Day Cruise in Bergen or Norway in Nutshell?

Norway in a Nutshell is an interesting tourist gimmick that bounces you from one mode of transportation ot another - - all to get you down into the fjords. Some fjords are better than others - - the one on NiN is not the best. The railway ride is pretty good, but not life-changing. There's nothing to the bus/tram business. You can also do NiN as a day outing of nine hours or so from Bergen.

Thanks, my main goal is to see the best of the Norway fjords, Bergen is not really a necessity. Which Fjord trip would you recommend doing over Norway in a nutshell?

i.e. would you recommend sognefjord, or hardanger over the regular nutshell trip?, as those are both available as short 1-2 day trips from Oslo http://www.fjordtours.com/

We found the Geirangerfjord from the village of Geiranger to Hellesylt to be the better fjord cruise. It's a little harder to get to from Olso, however. How would this fit into the rest of your trip? Are you driving?

Basically we will be staying in Stockholm on Friday night, and we just want to be in Copenhagen by Monday Night. The time in between that, is what we had allotted to see the fjords of Norway. (on a budget). I'm open to renting a car, though being 21, I pay a bit less than double rates for the econo-boxes /= I looked up that Ferry from Geirganger to Hellesylt, it's only an hour long? I guess the Nutshell Norway boat part is only two hours, though it includes an apparently incredible train ride.

You're tossing too many wrinkles into the bucket. You need to give us a hand so we can offer something intelligent. Best: It's a judgement, but the best (those that rival New Zealand and Chile) are well north of Geiranger. Time: You're really short. You probably don't even have time to get as far up as Geiranger. Budget: What's that mean in some kind of money? Bergen has an airport. You can probably fly from Stockholm to Bergen to Copenhagen for eight hundred bucks each. You can also fly from Stockholm to Oslo to Copenhagen for around five hundred dollars each. You can do NiN as a long, long day trip from Oslo. The outing from Bergen is a couple hundred bucks each, from Oslo probably twice that. Randy's idea of the ferry is the least expensive boat ride. Time and money to get there might not work. If it's just a fjord, you can get to Oslo somehow and take the ferry down Oslofjord to Copenhagen. But, Oslofjord is wide and not very steep and most of the time will be spent in the Skagerra/Kattegat. Probably the only good part is that it acts as a hotel for one night. You could maybe pull that off for a hundred dollars per head.

John, with only 2+ days to use and with the fjords located WAY off the line between Stockholm and Copenhagen, and with some concern over budget - I would reluctantly say skip it. As an alternative you may not have thought of; You can book a cabin on the Silja ship overnight Stockholm to Helsinki (about 5PM-10AM), spend one night in Helsinki (I can vouch for the basic dorm-like youth hostel) and most of the next day, then take the Silja ship overnight from Helsinki to Copenhagen (double check that they do that route - I'm not 100% sure). This gets you on the water. The first 4 hours of the journey through the archipelago from Stockholm is flat-out gorgeous. Helsinki is a very cool vibe that is a bit of a contrast to the rest of Scandinavia. The ship - if you factor in that it is also your hotel for each night - is very reasonably priced. I'll bet doing this route would be quite a bit less expensive overall, than trying to spend a couple hours on a fjord.

John, The only way that I think this might be possible would be to do the following: a) Fly from Stockholm to Bergen (Saturday)
b) Take Norway-in-a-Nutshell from Bergen to Oslo (all day Sunday) c) Travel from Oslo to Copenhagen (fly or train Monday during the day or overnight ferry). However, I wouldn't recommend that you do what I have outlined. You'd be spending a huge amount of money for a couple of hours of scenery. You'd really be better to save Norway for a future trip. Randy's suggestion to take the ferry to Helsinki is a good one. However, I do not know of any ferry routes between Helsinki and Copenhagen. You could also take the ferry between Stockholm and Tallinn.

john, After further research, there is NO ship connecting Helsinki with Copenhagen. As an alternative for my plan B above, you could fly Helsinki-Copenhagen one way for around $100/pp on SAS airlines. Then you could still take the ship Stockholm-Helsinki. If you still prefer to find a way to get to a Norway fjord, check SAS for flights Stockholm-Bergen or other options. I still think it's pretty unrealistic to make it work for anything less than a small fortune. There are other more convenient places to spend two days.

thanks for all the help! (typed on smartphone) i should probably mention that the trip actually starts with me joining my gf studying abroad at the university of helsinki, to then ferry to stockholm the youth train ticket from stock to oslo is only $25 a head, $250 for norway in nutshell, and then $70 a head flight from bergen to copenhagen. basically my gf is the one who really wants to see the fjords (me too a bit), from what im getting from you all is that that the really amazing ones arent really possible/cheaply to see in a few days? it is also possible for me to add an extra day. given the above quoted travel prices would you recommend cutting out norway for somthing else? From the way i look at it $95 to get me to the $250 NIN, isn't too bad.. though if you think there's a better way to spend it in be it with fjords or scandenavia let me know! Oh and when I say on a budget, I mean ~$1000 for two total allocated to Norway (we'll be in Europe for a month) The round trip cruises from Bergen seem to start at 3 nights for at least a couple thousand a head it seems.

'i should probably mention.....' No kidding? You have the record for the most piece-mealing bugger that's ever asked a question here. You've got the time and money. NiN is perfect for seeing pretty good fjords. You can do it for a heck of a lot less than any of us were guessing. I'd probably do it as the Oslo-Norway segment, but I haven't done it that way. Now for the most important advice - - and it's a life lesson: YOU DO EXACTLY WHAT THE BROAD WANTS TO DO.

If you can get the train for $25 and the flight for $70, then go ahead and do Norway in a Nutshell.