If you do not want to read through the entire post, you can read a summary in the Tips section.
Itinerary
Day 0: Land at Alesund Vigra airport at 4:30 pm. Drove to hostel at Bjorke
Day 1: Geirangerfjord cruise and Trollstigen (Other options: Fjord cruise between Flam and Gudvangen)
Day 2: Dalsnibba and Gamle strynefjellsvegen (Other options: Route 55 - Sognefjellet)
Day 3: Loen skylift and Briskdal glacier (Other options: Kjenndal glacier)
Day 4: Runde bird island and Scenic Route 655
Day 5: Viddal village and drive back to airport
Preface
There are two aspects of Norway that will make your head hit the ceiling, your jaw drop to the floor, your teeth cut your tongue in two, and your eyes pop out of their sockets:
- The landscape (in a good way)
- The prices (not so good way)
Norway is synonymous with dramatic landscapes. Even so, Norway is a huge country and offers various types of nature tourism destinations. It can be broadly split into the Arctic region in the North, the Fjord regions in the West and the more populated South.
Planning
Our original idea was to start our trip with the midnight sun at Tromso North of the Arctic Circle, then proceed southwards to the Fjords before ending the trip at Oslo. However this turned out to be prohibitively expensive. Instead we settled for a 5 day trip of the Fjord region alone.
Stay
We stayed the entire 5 days at a single hostel deep in the middle of nowhere, almost at the end of a country road. However, you could consider doing it differently such that you stay each night at a different location. That way you can cover more.
While hotels are about twice as expensive as elsewhere in Western Europe, campsites are pretty cheap. If you can, you should consider renting a motor home and then staying in camps.
Flying in and around
Norway has dozens of airports and a handful of them cater to international flights, at least from elsewhere in Europe. Unless you plan to arrive in the South (where you might get train connections), it is best to fly in. Make sure to book well in advance, otherwise prepare to shell out a lot for the flight tickets.
Even traveling within the country is easier by flight. Remember Norway is a huge country. For example, Oslo to Tromso is over 1800 kms by road, and there is no railway up north. If you want to cover more than one region, it would be wise to consider Wilderoe's Explore Norway summer ticket, which gives you up to 2 weeks of unlimited flights in the country.
We flew into and out of Alesund Vigra airport. Other gateways for the Fjord region are Bergen airport and Trondheim airport.
Getting around
The best way to explore Norway is by car. Rental prices are a little higher than elsewhere in Western Europe, so is fuel. It is still cheaper to drive if you are 2 or more people. This is because public transport is not really set up to cater to tourists.
Tips
General
- If you can, rent a motor home and stay in camps. It is the cheapest.
- In any case, renting a car is the best way to explore Norway.
- Use Wilderoe Explore Norway summer ticket if you plan to cover more than one small region.
- Buy food at supermarkets. It is much cheaper than eating at restaurants or buying at a convenience store. During out entire trip we did not have a single meal at a restaurant.
Driving
The internet is full of articles about driving tips for Norway. I'll summarize some of it here
- Headlights always on - 24 hours a day throughout the year, in dipped mode
- Extremely strict about speed limits (including license cancellation and even jail term)
- Rental cars have their speedometers calibrated to show 10% below the actual speed. So you might be driving slower than the speed limit. If you see someone following you for a few minutes, pull aside and let them pass.
- No motorways outside the Oslo region. Most roads have a speed limit of 80km/h.
- This makes driving in Norway a pleasure - people stick to the speed limits, everybody follows the rules. On the narrow roads drivers are very polite and cooperative, allowing oncoming vehicles to pass wherever possible.
- Places look much closer on the map than they actually are. Always allow more time to get from point A to point B. I cannot stress this point enough.
Tunnels
No matter where you go, you cannot escape the tunnels. Almost 10% of our 1000 kms was tunnels. I did not particularly enjoy driving in the tunnels. And some tunnels were long (the longest we encountered was 7.8 kms)
- For one, I would subconsciously reduce speed in the tunnels thereby holding back a line of cars behind me.
- Secondly, I would have my sunglasses on to prevent the glare when I exit the tunnel, but this did not help my vision inside the tunnels.
- Third, it is often the case that you need to make your next turn immediately after the exit of a tunnel. However, in the longer tunnels you lose GPS signal, so sometimes you hear the GPS instruction too late.
- Finally many of the under-sea tunnels are very steep. The 7.8 km one was almost 5 km downhill one way followed by a steep 3 km uphill. Not very convenient if you have an automatic transmission car.
Ferries
Almost any route in the fjord region involves ferries.
- The ferries are rather large and comfortable to maneuver your car onto.
- Queuing up for the ferries was confusing for us. There are several lanes at the ferry terminals, and it turns out you queue up column-wise (not row-wise). When one lane is full, then you queue up at the next lane. This means that being in the front row does not necessarily mean you will get onto the ferry first.
- The ferry ticket normally includes the car and driver. You only need to pay extra for co passengers.
- You can pay by card on most ferries.
If you are not interested in the all the in-depth details, you can stop reading here. If you want to see the maps, photos and other information on the places we visited, read on.
Day 0: Alesund Vigra airport to hostel at Bjorke
If you do not see the embedded map above, click here to see the route in Google Maps.
Most of the way is E39 to Bergen and is a scenic drive. The last leg is Fv41 which is a mostly single lane rural road heading out to nowhere. The hostel is along the Hjorundfjord and the scenery is impossible to describe. This was the view almost at 10 pm.
If you do not see the embedded map above, click here to open in Google Maps.
Geirangerfjord is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and it is easy to see why. We took the fjord cruise from Hellesylt to Geiranger because Hellesylt is only an hour from Bjorke. The fjord cruise itself is an hour long and there are detailed audio announcements on the cruise.
A popular alternative to Geiranger fjord cruise is the Flam-Gudvangen cruise which is over 2 hours long (it is on the longest fjord in Norway). Unlike Geirangerfjord, this cruise does not accept cars though. So you'll have to park at Flam, then take the cruise, return to Flam by bus to collect your car.
Even during the summer, the Geirangerfjord cruise only runs every 90 minutes. We arrived at the Hellesylt ferry terminal with 15 minutes to spare for the 11 am departure but there was already a large queue. There was also some confusion about what lane to wait in (see "Ferries" section in the "Driving tips" above). All this led us to miss the 11:00 cruise and had to wait at Hellesylt until 12:30. Thankfully the ferry terminal has beautiful views onto the fjord so 90 minutes just fly by.
The cruise ends at the village of Geiranger. From here we proceeded to Eagle road which provides an amazing viewpoint over the fjord.
Next we continued on National Touristic Route 63 to Trollstigen which is one of the most famous landmarks of this region. Since the weather was great and it was a weekend we encountered lot of vehicles here (this is what counts as "traffic" in Norway).
While returning to the hostel we took the Liabygda-Stranda ferry and then Fv60.
If you have time, I suggest to stop at Gubrandsjuvet which is about a half hour from Trollstigen.
If you do not see the embedded map above, click here to see it in Google Maps.
Dalsnibba is apparently Europe's highest Fjord viewing platform (whatever that means). It is almost 1500m above sea level. Even when it is warm and sunny down in the valley, it can get cold and windy at the viewpoint. I strongly recommend being prepared for the chill if you plan to visit here.
The views of Geirangerfjord from up here are to kill for. Here is just one example. And oh, see the zig-zag road on the right in this pic? The top most point of that zig-zag road is Eagle point - which we had visited the previous day.
From Dalsnibba, we proceeded to Scenic Route 258 (Gamle strynefjellsvegen). This is a 28 km stretch of now-abandoned road (since Fv15 was constructed with several tunnels). Some stretches are barely paved and it is pretty narrow. The stark scenery reminded me very much of Ladakh in India though.
From Gamle, we proceeded back to our hostel. However, we regretted not also covering Route 55 (we were less than 2 hours from Prestesteinsvatnet on Sognefjellet). If you have time, I highly recommend doing at least part of Sognefjellet. In fact, I'd even go as far as recommending Route 55 instead of 258.
If you cannot see the embedded map, click here to see it in Google Maps.
Loen skylift was the second on the list of most expensive activities on this vacation (after the fjord cruise). It is one of the steepest skylifts. The close up views of the rocky cliff as it nears the top are amazing. Also from the top you have a completely different perspective of the entire Nordfjord region.
The weather at the top was not very good though. Very cloudy and very windy. Not a great combination for photography
Briskdal Glacier is just over a half hour drive from Loen. It is also a very narrow road full of blind curves though. From the parking spot, there are the open "troll cars" that take you up to a spot that is a 10 minute walk from the tip of the Glacier.
You can also walk all the way - it takes about an hour. On the way up you need to cross a small bridge that is almost in the midst of a waterfall. You are sure to be soaked completely wet - make sure you are well prepared for this.
Briksdal is the only place where we paid for parking during the entire trip.
Briksdal is one of the more accessible glacier arms. But it is also very touristy. An alternative is Kjenndalsbreen which is about the same distance from Loen.
If you do not see the embedded map above, click here to open it in Google Maps.
Runde is a bird lover's paradise. The drive itself is very different from the fjord scenery that we had had for the past few days. There are several beautiful (and narrow) bridges. There was also the longest and steepest tunnel of the entire trip (7.8 kms undersea).
From the parking spot, you need to undertake a very steep trek to reach the bird nesting spots. Unfortunately for us, it started raining when we were mid-way through the trek, so we had to turn back without catching sight of a single puffin.
The rain however made the next leg of the day all the more gorgeous: Route 655. Right from the time we boarded the Saebo-Leknes ferry, the rain only added to the ambiance. The route takes you through Oye, which was apparently once a popular tourist destination until a fire in the 80's.
The route also takes you through North Europe's narrowest ravine: Norangsdalen. Then, there's views like this. I don't know how it is legal to drive past this without stopping to take a million photos.
If you do not see the map above, click here to view it in Google Maps.
A short single-lane tunnel drive away from Bjorke is the village of Viddal. It is the absolute dead-end of route Fv41. The place is the very definition of serenity. No tourists, barely any vehicles, barely any people, the Hjorundfjord in all its glory.
We did not want to re-trace E39 on the return drive to the airport, so we chose to drive Fv60 instead. Just after Hellesylt is a 3 km tunnel and after that is a viewpoint over the fjord. This gave us an opportunity to give a proper farewell of sorts to Fjord Norway. There's also a Gondola at Stranda which we would have given a go if we had more time.
Every drive in Norway is a "scenic drive". I have no idea how they choose a handful as scenic routes. Every bend, every curve, every village, every lake, every ferry, every mountain is as jaw droppingly gorgeous as any other.
The English language is inadequate to describe Norway's beauty. Fjord Norway in particular has moved up to second spot on my list of most beautiful nature destinations - next only to Ladakh.
Most of the way is E39 to Bergen and is a scenic drive. The last leg is Fv41 which is a mostly single lane rural road heading out to nowhere. The hostel is along the Hjorundfjord and the scenery is impossible to describe. This was the view almost at 10 pm.
 |
| Hjorundfjord from Bjorke village |
Day 1: Geirangerfjord and Trollstigen
If you do not see the embedded map above, click here to open in Google Maps.
Geirangerfjord is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and it is easy to see why. We took the fjord cruise from Hellesylt to Geiranger because Hellesylt is only an hour from Bjorke. The fjord cruise itself is an hour long and there are detailed audio announcements on the cruise.
A popular alternative to Geiranger fjord cruise is the Flam-Gudvangen cruise which is over 2 hours long (it is on the longest fjord in Norway). Unlike Geirangerfjord, this cruise does not accept cars though. So you'll have to park at Flam, then take the cruise, return to Flam by bus to collect your car.
Even during the summer, the Geirangerfjord cruise only runs every 90 minutes. We arrived at the Hellesylt ferry terminal with 15 minutes to spare for the 11 am departure but there was already a large queue. There was also some confusion about what lane to wait in (see "Ferries" section in the "Driving tips" above). All this led us to miss the 11:00 cruise and had to wait at Hellesylt until 12:30. Thankfully the ferry terminal has beautiful views onto the fjord so 90 minutes just fly by.
The cruise ends at the village of Geiranger. From here we proceeded to Eagle road which provides an amazing viewpoint over the fjord.
Next we continued on National Touristic Route 63 to Trollstigen which is one of the most famous landmarks of this region. Since the weather was great and it was a weekend we encountered lot of vehicles here (this is what counts as "traffic" in Norway).
 | |
| Trollstigen |
If you have time, I suggest to stop at Gubrandsjuvet which is about a half hour from Trollstigen.
Day 2: Dalsnibba and Gamle strynefjellsvegen
If you do not see the embedded map above, click here to see it in Google Maps.
Dalsnibba is apparently Europe's highest Fjord viewing platform (whatever that means). It is almost 1500m above sea level. Even when it is warm and sunny down in the valley, it can get cold and windy at the viewpoint. I strongly recommend being prepared for the chill if you plan to visit here.
The views of Geirangerfjord from up here are to kill for. Here is just one example. And oh, see the zig-zag road on the right in this pic? The top most point of that zig-zag road is Eagle point - which we had visited the previous day.
 |
| View from Dalsnibba viewpoint |
From Dalsnibba, we proceeded to Scenic Route 258 (Gamle strynefjellsvegen). This is a 28 km stretch of now-abandoned road (since Fv15 was constructed with several tunnels). Some stretches are barely paved and it is pretty narrow. The stark scenery reminded me very much of Ladakh in India though.
From Gamle, we proceeded back to our hostel. However, we regretted not also covering Route 55 (we were less than 2 hours from Prestesteinsvatnet on Sognefjellet). If you have time, I highly recommend doing at least part of Sognefjellet. In fact, I'd even go as far as recommending Route 55 instead of 258.
Day 3: Loen skylift and Briskdal glacier
If you cannot see the embedded map, click here to see it in Google Maps.
Loen skylift was the second on the list of most expensive activities on this vacation (after the fjord cruise). It is one of the steepest skylifts. The close up views of the rocky cliff as it nears the top are amazing. Also from the top you have a completely different perspective of the entire Nordfjord region.
The weather at the top was not very good though. Very cloudy and very windy. Not a great combination for photography
Briskdal Glacier is just over a half hour drive from Loen. It is also a very narrow road full of blind curves though. From the parking spot, there are the open "troll cars" that take you up to a spot that is a 10 minute walk from the tip of the Glacier.
You can also walk all the way - it takes about an hour. On the way up you need to cross a small bridge that is almost in the midst of a waterfall. You are sure to be soaked completely wet - make sure you are well prepared for this.
Briksdal is the only place where we paid for parking during the entire trip.
 |
| Briksdal glacier |
Briksdal is one of the more accessible glacier arms. But it is also very touristy. An alternative is Kjenndalsbreen which is about the same distance from Loen.
Day 4: Runde bird island and Scenic route 655
If you do not see the embedded map above, click here to open it in Google Maps.
Runde is a bird lover's paradise. The drive itself is very different from the fjord scenery that we had had for the past few days. There are several beautiful (and narrow) bridges. There was also the longest and steepest tunnel of the entire trip (7.8 kms undersea).
From the parking spot, you need to undertake a very steep trek to reach the bird nesting spots. Unfortunately for us, it started raining when we were mid-way through the trek, so we had to turn back without catching sight of a single puffin.
The rain however made the next leg of the day all the more gorgeous: Route 655. Right from the time we boarded the Saebo-Leknes ferry, the rain only added to the ambiance. The route takes you through Oye, which was apparently once a popular tourist destination until a fire in the 80's.
The route also takes you through North Europe's narrowest ravine: Norangsdalen. Then, there's views like this. I don't know how it is legal to drive past this without stopping to take a million photos.
 | |
| Lake along Fv655 |
Day 5: Viddal village, Back to Alesund airport
If you do not see the map above, click here to view it in Google Maps.
A short single-lane tunnel drive away from Bjorke is the village of Viddal. It is the absolute dead-end of route Fv41. The place is the very definition of serenity. No tourists, barely any vehicles, barely any people, the Hjorundfjord in all its glory.
 |
| View from Viddal |
We did not want to re-trace E39 on the return drive to the airport, so we chose to drive Fv60 instead. Just after Hellesylt is a 3 km tunnel and after that is a viewpoint over the fjord. This gave us an opportunity to give a proper farewell of sorts to Fjord Norway. There's also a Gondola at Stranda which we would have given a go if we had more time.
Conclusion
Every drive in Norway is a "scenic drive". I have no idea how they choose a handful as scenic routes. Every bend, every curve, every village, every lake, every ferry, every mountain is as jaw droppingly gorgeous as any other.
The English language is inadequate to describe Norway's beauty. Fjord Norway in particular has moved up to second spot on my list of most beautiful nature destinations - next only to Ladakh.
