Norway Itinerary - anything missing?

Did the exact same itinerary a few years ago and it works…great scenery and adventures.

You are focusing on the south of Norway. Bergen and Oslo are fine, but MUCH more of Norway is north of there.

Places like Stavanger south of Bergen, then Geiranger, which has the best fjord on the North Sea coast.
Further, Alesund and Flam. Trondheim and more all the way to the North Cape.

Consider coming back and taking a cruise all the way to the North Cape.

Understood. I realize we have a focus but as a first trip there is no way we can see everything. We want to enjoy being in Norway and don’t want to be always traveling to the next spot. If there was something that we could also add that wasn’t a whole extra day of travel we should consider I’d be open to suggestions.

Just as an idea. From Bergen you could take a short cruise along the scenic coast line to Trondheim with Hurtigruten or Havila. At this time of year the ships will also sail into Geiranger fjord. After spending a day in Trondheim you can fly back directly to Oslo or Copenhagen.

I did almost exactly what you are considering last July 2023. We did 6 nights in Copenhagen (not a first trip), then southern Norway for a total of 9 nights. Flew to Oslo from CPH - 5 nights (3 full days there plus arrival and departure days), NiN in one day Bergensbanen only with no additional fjord or Flam train, Bergen for 4 nights (3 full days). We tend to be "in depth" travelers with an interest in many of the museums in Oslo, Copenhagen, and Bergen as well as other buildings and historical sites unique to the areas. Some like traveling more quickly, just giving you our planning perspective.

We knew that the full NiN with the standard fjord and Flam routing would be too much for us in one day and we didn't have time to add overnight stops on the journey. To make up for the lost fjord opportunity, we took a cruise out of Bergen's harbor with Rodne Cruise line. That was enough for us. There were several cruise options - we went with a 3.5 short trip, but some are day long with stops. The suggestion above from MarkK of Hurtigen is also one we explored - it looked quite interesting but we wanted more time for that. Next trip!!

We hiked for a day above Bergen from the Floibanen. We had good weather. It wouldn't be a good outing in rain or fog. Composer Edvard Grieg's House, Troldhaugen, is in Bergen's suburbs. You can get there by public transport or taxi, but we took a bus "tour" from the KODE art museum that included the daily concert, easy transport, and tickets to the art museums on our return.

Our NiN train was sold out on a Saturday in July. I had purchased as the tickets became available. PayPal works on the Norwegian train sites - they have problems with US credit cards.

I know, as geovagriffith mentions above, that we missed out on fascinating northern Norway sites, but that is for another trip. We both felt that the trip as outlined above gave us a very good sense of the parts of Norway we did visit.

I don't think a short side trip from Bergen into nearby fjords can match the Norway in a Nutshell scenery. I opted to spend two nights in Flam so I could see the Borgund Stave Church, so I have no experience completing the NiN trip in one day. However, the transfers are all very simple; you have no walks of any significance to deal with, and I had no trouble managing my (larger-than-carry-on) suitcase along the way at age 71. If I had only one day to get from Oslo to Bergen or vice versa, I would take the classic Nutshell trip without a moment's thought.

The coastal ferry trip from Bergen with a detour into the Geirangerfjord is also excellent. You depart from Bergen at night, arrive in Alesund early in the morning but stay on the ship until it returns to Bergen the same evening. So that trip costs you just one extra day, but you end up in Alesund rather than Bergen.

The weather in western Norway is very wet and rather unpredictable. It would be great to include both the Nutshell trip on the Sognefjord and the Geirangerfjord trip in your itinerary, doubling your chances of good-weather fjord views. On my Geirangerfjord detour, the weather was rather poor on the way in, but it cleared up nicely as we headed back toward Alesund.

There are multiple flights each day from Alesund to Oslo. There's also a very scenic bus/rail route (of which I've taken the rail component) between the two cities, which makes for quite a long, multiple-transfer day and would require spending the night in Alesund.

There are two issues with travel in Norway: cost (of everything except supermarket food) and availability (primarily of lodging in fjord country, but some transportation can fill up as well). Unless there's something special going on, I don't think you'll have any difficulty finding a hotel room in Oslo. Bergen has fewer rooms and could be more expensive, but that probably will be fine. If you should decide to make a stop along the Nutshell route or stay overnight in Alesund, that's where difficulties could arise. The first priority should be firming up your Oslo-to-Bergen plans, because a room in Flam, etc., would need to be booked ASAP. There's money to be saved on some of the trains (including Oslo-Myrdal, by purchasing early, but it's still too early for July/August. You can check flight schedules on skyscanner.com and train/bus schedules on vy.no.

We are headed there in mid/late August and just booked our NIN trip this past weekend. We are keeping this trip simple and are going from Oslo to Stavanger to Bergen back to Oslo. We are staying a few days in each place. One of the days, we are doing a kayaking trip.