Family of 4 traveling to Norway for 10 days. Trying to travel by boat up the coast to see more fjords. Any recommendations for ferries or small cruise. Any other recommendations of must sees besides Bergen and Oslo
Posted by
Uppsala, Sweden
6971 posts
Must sees are subjective, what are your plans so far and what are you interested in? Will you visit any other places apart from Norway? Between Oslo and Bergen you can take the Norway in a Nutshell tour (as a package or on your own) wich will give you a boat trip on one of the largest fjords. You could also look at a shorter trip with Hurtigruten. Or the ferry to Stavanger, which will not give you much fjord views but nice coastal views.
Posted by
OP
San Francisco, ca
34 posts
Thank you for your advice. 23 years ago with traveled on the Norway in the nutshell from Oslo to Bergen. Loved the adventure. We were hoping to find a smaller boat cruise up the north coast and into more fjords. We are now returning with 2 daughters 19 and 21 and not wanting to take the large expensive cruises
Posted by
Washington DC
28073 posts
You can do segments on the Hurtigruten ships--just for short-distance transportation without sleeping on the ferry. I imagine that's fairly reasonable in cost. At least some of the ships make a foray into the Geirangerfjord, stopping in Alesund both before and after. But you'd have to get yourself to and from Alesund to take advantage of that.
It's my impression that sleeping on the Hurtigruten ferries costs considerably more, per night, than you'd pay on a regular cruise. (Though who knows what the situation will be like next year.) The full Hurtigruten itinerary (Bergen to Kirkenes) is 6 nights northbound and 5 nights southbound. I've read that availability of cabins for segments of the itinerary in unpredictable; it depends on how many cabins are left over after the demand for the full itinerary is satisfied.
There's supposed to be an additional company running ferries up and down the coast next year, Havila Kytruten.
I believe there are two companies running ferries on the Sognefjord: Fjord1 (newer boats) and Lustrabaatane. It seems that the segment between Flam and Gudvangen is the most scenic.
There are fast ferries from Bergen into the Sognefjord (to Flam, among other destinations), but they don't go into the narrowest part of the fjord (Naeroyfjord, where Gudvangen is located).
Sorry to be so vague. I haven't been to Norway but am researching a trip of my own for next year (I hope).