Planning first time itinerary norway

Our first trip to Norway was last fall. In addition to Rick’s book, we used the Moon guide (same publisher), and our library had a copy. Besides places Rick includes, we stayed a few nights each in Trondheim and Stranda. Hiked out of Stranda, and above Bergen, and also approaching the Nigardsbreen Glacier. Despite it often being on a tourist’s agenda, we skipped Flåm and the “Norway in Nutshell” itinerary - really crowded as we drove past the town, cruise boat crowds, and we were in Norway longer than a quickie visit, so instead of cramming things into a “nutshell,” we had more time for train and ferry rides through spectacular scenery, many stunning ferry rides, and drove where the Nutshell bus goes.

For the Lustrafjord, rather than staying in Solvorn, which has either an expensive hotel with a very nice restaurant or a hostel with a bathroom down the hall, we stayed a couple of miles west, with a beautiful lake view at an Airbnb in Hafslo.

Are you renting a car? Electric cars are a really big deal in Norway, and we wound up with an electric VW. Great mileage, but you have to plan around the time it takes to charge up, and you can’t go to just any old charging station. We signed up with Elton, the charging program that Hertz uses, but even then, had to find Elton charging stations, and plan around not running the battery too low before we got to one.

I also used Rick's book and the Moon guide, but the first thing I did was read through the entire Norway forum here. That helped me narrow down my priorities and tipped me off to places that might be difficult to access without a car (which was the way I was traveling).

I recommend to read also the visit pages of Norway, Oslo, Bergen and other destinations; also the scenic routes for car travelers.

Thanks everyone!

I wrote a detailed trip report of our 18 days in Norway. You can message me if you would like me to send you a copy.
..
We'd been planning our trip for years, and we used large paper maps to plan our route. The Facebook page, Norway-Tips for Travellers was especially helpful to us. We didn't buy Rick's book because it didn't cover a lot of places we were going.

I went in August of last year. Flam was my favorite place and when/if I ever go back, I'd stay in Bergen a couple days back at the Clarion Hotel Admiral, which was the hands down best hotel room and breakfast of my entire two week trip and take the ferry again to Flam for several days, staying again at the Flam campground cabins. Adorable, looks exactly like picture with mountain views and apples trees right outside windows. Walking distance to town and a marvelous restaurant on the water. Oslo didn't do as much for me but I'd kind of overdone cities by then after Copenhagen and Stockholm.

Wow some great experiences shared here. Thanks to all!