Tell me about Norway!

[Holidayaddict]

For some reason adverts for it keeps popping up on my fb feed. Looks fab - Bergen, Flam, railway, fjords, Northern Lights, REALLY want to go now! However, from the quick Google I've done, it looks very expensive!

Does anyone have any experience and recommendations of when to go, where to stay, how best to get there etc? How hot is it in the summer? We'd like nice, sunny weather but not too hot. I also fancy Iceland but guess that's even more expensive??

Thanks!

I went in the summer, to make the most of the daylight hours. Some things were expensive, such as beer, etc
The weather was cool, but not hot.
We started in Oslo, and went across to Bergen.
I really enjoyed it.

I go fairly often for work. Beautiful, conservative, expensive, hotels ok, great public transport, huge sugar and alcohol tax.

It is supposed to be super expensive which is why I chose Sweden. Still dear but not as much. The Swedish archipelago is gorgeous. Lots of cheap family hostels and lovely scenery. Definitely worth the price.

We went to Norway this summer (and Sweden) - Ryanair do very cheap flights in and out of Oslo. AirBNB prices were quite reasonable, hotels could be very expensive. Other prices we found incredibly expensive, some things were triple UK prices like eating out / takeaway food. There were also a lot of fees for ferries by the fjords - mostly was £20 but one was £100. A takeaway noodle meal from a van in a rural area was £15.

Weather in August was quite a lot of rain and cool - similar to weather in end September here. There were usually several hours of sun each day and loads of daylight so you could work round it. July has better weather. We've been to Finland in July and 20-25C each day and not too much rain and had been like that there in July.

It was stunningly beautiful almost everywhere in Norway - we started in Oppdal (after Sweden) stayed there in AirBNB for 3 nights, went whitewater rafting (around £150 for 4 of us), moose safari (saw 14 around £215 for 4), then spent a week by Alesund (small island just below Ulstein) - Alesund is stunning and we did a speedboat there to see wildlife (trip was £400 for 4) and islands which was great but pricest trip, went to beach, visited lots of fjords from there (can just drive around or take boats (not too expensive apart from the one ferry by Geirangerfjord which was £100 to take car on but is a longer route round without this). Went down to Flam - quite touristy there but beautiful - takeaway meal there was £18 for 1, hotdogs were about £6 but only food we found cheap there and had too many by then, took railway - great and not too pricey. Also did Viking museum were children can throw axes and learn about viking life. On roads we came across a reindeer, lots of sheeps etc - mainly in the more northern bit. There were baby deer in our AirBNB in Oppdal.

Last 2 nights we spent in a lovely hotel which was about £170 a night with a pool but that's very cheap for Norway, we had a last minute deal. AirBNBs were around £100 a night and fine but you do need to have a car for those and it meant a lot of self-catering and cleaning so not as relaxing as other holidays. Flew out of Oslo but didn't visit it. Was probably most scenic country we have ever visited, probably the most expensive too, you can find ways round it but in terms of value for money would say it was poor for certain things like food. Glad we did it.

It is very expensive! We’ve only been to Bergen so others will have more useful wider info. Bergen is notorious for its bad weather and while it is exceptionally pretty with its scenic clapboard houses set in narrow hilly streets, other than day one we had on and off rain and temps of 12-14 degrees late August. We rented a charming apartment in the old area of the city I found on the tourist board site which was half the price of any of the hotels - this was 7 years ago so I’m sure AirBnB these days will have numerous options. A small supermarket shop was the equivalent of £90 for 3 days worth of food (which didn’t include wine which you can only buy from certain shops open daytime hours),

There is a cable car that takes you up a mountain with a great view over Bergen and the walk down through the forest is very very scenic. We did a fjord cruise too - when it wasn’t absolutely plastering it down it was pretty. I’d skip the aquarium in Bergen (small enclosures) and some of the museums were more interesting than others!

Pretty city but due to the weather, not one we’d go back too!

PS re Iceland, similar price wise from my experience. Very different landscape as well, a lot of Iceland looks like a lunar landscape, it’s not pretty in the traditional sense but dramatic definitely!

I love Norway! It's so beautiful. I've been in the summer in a remote area,which was great for walking and outdoor activities. I've also been skiing there which was fantastic too. My favourite country.

No lions :(

I love all of the Scandinavia countries, in general. I've been to Bergen in the week between Christmas and New Year, it was lovely. We even bought a Christmas tree for our hotel room, happy memories!