spend the morning in Bergen
Train back to Oslo in the afternoon. (covered by our eurail pass)

Posted by
5837 posts

The Norwegian trains are run by the NSB: NSB.no

However, since you have an Eurail pass you need to find out how Eurail allows you to book Norwegian trains. Note that the Oslo to Myrdal route requires seat reservations. Voss to Bergen was a regional train when we did the trip some years ago.

You could probably buy tickets for the ferry and bus on-board.

Posted by
1740 posts

I booked NIN on my own, but I did the reverse of your trip (and I didn't have a Eurail pass). I went through the steps of booking Norway in a Nutshell on the official site until I got to the point where I was shown an itinerary. I used the itinerary to help me figure out which times to book.

Your trip has 5 legs between Oslo and Bergen:

Train from Oslo to Myrdal. This should be covered by your pass, but I believe you need to reserve seats in advance. I booked my tickets on the NSB website for this leg.

Flam Railway (Flamsbana) from Myrdal to Flam. You can book the Flamsbana (train from Myrdal to Flam) here: https://www.visitflam.com/en/se-og-gjore/aktiviteter/flamsbana-special-online-offer/ I think you get a discount on this with your Eurail pass, so you might try calling them to ask about that.

Ferry from Flam to Gudvangen. You can book the ferry here: https://www.visitflam.com/en/se-og-gjore/aktiviteter/fjordcruise-on-the-naroyfjord-2016/

Bus from Gudvangen to Voss. You can't book the bus from Gudvangen to Voss in advance, and you don't need to. You can pay the driver. (Try to have the exact fare.) It's supposedly Bus #950, but when we went, there were multiple buses, and they didn't all look the same. Anyway, it should be obvious, and they will probably say "Voss" on them. You'll be taking the bus from Gudvangen Kai to Voss Stasjon.

Train from Voss to Bergen. I had to call to book the leg between Bergen and Voss, as it's a regional train. I was told that leg didn't need to be booked in advance, but I did it anyway.

If you're not sure how to use your Eurail pass to book the Oslo-Myrdal and Voss-Bergen legs and your return trip, I suggest calling NSB. The person I talked with spoke very good English and was easy to deal with.

Posted by
544 posts

Book seat reservations for Oslo-Myrdal leaving at 6:25am by calling (+47) 61 05 19 10. Ask for seats on the left side of the train. This is very important since you're traveling on the weekend. Also book the Flåmbanen train and the train back to Oslo using this phone number. You get a 30% disocount on the Flåmbanen with your rail pass and you buy that either over the phone or at a rail station in Norway.

The new boat on the Nærøyfjord sightseeing cruise holds a lot of people and is much nicer than the old boats. You can buy tickets for the 14:00 sailing at visitflam.com

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