Seeing Fjords with Havila

Havila and Hurtigruten travel the same route along the coast. Depending on when you travel, the Northbound trip cruises the Geirangerfjord or the Hjorundfjord. And Southbound trip may enter the Trollfjord if conditions are good. We traveled Hurtigruten southbound in May 2023. Unfortunately the weather kept us out of the Trollfjord.

There are several other fjords along the coast that you will sail in. But some of these fjords are quite wide and shallow like the Trondheimfjord. While still beautiful, it's not the Norwegian fjords we see in the Viking Cruise commercials.

For that you need to experience the narrower fjords, both by boat and from above. We did this by DIY Norway in a Nutshelll cruising the Naeyorfjord and then seeing it from above with a minibus tour that included Stegastein Viewpoint. We also spent several days in Ålesund. Cruising the Geirangerfjord one day and then seeing it from above with a day tour to Trollstigen.

While we did our trip without a car, you could easily do a driving tour that includes several "classic" fjords.

Thank you jeanm. That is helpful!

I should also add that if your not doing the coastal cruise, you will want to try to be in Flåm (for the Naeyorfjord) and Ålesund (for the Geirangerfjord) when the big cruise ships are not in port.

When we checked in to our room at the Flåmsbrygga a huge cruise ship was right outside our balcony. Fortunately it departed around 6pm and we were able to enjoy our view. When we woke in the morning there was another ship in its place.

We were lucky in Ålesund, there was 1 day of our stay with no cruise ships in town. So I booked our Trollstigen day trip for that day. Instead of a bus load of tourists, we were a group of 5 in a minivan. It was a perfect day.

Thank you! Super good info that I really had not considered.

Hum…I’m going over all these different options. I wonder if a large cruise ship would hit more of those Fjords. I’ll have to research that. Also, I wonder if we did just cruise if we’d miss a different perspective from being on land. I suppose we could do some of both.

Much to consider!!

No, most of the big international cruise lines only go to what you might call the Instagram fjords, much the same as the modern (and it is modern) non- landing* diversion of Hurtigruten and Havila into the Geraingerfjord (* unless you take their heavily overpriced bus excursion).

But there are other lines with smaller ships which explore more of the fjords (including the Hardangerfjord) such as Ambassador, Fred Olsen and, yes, Viking Ocean (among others). The sorts of ships without the casinos and multiple activities, where you are truly at sea, not at a floating resort.

There are other nutshells- like Hardangerfjord in a Nutshell or Sognefjord in a Nutshell, each of which has a number of possible side trips (like the Glacier cruise on the Fjaerlandsfjord from Balestrand).

On the way from Bergen to Flam there is the very scenic Lustrafjord for instance- off the Norway in a Nutshell route, but on the Bergen to Flam ferry route.

Much further north there is the Altafjord, not on the coastal ships route or that of most big cruise ships. An interesting town, and a branch fjord, the Kafjorden is where the Tirpitz hid in WW2 (a museum there about it).

Way more to see than just from Norway in a Nutshell or the coastal ships.

Of course you can do the other nutshells or fjords by car instead.

But then the Norway in a Nutshell has many worthwhile add on options which just seem to get missed by people here as they try to do the Nutshell in the fastest time possible. You can spend several nights in Flam (not just one) on NiN if you really want to explore the area. How most people do it now is a far cry from what was originally envisioned when NiN began in the 1960's.

Thank you so much isn31c! I had no idea there were other nutshells. Such great info! Thank you for taking the time to offer me more ideas.

It would be wonderful for my hubby to not have to drive since we typically rent a car and this Norway trip will likely be after he has already driven for 3-4 weeks.

It might be nice to lace some NIN together to create a trip and have overnight stops along with way. I wonder if that is possible without returning to Bergen to begin another one?

Norway seems so confusing to me, and I plan lots of trips. Maybe its my aging brain!

One thing I never see mentioned on here is the Voss Gondola- https://www.vossresort.no/en/gondola

That may be because people just see Voss as a change point between train and bus.

I was looking at the Skyss website a few weeks ago (the local transport provider in the Bergen area). There is a whole page of wonderful ideas of day trips from Bergen, most of which never make the guide books because they cater in the main for a certain audience. There must be 10 days or more of suggestions on that page.

If you really want to explore the Flam region properly (without a car) I think you could do as many as three nights there.

To move on from Flam (and Norway in a Nutshell) to the Hardangerfjord you take the train up to Myrdal, then change Oslo bound for a train to Geilo.
From there the Vy Bus 25 connects to Eidfjord at 1015 daily, as does the local bus 991 at 1205 daily.
The web page above gives things to do from Eidfjord, but this is the tourist boat, run by Norled- https://www.norled.no/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/6355532e-c702-4fa0-b97f-1c9fc07ed977.pdf

Use the Skyss travel planner for Eidfjord to Norheismund connections, and then on to Bergen or Stavanger- https://reise.skyss.no/planner/

Note the once daily bus connections which follows the widening of the fjord almost all the way to the sea.

I've posted our itinerary from 2023 elsewhere. We spent 2½ weeks without driving. I promised my husband a trip where he could enjoy the scenery instead of watching the road. No backtracking involved.

• flew into Kirkenes, Kirkenes 2 nts
• MS Nordlys southbound coastal cruise with Hurtigruten 5 nts
• Bergen 2 nts
• Flåm 1 nt via DIY Norway in a Nutshell
• Oslo 2 nts
• flew to Ålesund, Ålesund 3 nts
• flew back to US

Of course, there are many other ways of seeing Norway. We felt our trip was a good mix of spectacular scenery, beautiful fjords, culture and both cities and villages.

So, yes. You can put together a wonderful trip to Norway without driving and without backtracking.

Thank you so much jeanm! That sounds like a great option!