PsiFighter37

I was hoping the FT community could help give me some tips on the below prospective itinerary. My wife and I are looking to travel with some friends (total size 6-7 people, inclusive of us) to Norway this summer and experience the outdoors. I wanted to get some thoughts on the below. One of the challenges, I feel, of looking at travel here is that given how the fjords make the coastline very uneven, one has to think about sacrificing regions to see in the name of not being on the road all the time.

I also recognize that I am sacrificing any real time in Bergen below - is it worth spending time in the city itself / more time in the area?

With that, here goes...we are thinking of this for early/mid June.

Fri night/Sat morning: fly from EWR-OSL, arrive in Oslo for the day. Check in, spend time seeing the city
Sunday: Spend the day in town as well, catch a late flight OSL-SOG via Wideroe (are their flights okay? I see their fleet is exclusive Dash 8 turboprops, which I can fly but am not a big fan of). Drive to Solvorn and spend the night
Monday: Either kayak across and visit Urnes Stave Church, or hike Lustrafjorden. Spend night in Solvorn
Tuesday: Drive from Solvorn to Tyssedal. Stop at Flam for lunch and to hike to Brekkefossen waterfall
Wednesday: Trolltunga all day. Spend the night in Tyssedal.
Thursday: Depart early for Bergen. Spend the day in Bergen before flying BGO-SVG in late afternoon / early evening.
Friday and Saturday: One day at Pulpit Rock, the other at Kjeragbolten. I know the latter is a lot further away from a driving perspective, but it does not seem like there is an easier way of visiting.
Sunday: Leave late morning and fly SVG-TOS (on SAS w/a couple stops). Do a midnight sun hike
Monday: Do a glacier hike at Steinsdal Glacier
Tuesday: Fly back: TOS-OSL-EWR

Preliminary thoughts? (in case anyone is curious re: planes, I would be flying UA EWR-OSL, WF OSL-SOG, SK BGO-SVG, SK SVG-TRD-BOO-TOS, and SK TOS-OSL-EWR, with OSL-EWR in J. Everything else in Y)

ksu

WF is OK. I fly OSL-SOG/FDE quite frequently, and reliability and comfort is good. In-flight service is restricted, leg room OK. In good weather spectacular views during the approach to SOG (left side of plane probably best), as SOG is situated on a mountain top (Haukåsen) next to the fjord. The drive down from the airport is quite narrow and in places single lane only: a nice introduction to Norwegian roads.

I like your itinerary, not the most common places to go. Try to schedule enough time in Flåm to include a R/T on the Flåm railway. Just half a day in Bergen is too little by far. Actually, why fly BGO-SVG at all? Within your time frame, I would recommend keeping the same rental car to SVG, and drive directly from Tyssedal to Stavanger

PsiFighter37

The main reason I included BGO-SVG is that I figured we would all be pretty worn out after hiking Trolltunga the day before (which seems to be several hours as a strenuous hike), and a relatively low-key day would be nice. That said, it does seem like a direct drive to Stavanger is not that much longer than Bergen - so one could skip Bergen entirely.

I guess my question is - of all the possible locations that I am looking at, which is the one that is worth skipping (in favor of visiting again sometime down the road)?

FlightCancelled

FYI, the SK flight to Tromsø only has a techincal stop in Bodø on TRD-TOS, same plane and you stay on it.

Personally I would maybe consider adding some more time in Tromsø when you actually take time to fly all the way up here, but I see that your schedule is already quite full...

I also think half a day in Bergen might be a bit short, though it depends on what you want to do. Half a day only gives you time for a quick walk around the city centre and maybe taking the cablecar up fløibanen or the cablecar up Ulriken.

Other than that, looks like a good itinerary. Nice to see someone doing some more exploring outside the "normal" tourist attractions.

PsiFighter37

Appreciate the generally positive feedback With regards to the original itinerary I posted above, I guess my 2 questions are:

1) should I really aim to book more time in / around Bergen?
2) is there something far-flung / a little more remote that is definitively worth visiting as a first-time visitor to Norway?

For color, I would make the recommendations assuming that I won't be coming back to Norway probably anytime in the foreseeable future (except for the Northern Lights), but that I do plan on returning at some point.

CALlegacy

Well, once as far as Tromso, there is all of Lofoten Islands, but that is a whole extra journey. I don't know if Nordkapp appeals, another significant journey as well.

PsiFighter37

We ended up booking pretty much the itinerary I had set forth, but with a late BGO-SVG flight so we can eat dinner and spend a full day in/around Bergen. Hope it turns out well! ^^

PsiFighter37

A quick question for folks who may know better: on the TRD-BOO-TOS flight on SAS, does right or left side offer better views? We are on the left side currently, but I think we may be flying on the coast (and therefore only see the ocean) - so right may be better.

Thoughts?

ksu

Definitely stick to the left hand side. True, you will be flying along the coast, but even so slightly inland. And if the weather's good you might get a great view of Lofoten between BOO and TOS. I always try to sit on the ocean side of the plane in Northern Norway.

PsiFighter37

Ugh - missed this response and already checked in. Maybe will see if I can switch to the left side of the bird at my layover in TRD. That said, it's cloudy and rainy in Tromso today, so may be for naught...

ksu

You can change seats at any time internet check in is open

PsiFighter37

Missed it - but it was quite cloudy flying up here, so ended up taking a nap anyways.