Norway in a nutshell

Are you willing to rent a car? If so, it is very scenic to go to Voss and then drive towards Balestrand on the Sognefjord. En route you can detour to Flam and take the Flam train and stop at Vik for an outstanding stave church. Once in Balestrand, you can drive east a bit for some more outstanding scenery. When you look at a map of Norway, it appears as if there are no bridges across the fjords. However, there are ferry boats which cross back and forth, usually once an hour. Most people go to Norway and take the boats on the fjords. I think they miss the most spectacular scenery. When you drive, you go up the mountains and then down to sea level. In Balestrand, try to get a room in the old part of Kvikne's Hotel. It's a bit pricy, but a wonderful experience--it is right on the edge of the fjord---one of the most beautiful views we have ever savored. If you want more information, e-mail me.

George,

My opinions are as follows with the caveat to always do what sounds best to you as it is your trip.

1. I too would rather have extra time in the Fjords then in Oslo. One day was plenty for me in Oslo. Oslo to me was in many ways like Zurich. While Zurich was a large central functional city, I will think about a whole lot of other experiences that I define as "Switzerland" before coming to visiting Zurich. Same holds with Oslo for me. Stockholm was also much more enjoyable for me compared to Oslo. (Just my opinion of course)

2. When you take the express boat from Bergen it takes about 90-120 minutes to reach the Sognefjord. It is another 2 hours to Balestrand. It is about 90 minutes from Balestrand to Flam.

3. I would consider staying in the Fjord Region for a night rather than returning to Bergen. The train ride from Bergen to Oslo is nice. If you catch a train from Voss or Myrdal you still will have 5 hours of train time to enjoy to Oslo and you will get to spend the evening in the Fjords.

4. The "Norway In A Nutshell" route does not go on the Sognefjord. The Aurlandsfjord and Naeroyfjord (I probably butchered the spelling) are the two fjords you would be going on. I personally found both these fjords to be more enjoyable then the Sognefjord and more reflective of what I was expecting the fjord experience to be like.

The route from Bergen would be (You can reverse from Oslo):

1. Train from Bergen to Voss.
2. Bus Voss to Gudvangen
3. Ferry on the Naeroyfjord/Aurlandsfjord (the 90 minutes you spoke of) to Flam
4. Flamsbana Train back up to Myrdal (This is the train ride to catch in my opinion)
5. Train Myrdal to Oslo

If you only have three days, I'd save them for Bergen, a fjord and Oslo. Take the night train between Oslo and Bergen, get a sleeper and sleep on the train. Off hand, I don't remember which way is better for the start/end times. In Oslo the museums you listed are not a full day, but you could also see the WWII resistance museum at Akershus, skip Vigeland Park it's out of the way. In Bergen take the tour bus that goes to Old Bergen, and Grieg's home. The information center is right near the fish market. Hanseatic museum and a few other things on the Bryggen. The fjord I like best is Geiranger but that would mean taking the night Hurtigruten (Norwegian Coastal Voyage) up to Ålesund the Northern leg in the summer goes up the Geiranger fjord and returns to Ålesund. Fly out of Ålesund. I've done bits of this at differant trips so check the logistics and timing. This way you can sleep while you're moving.

Hello George. I travelled in Norway, in May of 2007.
( I like Norway, very much). If you can be in Norway for a total of 3 days, after the day you fly to Bergen from Copenhagen, I think the trip that you described is good. There is no need to do anything different from what you described. The boat ride from Bergen to the Sognefjord, and return to Bergen that day : Riding on the boat to Aurland or Flam is possible. But I think riding on the boat from Bergen to Balestrand, and return to Bergen, is sufficient. If you do that, you might be able to stay at Balestrand long enough to enjoy it. I went on the Norway-in-a-nutshell trip, it has a variety of scenery. But if you want to ride in a boat on the Ocean north to Sognefjord and to Balestrand, that is fine, there is nothing inferior about that. Many Norwegian people think Balestrand is the ultimate vacation destination in Norway. And the last Kaiser of Germany went to Balestrand for his summer vacation trips : he travelled in his boat to Balestrand, all the way from Germany ! If you want to read more about Norway, I think the best travel guide book on Norway is "The ROUGH GUIDE TO NORWAY" written and researched by Phil Lee. When you leave Oslo, a late afternoon flight to Stockholm sounds like a good plan.

Having driven from Oslo to the fjords I can recommend flying into Oslo and taking a car and driving to Bergen; you can then drive north along the fjords to stop where you wish. That part of Norway is well worth several days.

Then if you want to take the Norway Nutshell train ride and cruise I would do it the next day.

I would not plan on spending any time in Oslo because I found nothing of interest there.

Thank you very much to all of you who posted replies, sorry for taking so long to answer, was away for a few days. But this was very good, at least I heard back from people who were there and saw all these things. Much appreciated,

George