OMG. Norway has been in my bucket list for a decade, and now I've finally managed to buckle down and plan this trip.
I made a lot of draft plans and initial itineraries at the beginning of my planning process. It took me a long time to finally decide on a plan of action and once I did, planning became easier.
What made this trip more difficult for me to plan is, well, many things:
I want to see what each region of the country has to offer, but...
Norway is huge and...
it is an archipelago (travel-wise, not geography-wise)...
and to savor the flavor of each place you have to travel by rail, water AND road.
public transportation information is not easy to find on the internet
Air Travel: It is about 10.5 hour non-stop flight from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Oslo International Airport (OSL) via Norse Atlantic Airways.
International Airports: There are also many international and domestic connections to Bergen, Kristiansand, Sandefjord, Stavanger, Tromsø, and Trondheim.
Flytoget: Airport to Oslo City Center shuttle. Easy to find inside OSL. Easy and multiple ways to purchase tickets. Departs frequently. Travels quickly. You can choose which of the 3 stops from the airport is closest to your destination. Affordable. Children ride free. We used Flytoget and got out at the National Theater area/district and wer close enough to walk to our hotel from there.
Currency: Norwegian Kroner (NOK). As of June 2024, $1 ~ 10 NOK.
Language: Norwegian and Sami. English is spoken everywhere too. But please learn some basic Norsk phrases.
Getting Around: Normally, when we embark on a trip, we choose a method of transport that best fits our destination and stick to that one method the entire trip. But due to the reasons I mentioned above, we couldn't do that and we had to do "all of the above".
The best way to experience the fjords is to embark on a ferry cruise; the best way to view the beautiful countryside is to drive through the roads; I've read on multiple outlets that the Flam Railway is one of the best rail routes in Europe and must be experienced to be believed. To fastest way to get between cities is rail. So we had to do all of them.
Part of the difficulty is that multiple public transportation is available in each city/area and no public agency lists the companies providing these public transportations - you'll find them from blogs like this one. I think the best way to share that information is "regionally" because I can't list all the available public transit for all of Norway. Organizationally, for my brain at least, it's easier to share the public transit info when I talk about each city or region.
Except to say this: If you have limited time to plan and to visit, you might want to check out "Norway in a Nutshell".
Public Transport: Once again, I feel like I can tackle this topic better on a city-by-city case. For how to get around in Oslo, see my Oslo post; for Bergen, see my Bergen post. To see how we got around in the countryside, see our Norway Road Trip.
Driving: Right side of the road. They call petrol, "bensin". There are a lot of fueling stations so you don't have to have fuel anxiety. They fueling stations have electric charging stations, not just petroleum fuels. Vehicles are left-hand drive.
Ferry: The schedule is regular and frequent. They're there instead of bridges. So when you see Google directions telling you to cross water and you don't see a bridge, it's probably a ferry route. Google ETAs (estimated time of arrival) take ferry schedule/run time into account/calculations. Ferry "conductors" scan license plates and charges your car rental's "toll pass". Your car rental company will add all tolls up in the end and charge you when you return your vehicle.
Tipping: Normally not necessary since they are paid living wages. Imagine that.
Time: Standard European Time. 9 Hours ahead of US Pacific Standard Time.
Visa, Vaccinations, Etc: US State Department - Norway As of 2024, there is no vaccination or COVID test required.
Electricity: Twin round plugs.
Phone Call: From the US, you must dial the exit code "011". Then dial the country code, "47". Now you can dial the 8-digit phone number.
Things to See and Do in Oslo: Source: Visit Oslo
Things to See and Do in Bergen: Source: Visit Bergen
Things to See and Do in Norway: Source: Visit Norway
Regions of Norway: Not a geo-political designation. This is how I divided the map for my own planning purposes.
Far North
Arctic Circle and Surroundings
Bergen and Hordaland
West: More Og Romsdal, Sogn, Nordfjord
Mid-Central, Mid-Eastern
South: Stavanger, Rogaland, Telemark
Oslo and Surroundings
The following is a screenshot of my list of things to see and do in Norway. I am sad to say that I wasn't able to see or visit the entire list. But I am glad to say that we managed to check off a lot of items in our list. You may have already surmised that because a large number of them are clustered towards the southwestern coast so we chose to explore in that region to maximize our limited time in Norway.
I am looking forward to sharing with you what we saw and did and ate. Hopefully this will help you when, not if, you decide to visit the Land of the Midnight Sun.
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