A journey through Norway’s Fjords and Coast – Part 1 Vestland

Background

Norway was a dream I had for years. I have been putting off this trip for some years. The major setbacks were primarily the money – Norway is a very expensive destination to travel to. And also time – planning a trip and including all the places I wished to visit was very time consuming.

By cruise or on the road?

I knew I wanted to visit two regions: Vestland (West) – the land of fjords and Nordland (North) – mainly the Lofoten Islands as one of the most photogenic places on Earth. I have heard a million times the statement: “Norway is best seen from a cruise”. We are not cruise experts and have been on two cruises so far, however we knew that when we visit by cruise vast destinations we leave with a sense of dissatisfaction at the thought that we haven’t seen all the places we wanted to visit and that we could have done more activities. This is exactly what happened to us when we visited Iceland (learn more about our Iceland cruise here) and did not want to have that feeling for Norway, as it was too high on our bucket lists. We wanted to make the most of the long hours of daylight during the summer months.

I am sure a cruise  may be perfect for other travellers who wish to relax more and just enjoy being taken in the fjords, instead of going up and down through hairpin roads like we did. During a cruise you may visit one or two places a day and take it easier. Staying put is just not for us. In total we drove 3,126 km in the first 7 days so I am well aware this may seem too much for some travellers.

Cruising Norway is for: Those who prefer going on holiday rather than actually going on an adventure. People who have a higher budget and are ready to pay to have nothing to think about. People who want all the meals to be included beforehand – dining out in Norway is extremely expensive. People who are happy to roam around for half of the day and than just go back on the ship take it easy.

Road Tripping Norway is for: Experienced drivers who do not mind driving on mountain roads up with sharp and steep turns. There aren’t any highways here and going from a place to the next is slow (max speed is 80km/hour). It is perfect if you wish to keep exploring in the evening and at night. In summer it never gets completely dark and until 9pm in August you can still enjoy the sunshine. Road tripping Norway is perfect if you are happy to change accommodation frequently, although if you stay in a strategic location you can visit nearby places and stay more than one night. You can check out the accommodation suggestions I have in my Norway map.

Ultimately we did a bit of both and this is an overview of our itinerary:

Flights to Bergen 

We flew directly to Bergen, even though from Malta we have direct flights to Oslo. However I was not very interested in visiting Southern Norway this time and the drive from Oslo to Bergen was too long. To get to Bergen, we connected through Frankfurt airport and booked all our flights with Lufthansa.

3 nights in Sogn og Fjordane Region (5 hrs north of Bergen – this worked well since we landed in Bergen at around noon) 

The first part of the trip started in Bergen, where we landed. Since our flight landed at around noon, we drove 5 hours North to our first accommodation in the anonymous village of Breim. From here we visited the beauty around Jostedalsbreen national park and its surroundings featuring Nigardsbreen glacier, the UNESCO Geirangerfjord and lesser known places and hidden gems.

Here are some photos from the first part of our trip in this area.

3 nights in Hordaland (3 hours east of Bergen)

Following was our second part of the trip in Vesterland further south and closer to Bergen. We bases ourselves in Kinsarvik to explore the Hardanger and the Folgefonna national parks.

Here are some of the places we visited:

This is where the first part of our trip ended. If you are visiting Norway for the first time this is where I would start. If you are limited with time or by budget you can stop here and maybe add an extra night in each of the above places we visited. If you wish to know more regarding the second part of our trip in a different region keep following as the next post will include the details about our trip on the Hurtigruten ship that took us to Nordland region where we visited the Lofoten and Versterålen islands. In the next post I will also include all the financial details of how much this trip costed us (as a family of 4) and some budgeting tips that can make your trip to Norway more affordable.