We had only 12 days to visit this absolutely amazing country, so we had to make the most of our time there - after much research, this is what we decided to do, and I can say it was perfect!
Naerofjord, picture taken from Gudvangen village
Here is our itinerary for experience the best of Norway in 12 days:
- 2 days in Oslo
- 3 days in Flam area (Naerofjord and Aurlandsfjord) - our Airbnb was in Oppheim
- 1 day driving from Flam to Geiranger, with lots os stops along the way
- 1 day in Geiranger Fjord (our Airbnb was in Stranda)
- 1 day driving from Geiranger to Voss and then bus to Bergen
- 2 days in Bergen
- 2 days in Stavanger (with one day-trip to Preikestolen)
Undredal village, on Aurlandsfjord
Transportation
We arrived by plane in Oslo, flying from London, and catch the train from the airport to Oslon Central Station, a few blocks away from our hotel.
From Oslo to Voss/Flam we took a train (a super scenic ride), then rented a car in Voss and explored the Flam area by car.
A few days later we drove to Geiranger (also a scenic road - allow a full day for the trip), spent on day in Geiranger, then next day drove back to Voss. There was one ferry each way.
We should have gone from Voss to Bergen by train, but there was some maintenance work on the tracks, so we went by bus.
From Bergen to Stavanger the best way is by bus (there are no direct train routes between both towns) - 2 ferries on the way.
We flew from Stavanger to Frankfurt.
1 Oslo; 2 view from the Olso-Bergen train; 3 view from Flansbana train
Detailed map
On the map below you can see details of all we did, where we stayed and the best places we went. You can see there are different layers, with differente colors, for each area we've visited. The blue line is the route we drove.
Now save it on your Google account, so you know where to start when planning your next Norway trip ;-)
If we had more time...
I would've loved to have had a few more days (maybe weeks?) in Norway. We could easily have spent one extra day in each of the places we visited, specially in Oslo and Geiranger.
If I had on extra week, I would try to get to Lofoten Islands - this is my dream destination for the next trip to Norway.
If we had less time...
It would have been really difficult to choose one of these places to skip...
I think it all depends on your interests: are you a culture and museum person? So Oslo and Bergen should be on your list; maybe you could skip Stavanger and/or Geiranger.
Are you a nature lover and adventure seeker? So you could skip Olso at all, and even maybe Bergen.
Do you want to taste everything the country has to offer but have even less time than we had? So choose just on fjord area to visit: Flam or Geiranger. Both are really astonishing beautiful and have similar activities to offer - but only in Flam you can do the train ride and bike tour, which, in my opinion, were awesome.
Scenes of Bergen: 1 Bryggen; 2 a lovely random street; 3 Bergenhus Fortress; 4 another super cute random street
AFTER ALL THESE TIPS AND INFORMATION, here's our link to BOOKING.COM- you won't spend a penny making your reservations through this link and it helps us keep this site up and running! Click here and have a good trip!!
NOW PIN THIS TO YOUR PINTEREST ACCOUNT, so you'll always find this post when you need it!
AFTER ALL THESE TIPS AND INFORMATION, here's our link to BOOKING.COM- you won't spend a penny making your reservations through this link and it helps us keep this site up and running! Click hereand have a good trip!!