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It’s funny how you can see the world so differently when you travel. During my recent travel to visit Norway, I was reminded of my elementary school science classes– learning about Pangea and the theory of continental drift. Driving through the Norwegian fjords at the heights of their autumnal color, I could see how each of the continents all fit together to form the giant puzzle of Pangea.
It was easy to see how Iceland and Great Britain once fit right up against the coast of Scandinavia. But somewhere back in time, Iceland drifted away– and Norway’s craggy fjords almost feel like the long arms of a sister reaching out for her straying siblings.
Off Season Norway: The Least You Need to Know
1.Do Your Research Beforehand
Visiting Norway is not something you can do on a whim, mostly because it’s too big. If you travel to Europe often, you might be conditioned to having different places within a country fairly close by– or at least a convenient high speed train ride away.
Norway isn’t like those places.
What Norway is, in fact, is a very long and large country. I mean LOOOOOOONG. To give you an idea of the scale, it’s helpful to know that the distance from Norway’s capital, Oslo, to one of its northernmost cities, Tromsø, is 1700+ KM. However, the distance between Oslo and Rome, Italy is about 2000 KM!
Because of Norway’s geography, you must take into consideration how you will get from place to place as efficiently as possible.
Do some reading as soon as you decide to visit Norway as a destination to determine exactly where you want to go. I purchased Rick Steve’s Scandinavia travel guide, as I wanted to also research side trips to Finland, Denmark, etc.
2. DIY Norway vs. ‘Norway in a Nutshell®’
As you begin your research, you will see many advertisements and descriptions for the Norway in a Nutshell® Tour, a packaged tour offered by different tour companies to show you the highlights of the Norwegian fjords in an efficient way. You can leave from several different cities, and all the tours generally include train travels on the Flam and Bergen Railways, and a cruise in one of the fjords. There are opportunities to add accommodation and activities as you like.
What’s great about Norway in a Nutshell® is that all the arrangements are made for you and the Bergen and Flam Railways are considered two of the most beautiful rail journeys in the world! All your connections and travel arrangements are made for you and many many people take advantage of this tour.
My husband and I, however, usually prefer to arrange our own itinerary– I think it’s our DIY spirit and preference for not being on a schedule if we can avoid it. Sometimes we discover a place where we want to spend more (or less) time, and making our own travel arrangements permits us to make changes as we can.
We created our own 3 Day Norwegian Fjord Itinerary:
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- Day 1: Train from Bergen to Myrdahl, then the famous Flåm Railway to the town of Flåm. From there, we took a bus to Sogndal, a larger town where we picked up a rental car at Hertz.
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- Day 2: Explore Sogndal and the Sognefjord (one of Norway’s largest fjords), exploring the towns of Balestrand, and Fjærland.
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- Day 3: Return to Bergen via the Express Ferry from Sogndal (only one per day in the off season)
3. Off Season Norway: Visiting Cities and Fjords
The thing is, visiting larger cities like Oslo and Bergen is relatively easy to visit no matter the time of year. There are fewer crowds, and museum hours may be a bit more limited, but the cities are “open” for all intents and purposes.
The same can’t be said of some of the fjords, including the one we visited– Sognefjord. We based ourselves in the small city of Sogndal for three days. Sogndal is beautiful and has a vibrant community– great places to walk, eat, shop etc. But getting around the fjords in the off season is difficult. The only way to efficiently travel around is with a car- which we rented from Hertz and used it to visit a few of the villages around the fjord.
However (and you knew that there was a however), the small villages I wanted to visit around the Sognefjord were pretty much “closed” by my visit in mid-October. For example, nearly all the bookshops in Fjærland were closed for the season. Balestrand had a little bit more going for it in terms of being “open” but it felt like visiting a ghost town this time of year.
The off-season time we visited was sandwiched between summer high season but right before the snow hit, so ski slopes in Norway were not open. That could change the feel of a town considerably.
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- Bottom Line: If you really want to spend a lot of time in the fjords, consider visiting Norway during the high travel season.
4. Norway is More Expensive than Many Other European Cities
I’m not going to sugarcoat this– and I’ve traveled to many countries in Europe, as well as Japan, Canada, etc. But visiting Norway is expensive- and not just Oslo. At all our stops, prices were consistently high.
Food is much more expensive than what you might be used to in other European countries (included Iceland, where everything has to be imported). Alcohol is very expensive! Even activities related to the daily living are higher. Doing the laundry was about twice what we normally pay when on vacation– we spent $22 USD to wash and dry one load in Bergen. Transportation costs are steeper than other places– around $4 USD to take a bus or tram, so we made use of public transportation passes which paid off very easily. (More on public transportation passes and the Oslo pass later).
5. Seeing the Northern Lights While Visiting Norway?
Remember that the Northern Lights are visible in Norway during the autumn and winter months. So that’s a great reason to visit Norway in the off season. Our visit to Iceland, in August, was off season time for the Auora Borealis; they were on vacation!
But your destination, and the weather, will matter.
The Northern Lights are not as vivid or as visible in the southern parts of Norway, like Oslo and Bergen (Norway’s two largest cities). They are best viewed in the northern part of the country– like Tromsø, the northern fjords, and the Lofoten Islands. But remember, Tromsø is waaaaay up there. So plan your trip accordingly. I’d also recommend downloading one of the Aurora apps on your phone so that you can see what your chances of seeing the lights actually are. You may decide (as we did) that traveling on the train for hours or on an airplane- only to have a less than 50% chance of seeing Northern Lights– is not worth it.
But there’s lots of other activities in northern Norway and I think my next trip there, and I really hope I have another trip there, will be to the northern part of the country. There are directly flights to Tromsø from many European cities like Paris etc.
As it turns out, we were kinda sorta able to see the Aurora from our hotel window in Sogndal…
From Oslo and Bergen, the best way to get to the northern part of Norway is by flying. It’s the most efficient and economical way to get there. If you have the time, this might be where you want to take advantage of the several cruise operators in Norway like Hurtigruten, which offers a guarantee of seeing the Aurora on an 11-day cruise.
6.Eating in Norway: It’s “Seafood Forward”
Now as a person over 50, I’ve come to know my likes and dislikes pretty well. All my life, I have hated the taste of fish (except for the expensive stuff like lobster). I’ve tried it countless ways- fried, baked, stuffed, in a house, with a mouse…. I really don’t like it. 😝
There is a lot of seafood on Norwegian menus, as well as some delicacies like reindeer and whale. But not to worry, Norway has plenty of non-seafood options. Be as experimental as you like, there is always something on the menu available for you. You can pretty much get anything you like in the larger cities, and even Sogndal had an impressive array of restaurants for a small town. Food dislikes or preferences like vegetarian, gluten-free, or vegan are just not a problem.
7. Getting Around Oslo
Getting around Norway can eat through budgets quickly. In Oslo, the public transportation passes are worth it, and buying a 24 hour pass can pay for itself in just about three rides. But Oslo is a big city. Buy the pass on your phone using the #Ruter app and it covers all the trams, buses, subways, and boats operated by Ruter. You can purchase single tickets or a pass in 24 hour or 7-day and even 30-day increments!
There is also an Oslo Pass that covers not just public transportation, but museums as well. I found it to be well worth my money and it can be purchased in 24, 48 or 72 hour increments. It also includes a pass for the public transport system, so depending upon your itinerary, you might not need to purchase a separate pass from Ruter. If you are planning on visiting more than two or three museums, it will be worth your while to purchase the Oslo Pass. Download both the Ruter app and the Oslo Pass for convenience.
The city of Bergen offers the Bergen Card, but I did not purchase it. I knew I wouldn’t be visiting that many museums (if any), and Bergen is a very walkable city. Unless you want to avoid walking, I wouldn’t worry about purchasing a Bergen Card.
8. Where to Stay in Norway…
Usually, I like to stay at small independently owned hotels when I’m traveling. But sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way. In the case of Norway, I noticed there were fewer of these options available in Oslo and Bergen. There were several hotel chains there, including Scandia, Clarion, Best Western, and the Thon Hotel chain.
We used some accrued travel points towards accommodations, so we chose places based on leveraging our travel points to make them last as long as possible.
Hotels in Oslo and Bergen
We spent our first night in the Hotel Verdandi, and while it was a good price and value for the money, it was entirely self-catered. That means no staffing at a front desk, and you also had to re-key in the lobby every time you returned to your room. It was weird, and you may have to wait a bit for assistance (like I did) if there’s absolutely no one around.
Thon Hotels
We discovered the Thon Hotel chain and used them for our subsequent stays in Oslo and Bergen. You’ll find several Thon Hotels in each city, and each of them has a slightly different vibe. What they have in common is an incredibly friendly and helpful staff, a wonderful breakfast included with your stay, and reasonable prices. Because we were using our accrued Chase Ultimate Rewards points, we leveraged some pretty great deals with this chain.
Book your hotel stays in Norway by using the map below…
Norway is a different version of Europe than you may be used to due to it’s immense size. But don’t let the distance between cities and sights deter you. Norway is full of things to do, particularly if you enjoy the outdoors. It’s a paradise for hikers, skiers, and nature lovers.
Visiting Norway in October is the sweet spot between the long summer days of the tourist season and the beginning of the snow and ski season– and it’s all waiting for you.
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