Bergen - Balestrand - Flam- Help please.

Debra

I am not sure if your question is regarding the speed of the boat or the lack of ability to transport cars. I think it is more of the speed so Ill address that.

When you take the boat from Bergen to Balestrand you will have 3 hrs and 50 minutes on the boat and will get to see plenty of Fjord. Do realize though on this part of the journey the Fjord is still beautiful but very wide. You feel more on a lake in my opinion.

We still took extra time to do the Naeroyfjord. Note: As you take the boat from Balestrand to Flam you can get off in the middle on to the Naeroyfjord boat and then take a bus back to Flam to catch that leg.

A couple of thoughts on Balestrand. We found it lovely and away from the bustle of tourism. If you go to trip advisor you will find the Balestrand Hotel to be the #1 hotel in the area - Kvikne's is 3 of 4. We found Kvikne's to be beautiful on the outside but read that the fancy outside does not match the interior.

Balestrand Hotel is much simpler all around but is ran by people that invest themselves in your time and make it their business to ensure you have the best possible time.

I have traveled the fjords and recommend taking Mike's advice. It sounds good to me. You won't find the speed of the boat to be of concern.

The cruise does remind one of touring a lake. Do the Nutshell if you want to; it will give you a good experience of the Norwegian fjords.

My concern for cost influenced me in that part of Norway.

I was concerned that I may not be able to photograph the fjords on the express boat which I would very much like to do. Is the outside area large enough on the express boat to linger outside and take photographs?

If you changed boat mid-ford, and saw the Naeroyfjord, did you miss the myrdal flam rail?
Thanks again,

The express boat we were on had a large platform at the rear of the craft. It held at least 20 people. If you were ambitious you could move around to the side of the boat partially.

On boat changes we actually did not do the boat change. We did not know about it. We went to flam and took the boat from there. Getting on a train was not an issue as we stayed the night in flam.

Debra, About 8 years ago, I took a ferry from Bergen to Balestrand, spent the night at the Kvikne Hotel, then caught another boat to Flam and went on to Oslo. I very much enjoyed the day in Balestrand and would recommend it highly. The Kvikne Hotel is right on the water, and the views are fantastic. We were fortunate to have a room with a porch and a view of the fjords -- it was fabulous. The decor of the Kvikne is a little shabby, or was when we were there, but we had lots of space, and I found it charming.

One comment on your plan to take pictures of the fjord while you are on the boat -- the quality of the pictures will depend to some degree on the time of day. We left Bergen around 10:00 or 11:00. We hit the fjords when the sun was high in the sky. It was absolutely gorgeous, but I suspected my pictures would not be that great because of too much sunshine. I was right -- the pictures looked kind of washed out. They were pretty, just no where near as beautiful as it really was.

These posts have been most helpful - I am trying to sort out exactly how we will order our trip - Mike, it sounds like you think the Naeroyfjord is a "must-see"? We will be traveling with our 3 year old so plan to take the trip slowly. Are considering the following:

Day 1: Train Oslo to Flam, Night in Flam
Day 2: Ferry to Balestrand, night in Balestrand
Day 3: either express boat Balestrand to Bergen or ferry Balestrand to Midtfjord, then on to Gudvangen, Stalheim, Voss to Bergen.

Thoughts? thanks to all.

Julie - To answer your question - I found the Naeroyfjord to be the most spectacular of what I saw. I wouldn't destroy a schedule or plan to do it, but I would also tell someone it's worth seeing. Then again the opportunity to just spend 3 or 4 hours on the Fjord, not have to backtrack, and end up in Bergen might be equally desirable.

I think it really is a case of you can't go wrong. The one thing I would suggest depending on how your schedule is - Try to get to Balestrand if at all possible to maximize your time. Flam really is a tourist depot IMHO.

thanks - i think we will now do the following:

1. train Oslo to Flam, night in Flam 2.bus Flam to Gudvangen (20min), ferry Gudvangen to Flam (2hrs) express boat Flam to Balestrand (90 min), night in Balestrand
2. 5pm fast boat Balestrand to Bergen, 2 nights in Bergen before flying to Copenhagen.

Is it the case as far as anyone knows that we can't take a ferry directly from Gudvangen to Balestrand?

Julie

Debra: have you researched the Stahlheim hotel ?? Balestrand is nice to visit but overnight ??? Stahlheim is wayyyyyyyyy better scenic overnight stop !!! Probably more expensive tho ? Balestrand to Bergen by fast-boat seems a lame route versus Gudvangen-Stahlheim-Voss-Bergen !!!!