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Rental car or stick with public transportation?

Posted by (Missouri) on

Planning a mid-September 14 day trip beginning in Helsinki (2 nights) , ferry to Tallin (2 nights), overnight ferry (1 night) to Stockholm where we will get on the 6 hr train to Oslo, arriving late that night. We have 8 nights to plan in Norway and the last night will be at the departure airport.

Renting a car in Norway is sounding more an more like the plan to give us the most freedom. Yes, I would love to do a "leisurely" NIN but would be happy with a fjord cruise, then getting back to the car.

After 3 nights in Oslo, I want to drive up to Alesund (2 nights), then down to Bergen (2 nights) and then drive Bergen-to-Oslo to drop off the car; spending that last night (1 night) at OSL for morning departure.

I am having trouble figuring this looped route using trains and ferries- if I could do it with public transportation we could depart from Bergen.

Anyone with experience doing this? Many thanks in advance!

Posted by
180 posts

I thought that driving in Norway was easy. Public transportation between certain points was great but some places are practically unreachable, (multiple transfers and potentially long layovers).

I’d drive.

That said, Bergen to Oslo has to be close to an 8-hour drive.

Posted by
3081 posts

Helpful is the page "Getting around Norway".

Use https://entur.no/ to find public transport connections and https://www.vy.no/ for train connections.

Although there is not much traffic in Norway (except around cities) I would not entitle driving in Norway as "easy". There are some special challenges people shall know, e. g. animals on streets, using ferries, fast weather changes, different conditions on fjord and fjell level.

The official scenic routes of Norway help identifying worth seeing places.

I was driving the area multiple times and weeks with my own car.

Posted by
7050 posts

It's very easy to do the route with trains and ferries. Train from Oslo to Ålesund, ferry from Ålesund to Bergen and then train from Bergen to Oslo. But if you plan to stay the last night at the airport my suggestion would be to do it in the other direction. Depending on what you're looking to see and do a rental car for part of the trip can also be an option.

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