I'm stuck trying to figure out our 2 week route now that we know we are flying AA on FF miles. They do not fly in/out of Bergen so I came up with this new route but it involves backtracking to Norway. Here is the route: USA to Helsinki/Helsinski Boat to Stockholm/Stockholm Fly to Bergen/Bergen Norway in Nutshell Fly to Copenhagen/Copenhagen Boat to Oslo/Oslo Oslo to back to USA AA will fly to any of the places I mentioned except Bergen, or at least that is what I was told. I have not decided how to arrange the days per city yet yet but we want to avoid the long train travel this trip. Any comments or suggestions?
Thanks,
Posted by
Florida, USA
12172 posts
Is there a reason for going to Norway, back to Copenhagen, then back to Norway? It seems more logical to go Stockholm to Copenhagen, then Bergen or Oslo and do Norway from there.
Posted by
Oak Park, Illinois
4535 posts
Exactly - why not fly from Stockholm to Copenhagen and then fly or ferry to Norway?
Posted by
OP
Newport Beach, CA, USA
54 posts
We are trying to avoid the long train trip from Stockholm to Copenhagen and Oslo to Norway in Nutshell. We also thought it would be fun to do 2 overnight ferry trips (Helsinki-Stockholm, Copenhagen-Oslo). If we book early enough we think the local flights will be reasonably priced so wanted to take advantage of that. Original plan was to fly open jaws into Helsinki and out of Bergen but AA does not fly to/from Bergen. Also thought going Bergen to NIN was more relaxing, less of a zoo from what I read. I suppose that once in NIN, we can proceed on to Oslo then take an overnight ferry to Copenhagen. It is still a long train ride but maybe going to Oslo from NIN is less hectic. Anyone do this trip that way - Bergen to NIN to Oslo?
Thanks.
Posted by
Oak Park, Illinois
4535 posts
You can avoid the long train ride from Stockholm to Copenhagen by flying. You should be able to find pretty low cost airfares and it will save you time.
Posted by
Chicago
2876 posts
Here's how I'd do it: USA to Helsinki/Helsinki Boat to Stockholm/Stockholm Fly to Oslo/Oslo (Norwegian Air is a good discounter) Train to Bergen/Bergen Norway in a Nutshell from Bergen
Fly to Copenhagen/Copenhagen Copenhagen back to USA
Posted by
OP
Newport Beach, CA, USA
54 posts
Thanks guys. Tom, looking over your suggested route, would you say that taking the train from Oslo to Bergen and then taking the NIN from Bergen not too much back tracking? Do you know how much of the route from Oslo to Bergen is retraced? If it makes the trip more efficient then I suppose it would be worth it.
Posted by
Chicago
2876 posts
@ Teri - there's no backtracking at all if you take the Oslo-Bergen train and then the NIN from Bergen. What you'll see on the NIN is totally different from what you'll see from the train.
Posted by
OP
Newport Beach, CA, USA
54 posts
Tom, I see your wisdom in this route. Just have to think over if we want to take the ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo or if the one ferry from Helsinki will be enough for this trip.
If we do the train from Oslo to Bergen (bypassing Norway in Nutshell) do you think we can get train tickets once we get to Oslo? Normally I don't buy train tickets in advance but if this is the exact train that takes NIN visitors to their next leg it might be ultra booked up. Do you know?
Posted by
Chicago
2876 posts
Currently there are 4 trains a day from Oslo to Bergen. The Norway railroad site is http://www.nsb.no/ You can book your tickets in advance on that website if you'd like. We booked in advance because there were 4 of us and we specifically wanted the earliest train, but the train did have plenty of empty seats. (We went in the month of June.) We generally like booking in advance in order to avoid surprises.