10 days in Norway - Open to suggestions

[gangzoom]

Hopefully with COVID been 'managed' we'll be in Oslo mid July with about 10 days to spend in Norway. We'll be driving up from Holland, hopefully get to Oslo within 2-3 days.

Will be traveling with the family - 6 people in the car with my 6 year old daughter so there is a limit to traveling time each day without everyone going nuts. Apart from the Atlantic Ocean Road and starting in Oslo everything nothing else is formalized yet. Interestingly AirB&B rates in Norway look really cheap £200/night gets you some amazing look place versus £100/night+ in a Travel lodge here in the UK.

Brief looks on Google suggest there are loads of Fjords to see, but am sure plenty on here have done the Atlantic Ocean Road, so am keen to see what other bits of Norway people suggest rather than just go with the first few that comes out in a Google search.

Edited by gangzoom on Monday 21st February 12:33

[Xenobian]

Norway is a country I like a lot. With 10 days to spend in Norway, I would focus on the south of the country. The north is beautiful, but it will take so much time.

Lots to see and do in Oslo, all depending on interests of course. Museum wise, I liked the Fram Museum (Polar expedition ship museum), Kon Tiki Museum, Viking Ship Museum. The Engebret Cafe is great (oldest in Oslo), and so is the Royal Palace. If you like art, the famous Edvard Munch painting, "The Scream", is at The National Museum. There is also the Munch Museum.

A few thoughts outside of Oslo: Bergen (if you like seafood then this is the place to get it: check out "Fish Me" and "Bryggen Tracteursted" - the oldest restaurant in Bergen and also the Bar Amundsen at the Grand Terminus Hotel, Amundsen had his whisky there before setting out on Arctic expeditions), Flam (the railway), Geilo, Voss (lots of great things going on here), Aurlandsfjord, Nærøyfjord (stunning and extremely narrow fjord, very famous with good reason), Stavanger, boat trip on the Lysefjord, hike up the Florli stairs (quite tough, so not for everyone) and the Pulpit Rock hike. The wooden stave churches of Norway are fascinating, and plenty of them around in the south (https://www.visitnorway.com/typically-norwegian/stave-churches/)

Take a look on www.atlasobscura.com and search by location for some less than usual attractions.

[Hackney]

It looks like you’re heading towards Alesund?
If so it’s a beautiful town, make some time to spend there. That’s not too far away from both ørnevegen into Geiranger and the Trollstigen.

https://www.trollstigen.no/

[gangzoom]

Thanks for the comments.

Sounds like a good idea to not plan too much. Have checked, have 10 nights in Norway could stretch it to 12 nights but that would make the drive back home too rushed, especially with kid in the car.

I think the Atlantic Road is a must do, so might just drive up there from Oslo taking our time to spend a day or to at the various Fjords along the way......My daughter asked me what Fjords were and when I showed her the pictures her response was 'Not more mountains' - we did the highlands last summer.

Sounds like plenty of good food options around, biggest compliant from my wife of Switzerland/Germany trip we did years ago was the lack of nice food, sausages + potato gets boring quite quickly!

Any more suggestions more than welcome.

[gangzoom]

Booked the Oslo ferry today, so the route is set.

First leg is to get across into Oslo within 2 days....



...than its 10 days or so driving across Norway to reach the Atlantic highway. Will spend a few nights in Amsterdam or Copenhagen before crossing the channel. Cannot wait .

[lufbramatt]

The Norwegian armed forces aircraft collection at Gaardermoen is brilliant if you have any interest in aircraft. Some really unusual stuff in there and really nicely presented.

Edited by lufbramatt on Monday 14th March 19:00

[gangzoom]

lufbramatt said:

The Norwegian armed forces aircraft collection at Gaardermoen is brilliant if you have any interest in aircraft. Some really unusual stuff in there and really nicely presented.

Edited by lufbramatt on Monday 14th March 19:00

Thanks I'll point my inlaws in that direction, on the way back to the UK we are dropping at the airport and they have about 3 hrs to kill before their flight.

[gangzoom]

Route now 90% planned, if Google images/pictures are real this might turn into the best road trip we've done ever - maybe even better than the drive across Swiss Alps, cannot wait

[Da Original Whyayedee]

How did you find the trip? I have always wanted to visit some of rural Norway, my friend lives in Hafjell just outside Lillehammer, so get to there and loop around.

[gangzoom]

Got back last week.

2800 miles, a dozen ferries, Atlantic Highway most northerly point, and I cannot wait for next summer to go do the Swiss Alps/Italian lakes to compare/remind my self of which is route is better .

Day 1: Harwich to Hook of Holland -> Denmark. 386 miles, mainly M-ways, ended up just within Denmark.

Day 2: Drive to Copenhagen for a 3pm Ferry to Osol - 201 miles. Potential interesting sights on the way, but we were rushing because we had a cabin upgrade with a view + lots of ‘free’ beer/wine.





Day 3: Oslo to Dombas, 200 miles. Could have stayed longer in Oslo but wanted to get near the Fjords. Did stop at Lillehammer



Day 4: Dombas to Kristiansund, 100 miles. This what we came for, even in the rain and clouds you could tell Norway is NOT the UK.





Did the Atlantic highway 3 times, amazing road at 5am with zero traffic, tourist trap at midday



Day 5-10: Essentially spend around Trollstigen and the surrounding fjords in a lovely AirB&B, anywhere we drove was amazing with stuff to do.



I went up and down Trollstigen 5-6 times in all kind of conditions, 6am in the rain and not seeing another car for about 1hr, in the middle of the day passing cyclists/caravans, ascending to the top when it was cloud covered was probably the most memorable.








Geiranger fjord and the surrounding areas was amazing, lovely roads, ferries, dramatic landscapes :











Day 11: Leaving the Fjords to Oslo stopping about 1hr away from the port. 200 miles of still lovely mountains before the flat lands of Oslo appeared.



Day 12: Overnight ferry from Oslo to Cophengagen than driving to Bremen. 163 miles.

Day 13: Bremen to Amastedam outskirts, 215 miles, rest day from all the walking in Norway.

Day 14-15: Spent in Amsterdam with no driving before getting the Ferry back to the UK from Hook of Holland. Amsterdam tried hard to compete with Norway, and our ferry back lovely, but Norway still wins overall.





Overall an amazing trip - pretty close to being the best holiday ever for us, all the accommodation we booked was via AirB&B.

I know in world that is clearly starting to show signs of man made activities, the luxury of personal transportation/freedom a car really needs to be seen as just that, a luxury. But it's hard to think what other forms of transport can give so much freedom of movement and enjoyment as the car.

We had 6 people + in luggage in the car for the entire Norway leg, I will openly confess I have lost the ‘love’ of driving in the UK, especially mundane day to day city commuting stuff, but on an European road trip, this is why we all love our cars on here…..A/L is already booked for Swiss Alps + Italien lakes for August 2023 .

[gangzoom]

Da Original Whyayedee said:

How did you find the trip? I have always wanted to visit some of rural Norway, my friend lives in Hafjell just outside Lillehammer, so get to there and loop around.

Lillehammer/Oslo is OK - boring compared to the rest of Norway.

We based ourselves in Åndalsnes and than did day trips out. For next time I want to do Bergen, and than there is a Northen lights cruises that take you up past Trondheim. I recon we could spend the next 5 summer holidays in Norway and not get bored. Doing it in your own car though brings a extra bit of memories .

We'll see how the Swiss alps compare, been before and I don't remember them to be as dramatic as what we saw in Norway but time fades memories. Have to wait 12 months to find out, not really something to complain about .

[NRS]

The bit past Trondheim is quite ‘same-y’ for a lot of the way until you get to Saltfjellet, which is super cool in winter but can be closed in bad weather. There is also the option for the coastal road where you do island hopping instead, but I’ve not done it as I’ve always needed to get somewhere. Once you get closer to Narvik it gets great again, and Lofoten is generally considered the most pretty part of Norway by Norwegians. Senja/Lyngen/Tromsø in the north is also lovely. Once passing there it gets pretty desolate and remote - most of Norway has houses and cabins everywhere so you never feel that remote overall.