Looking for advice on planning the segment of our Scandinavia trip that involves Oslo-Balestrand-Bergen, August 15-19. Hotels in Bergen are either not available or well over $200. Should we use our railpass to travel Oslo to Balestrand, stay three nights in Balestrand with day trips to the Fjaerland/Jostedal Glacier and the full Norway in a Nutshell tour and skip Bergen? Or should we take the express boat from Balestrand to Bergen, stay one night and take the long, beautiful train ride from Bergen back to Oslo? Are we really missing too much by skipping Bergen and the full train trip? Will the extra day in the Sognefjord and the return rail trip from Voss to Oslo be an equal trade? We appreciate your experience and comments!
Posted by
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
2776 posts
I'm with Steve. I wouldn't worry about the train ride, but don't skip Bergen, even if you have to pay more than you want for a hotel. It is one of my favorite places; I liked it much better than Oslo. It's very scenic and a very pleasant place to walk around.
Posted by
OP
White Bear Lake, MN, USA
2 posts
Carroll,
Thanks so much for your comment. We plan to take the train from Oslo to Myrdal, the private rail from Myrdal to Flam, then the express boat to Balestrand. Our second day would be a day trip from Balestrand into the Fjaerlands-fjord to see the Jostedal Glacier and museum. Our main question now is the next day. We were planning to take the express boat from Balestrand to Bergen which takes us into the sognefjord through Vik. The piece we miss with this plan is the segment of the Norway in a Nutshell called the Naeroyfjord to Gudvangen. In your opinion/experience, is this leg a critical piece? We would certainly be seeing other parts of the fjord area over those two days, but not this segment that everyone seems to talk about. I appreciate your time and response!
Posted by
Berthoud, CO, USA
1 posts
You could try to see Naeroyfjord the afternoon that you arrive in Flam on the train. Fjord Safari runs tours from Flam (http://www.flamguide.no, Rick has a paragraph on them in his Scandinavia book). There might also be a ferry you could take, I'm not familiar with the ferry schedule. We took the standard Fjord Safari this June and really enjoyed it. Just make sure that you can still get to Balestrand after the Naeroyfjord tour, or else stay in Flam for that night and then catch the express ferry to Balestrand the next morning. We were staying in Balestrand, and ended up taking the bus after our Naeroyfjord tour since the last express ferry for the day had already departed when we got back. The bus was actually a fun trip in itself (got to see other parts of the fjord), but got us in to Balestrand after 11 PM.
Posted by
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
2776 posts
Carole, I was in Norway about 10 years ago, I believe our trip skipped that fjord also. I thought we got a great look at the fjords, but would have liked to see the narrower one. (Sorry don't have your message in front of me and I can't remember how to spell it.)