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Oslo and Harstad Norway Itinerary Help?

Hi all! My mother and I are planning a once in a lifetime trip to visit my mothers family in Harstad, Norway either at the end of August or early September. Currently, we are trying to figure out what is the least costly and most effective way to get around Norway once we arrive in Oslo and also if we should utilize the train system or not. The trip itinerary we have come up with so far is as follows, fly from Seattle to Amsterdam or London for 3-4 nights, then fly from Amsterdam or London to Oslo and stay for 3-4 nights, then either possibly take a train, boat, or fly to Harstad for 2-3 nights? We were also possibly wanting to visit Sweden since it is somewhat close and take a train there but not sure which cities would be worth visiting.

Also, we definitely want to see some of the fjords and wondered which ones would be along our route or not too far off? Also, is Bergen or Troms worth staying in for a couple nights and maybe shorten our time in Oslo instead? If we go in September we might possibly be able to see the northern lights in northern Norway but didn't know if it would be too cold to go at that time or if August would be better overall. Thanks for any advice and feedback, it would help us out a lot.

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http://www.visitnorway.com/us/where-to-go-us/northern-norway/harstad/getting-to-harstad-and-around/

There are two daily train departures between Oslo and Fauske in
Nordland, with onward travel to Harstad by connecting bus. There is
also a train connection between Narvik and Kiruna – Luleå in Sweden.
For more information, please contact the Norwegian State Railways
(NSB).

If you go by NSB, the advanced purchase Minipris tickets are discounted from standard fare.

If you are time constrained:

Plane There are up to six daily flights to/from Oslo Airport
Gardermoen to/from Harstad/Narvik Airport Evenes, with onward
connections. Flight time from Harstad/Narvik Airport Evenes to Oslo is
90 minutes.

Airlines: SAS and Norwegian.

Widerøe has several daily flights to/from Bodø and Tromsø.

The drive to/from Harstad town centre to/from the airport takes 40
minutes. You can get the Airport Express bus if you don't have your
own mode of tranportation.

And if you want to see fjords:

Hurtigruten (The Norwegian Coastal Voyage) The north- and southbound
Hurtigruten ships meet daily in Harstad between 6:45 am and 8 am. It
is a beautiful sight when both ships are docked side by side in
downtown Harstad.

For day-trips with Hurtigruten from Harstad, you should take the
journey to Svolvær (Lofoten Islands) and Sortland (Vesterålen). From
Svolvær, you may return to Harstad on the northbound Hurtigruten ship
at night or return to Harstad by bus or rental car.

Express boat Harstad has excellent express boat connections with
Tromsø (three hours away) and to the island kingdom outside Harstad -
Bjarkøy and Senja. The express boats dock at the quay in downtown
Harstad and are a comfortable and scenic mode of transport.