I am planning a trip to Norway! When a sale fare to Norway is less than $500 a person, you jump on it, even if it means an almost 9 hour layover in London on the way (and an hour layover in London on the way home which just might not be long enough but layover timelines is for another blog). In all my trips to Europe, I have never spent time in Scandinavia, mostly because it has the reputation of being terribly expensive. In the Cheap House International newsletter I get each week though, I keep seeing these beautiful properties scattered throughout Norway, Sweden, and Finland with stunning views. My husband Jim has also been craving a winter European experience where he can snowshoe and possibly even see the Northern Lights. Thus, this January we are headed to Norway for a week!
Everyone is going to have the things that excite them and stress them out before planning a trip. My major concerns/priorities with going to Norway in January with a tight timeline are: budget, what to focus on in such a large country with such a short time, and how to maximize traveling in January to one of the coldest parts of Europe. This fall, while watching college football, I scoured the internet for ideas and tips and to get a better feel for Norway and all it has to offer. Here’s what I learned:
- Cruising is a great way to see the dramatic coastline and to explore the many Fjords. In the winter though there is only one cruise line, Hurtigruten, which interestingly is also a ferry that allows locals to jump on and off. With our short time line, there were only a few options. After literally hours of researching which route might be best for us, when I went to book it I discovered that food was not included! Y’all, I had actually googled and had read that it was included which was one of the reasons I worked so hard to try to find one that would work. The cruises aren’t cheap but if food was included they were a really good value to see a lot in a short time. Dinner was going to be $300 for two of us for only two dinners! If we had more time in the country, this might still have been a decent option but wasn’t worth the stress all the transportation to and from the cruise departure points would bring. In the summer, more mainline cruises do go to Norway and I will certainly look into that option for a future trip.
- There is something called “Norway in a Nutshell” which is a train and ferry tour across southern Norway giving a snapshot of the incredible beauty and terrain. You can pay a flat (expensive) fee and get transportation from Oslo (the capital and where most people will fly into) to Bergen (2nd largest city and also a Unesco world heritage site). On the way, you take a scenic ride on a steam train to Flam, and then a ferry through Naeroyfjord, which is also a Unesco world heritage site, and then on to Bergen by bus and train. Multiple sites said this was the way to get a true taste of Norway in a short time. It’s typically scheduled for a whole day, but with only 6 to 8 hours of daylight we would most likely do the ferry ride in darkness. So, my plan is to break the trip into two parts with a night in Flam, a tiny village of 350 people. That way we can see both the train views and the ferry views. I am also going to avoid the expensive booking fees and book each leg of the trip myself. From what I have read, things run on time plus I always use my Barclay card which has trip insurance to cover things like trip interruptions.
- Tromso is a popular destination north of the arctic circle and a really good place to see the Northern Lights. In January it is dark almost all day long which does give you a better chance of seeing the Northern Lights (which by the way are always there – you just need dark, cloudless conditions to see them). There are inexpensive flights between Oslo and Tromso (around $50 a person) and I was considering including that in our 6 non travel days in Norway. However, the more I read, I realized that there would be a very good chance that we would not see the Northern Lights if we were only there for a day or two. If we had two weeks in Norway, I would absolutely have a chunk of the trip North of the arctic circle but with only 6 days and a grueling day and night of travel leading up to those 6 days, the thought of setting an alarm to get up multiple times in the night in the freezing cold to try to possibly see the Northern lights did not seem worth it. I regretted that in the 24 hours after I booked the flight (where you can cancel even with a basic economy ticket and therefore reschedule a different itinerary) I had no time to do any research. Best practice is to do some basic research as soon as you book the trip so you can tweak your timeline while hopefully still getting the sale fare.
- Even though by all accounts Norway is super expensive, Airbnb’s are not. They aren’t as cheap as Peru of course but they are significantly less than anywhere in the United States. We had a surprising number of affordable options that I explore in Airbnb Hunters – Oslo Edition. I am looking for Airbnb’s that have kitchens with the hope that we will cook at least one if not two of our meals each day if the restaurant costs are as high as what I am reading.
Our current plan just a few days after booking the trip four months before we leave:
So, here’s our current plan just a few days after booking the trip four months before we leave:
- Overnight flight out of Atlanta to Heathrow, England with a 9 hour layover which we are going to take advantage of and do a short trip to Windsor Castle which is only 20 minutes from Heathrow.
- Arrive late the day after leaving Atlanta in Oslo. Spend 3 nights in Oslo which gives us 2 days to explore the city, sleep in and adjust from jet lag.
- Our 3rd full day, leave in the morning for Flam via the Flam railway and spend the night in Flam.
- 4th day see the Fjord via ferry and head to Bergen.
- Spend 3 nights and two full days exploring Bergen (where Jim will get to do his snowshoeing).
- Our flight out of Oslo, Norway leaves at 11:30 so we are gambling slightly by flying out early from Bergen on our departure day to Oslo airport and then on to London for our tiny layover and home in Atlanta that night!
After writing that out, I have no idea how I thought we could fit Tromso in. Our alternative trip would have been days in Oslo, flight to Tromso to explore and then back to Oslo. If seeing the Northern lights had been our priority then that’s the route we would have taken. It’s important to get feedback from your travel companions to see what is most important to them (for Jim seeing fjords, snowshoeing, and seeing Northern lights) but also take into account what is most important for you to do (for me, seeing scenery (hard to do in Tromso’s nearly 100% darkness), experiencing cool towns, taking a train on a scenic route). Jim always likes train travel (our luxury train trip in Peru was one of the highlights of our trip) and I always like to be comfortable. You will never get to do every single thing that every single person wants to do on a trip. Let go of that expectation. If you are the planner of the trip, it is essential that you balance what other people want with what you want.
The next steps for planning our trip:
- Book our airbnbs. Check out How Do I Choose an Airbnb. This should be done as soon as you have time after you have booked your plane ticket.
- Book our travel in the country. You should ideally at least look at the options in the first week of booking your trip. I didn’t and so the cheaper train tickets had already sold when I finally looked at this 6 weeks out from the trip.
- Look into booking the city passes for Oslo HERE and Bergen HERE that I have seen mentioned several places. You actually can do this just a week or two before your trip and sometimes after you arrive to your destination.
- Look into snowshoeing trip. You should start narrowing down larger experiences like a cooking class or food tour soon after booking. It will let you know what is available and give you the most options. However, if you don’t have time it’s ok to leave this to soon before you leave just know that they may not be available any more.
I don’t plan out each day until we are actually on the trip. Weather matters, how you are feeling matters, and you can’t know those things until you are there. The exception is for any places or experiences you have to ticket in advance in order to do them.
I probably spent 4 or 5 hours doing research and planning. It would have been a few hours less if I hadn’t gone down the cruise rabbit hole. I would love to know how you plan trips and if learning about my process for planning a trip is helpful. Comment below on your thoughts and questions on planning trips or if you have anything specific to add about traveling to Norway.
