Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Heading to Norway...any advice?

I'm headed to Norway later this month for a week of vacation.
Any recommendations on things to see or places to drive? Any TalkMorgans folks out there?!

Seems like most Americans see Norway from a cruise liner, so finding good advice from someone that's "done the trip" is quite hard.

Other than flying in/out of Oslo I have a very open schedule. I've programmed in a lot of time to see the countryside and enjoy the scenery. I would appreciate any help!

Thanks-- Mateo

I recommend taking the train to Halden, 2 hours. The town is beautiful, go and see the fortress above the city.

I suggest exploring Google maps and take some virtual drives before you go. You would be getting a good idea of the landscapes open to you and be better able to select some that particularly attract you.
I have motored up as far as the Lofoten Islands but that takes a period of several weeks by car/caravan. Using the Newcastle-Bergen ferry route since closed, then a couple of times driving the long way via Dover/Calais. I have not yet had opportunity to do the trip in the Morgan but its on the wish list.

Here is two good web-sites for a start.

If you drive around, head west and include som of the National tourist roads:

http://www.nasjonaleturistveger.no/en

For traditional hotels look for "the historic hotels"

http://www.dehistoriske.com/#_ga=1.8137264.384940844.1463245275

There are 2 great suggestions from native Norwegians and I would strongly recommend that you do more research based on their postings.

A couple of tips from me, based on my experience as a Brit in Norway.

1 Don't try to cover too much ground in one day. The roads are great for driving, but have low speed limits, and the spectacular scenery merits many stops (if only to take photos) so overall progress will be much slower than US.

2 As a result of the above I would draw up your itinerary based on your starting point. If you are starting in Oslo then don't try aiming for anything north of Trondheim.

3 The train journey from Oslo to Bergen is a certainly great way to see the country, and Bergen is a great port city to explore. From here my favourite car journey is to go across country to Voss, over to the Sognefjord, then take the E55 over the summit and down to Otta and the Sjoa valley. You can then drive north over Dovrefjell to Opdal and Trondheim. This is another city which is well worth exploring. If you are tired of driving you can take the train back to Oslo, or if not make your way back either via the Atlantic road to Molde and down through the Fjord country or the much quieter Osterdalen route.

4 Lastly Norway is not a cheap country (but don't let that put you off , it is well worth it) , it has the highest priced fuel in Europe, and alcohol is really eye-wateringly expensive, so take as much duty-free as you are allowed if you enjoy a tipple in the evenings after the driving is done.
PS Don't ever think of driving after consuming one drink, the drink driving limit is very low and enforced rigidly.

I spent a fair amount of time in Oslo (for work) and in the past in Stavenger and other smaller ports.

Don't drink, enjoy salmon and you'll be fine! It's a beautiful country.

Thanks to all, especially the locals!

Any advise on car rentals? I'm not too worried about the price of the rental or the cost of petrol--since I've a lot of driving to do I'd like to have something "fun". Any ideas?

From what I've heard "something fun" might not be wise. They are not casual about speed limits, which are low anyway, so its not a country to go for spirited driving.

Cars are expensive in Norway. In addition to the car we have to pay tax. The car tax increase with the CO2 emission and the weight of the car. That’s way all fun cars are twice as expensive in Norway then the rest of Europe and if you look at the web sites to Avis and Hertz you will only find regular cars, with one exception – the Tesla.

Electric cars have no tax or vat what so ever. To rent a Tesla mod S is about the same price as a Volvo or a Ford. If you are lucky you might find a Tesla S 90D with four-wheel drive and 0-100 km/h in 3 or 4 seconds.

Due to the no – tax for electric cars we have a lot of them. In 2015 Tesla sold 4000 cars in Norway (with 5 mrd people). (In US the sale was 25.000 with 321 mill people). The numbers of electric cars also means we have a lot of powerstations for charging the cars. If you get in contact with Avis or Hertz they properly can give you information about where to charge the car. I guess also most small hotels can help to charge the car overnight for a small fee.

As I mention earlier, go west the first day, over Hardangervidda towards Bergen, when you got a week. I would recommend to stay in the area from Bergen and north to Geiranger/Trollstigen and the Atlantic road (see the map of tourist roads in my earlier post). In end of May, beginning of June there will easy to find a hotel. Take one day at a time and book hotel for just one day in advance.

Some years ago I drove from oslo across to Bergen and it was a great trip by road - wild country and spectacular. Siome of the roads alongside fjords are breathtaking - but safe.

Last year I flew into Bergen and took the Hurtigruten boat (good website in English) up to Alesund overnight which stopped at several places including the spectacular Geiranger Fjord which you should not miss. The boat was very high quality with good cabins but overnight was enough for me although some people stayed on it right up to the arctic circle which I would have found far too long and claustrophobic. We then ired a car in Alesund which we had pre-booked and took several days driving back down to Bergen staying in nice hotels which you can find easily on booking websites. The roads are all good so just decide how far you want to drive in a day etc.

It is beautiful and we enjoyed our trip but a few comments might be helpful:

Yes, Norway is expensive but you can live fairly cheaply if you eat the tourist menus and just have one beer or so in the evening. No hardship really.

Everyone says how nice Bergen is but we found it to be quite pleassant but dominated by cruise ships and was not our favourite place at all. If you are going out there in the evening I would book a restaurant if you want to avoid the tourist traps of fish restaurants by the harbour. There are good places to find on Trip Advisor which are far more pleasant and "authentic" but they do get booked up.

We never book Dinner/Half Board when staying in hotels but in many places there are few options to eat out and you may in any case find it cost effective in Norway. So perhaps consider half board options which seem comparatively good value.

As has been said, do not drink anything at all if driving. We were stopped at random controls which I think is a great idea but there is absolutely zero tolerance.

One thing that took us by surprise was the difficulty in buying good road maps to show interesting "back routes". We had a reasonable map but assumed we could buy decent loal maps at petrol stations or in bookshops etc in towns. In the end it became quite amusing that we simply could not buy good quality road maps anywhere north of Bergen so get these in advance. No idea why this was the case especially when in most countries service stations have an abundance.

The driving experience is very, very safe with absolutely no issues at all but I would keep my fuel tank at least half full at all times when going into more remote areas.

We enjoyed it and would love to go back in the Mog one day. It is a wild and spectacular country with friendly people and great infrastructure and if this is your type of thing you will love it.