Norway taster week

[anatara]

My DH has always wanted to go to Norway, he has a big birthday coming up and I'd like to arrange a trip as a surprise for his present, probably going September or October, but I know nothing about the country. Can any recommend a week's itinerary, should we stay in one place or travel? Should we hire a car, or can we do on public transport/trips? Is this a good time of the year to go?
I think he'd like a visit to the fjords, likes vikings & history, I looked quickly on airbnb and like the idea of staying more remote for a couple of nights in hut / small house, something a bit more unique.
Any help would really be appreciated x

The country is huge and travel involves crossing on bridges, ferries and tunnels on a daily basis - if you look at the A39 on google maps you'll see how many crossings there are. Tunnels are very long, the Lærdal tunnel actually has roundabouts within it and is over 24km long. My advice would be to fly up as far as you can and travel from there. It's a beautiful country and you'll see amazing scenery all the way

Thanks for your quick replies! @phonerings I hadn't even thought of the budget! What is it that costs so much as accommodation doesn't seem awful?
@Petrine We probably need to concentrate on a relatively small area given the trip length, I was thinking the Oslo to Bergen train, and had seen a small house on Airbnb that's about 30 mins from Bergen that looked a bit different. We would want to relax too

I also saw this tour https://www.fjordtours.com/en/norway/tours/norway-in-a-nutshell

Hi there
We are just back from Norway. We flew to Oslo for a few days then flew to Svalbard - which was amazing. From there we flew to Tromso then picked up a ferry that travels back down the coast. We ended up in Bergen which we loved then got back to the main Bergen-Oslo train via Flam. It was honestly my favourite trip - but we did get really lucky with the weather. It is expensive though. We went for a big birthday.

Having looked up your link, this is what we did from Bergen to Oslo.

I did a cheapish trip to Norway years ago. Eating out was expensive but accommodation wasn’t too bad and we flew Ryan Air pretty cheaply.

We spent a couple of days in Bergen, did a boat trip in the fjords and stopped at a glacier museum, spent a night round there somewhere, then got the train to Oslo for a few days and flew home from there. Everywhere was incredibly beautiful and Oslo has some fab museums.

Theres a hell of a lot of Norway north of Bergen that we didn’t explore though.

I've done Norway in a Nutshell twice. It's a really good way to see some beautiful and varied scenery quickly and easily. I've done it as a day trip from Bergen, but you can of course book accommodation alomg the route and spend a bit longer exploring.

@northernstars thanks for your reply, did you book it all yourself of do a tour? How long did you go for? That looks really interesting flying up to Svalbard, but it looks a long way?

Eating out is expensive as are groceries. One option to explore Norway is to take a cruise from Southampton, they come at various price points, my parents recently did a P&O one for £1800 (2 people, balcony cabin, lots of on board credit). Typically they are 7 days

@Hobbes8 I think that was what I was thinking of, based in Oslo then Bergen, and arranging myself. I thought the nutshell tour gave us a way of travelling from one to the other. It sounds like you didn't need a car?

@WalkWithMeSuzieLee I was wondering whether to break the trip up over a few days, have you done the Oslo to Bergen one, and on the ones you did was there anywhere you would recommend for an overnight stop?

@mitogoshi a cruise would be easier, but I don't think my DH would like unfortunately

You can cover a lot in a week, but to ensure time to relax and enjoy I would recommend only two "bases".

I would suggest you start off with a few days in Oslo. It's the capital, it's a wonderful, interesting, beautiful place, packed with all sorts to do. My tip would be to include The Viking Ship Museum, and The Viking Planet, as you say DH has a Viking interest.

From there, either go on to Bergen and that region for a fjord experience, or (my heart connection), go up to the north, Tromsø is probably the most popular destination there. September/October time you have a high chance of seeing the northern lights. There's a lot to do in the north that will give you a different experience to the south.

Norway is expensive but there are ways to save. Airbnb so you can self-cater for example.

We didn’t travel by car at all - just boat and train, it looks like we took a similar route to the Norway in a Nutshell (we might have even done that tour…it was so long ago I can’t remember) but broke it up with an overnight stay in the middle.

The travelling around was some of my favourite bits. It’s such a beautiful country. The boat trip through the fjords was spectacular.

How funny, I'm looking at Norway at the moment too. Also for October. I'm not actually finding it as expensive as I expected. The public transport card for Oslo seems pretty reasonable and some lovely looking air bnbs in the city are available for under £100 per night with full kitchen, separate bedroom and proper living rooms with dining tables etc.
so far my quite extensive research is showing it being on a par with south east uk prices for eating out and groceries, some friends have said it's drinking out and about that really adds up. Oslo seems to have lots of free attractions and offers - eg the Munch museum is free on Wednesday evenings. You can take a cruise up the Oslo fjord for quite a substantial fee - or you can do the same trip on a public ferry for next to nothing.
im sure as with all cities if you aren't careful and don't do your homework the costs would run away but from what I've seen it's not that bad. Flights with Norwegian from Gatwick are under £100 return at that time of year including checked baggage

so far I've looked at Balanchine Jewels ballet which is on at the opera house when we would be there and I've always wanted to see - cheaper than going to ROH. a set 6 course tasting menu in a Michelin star restaurant specialising in modern norwegian food £130 which is average compared with London

so not a budget break but the same as you might pay in London but much less for accomodation and transport

And I've watched a couple of grocery shop vids on YouTube and the local food seemed quite reasonable in the cheaper supermarkets

dd and I generally eat snacks out in the day, have breakfast at air bnb and then cook local specialities in the evening at apartment. Plus we splash out for one fancy meal, usually the set menu of a fab resto as these usually offer exceptional value and a memorable experience for not much more than an average neighbourhood restaurant. The restaurant I mentioned has a more relaxed downstairs bistro where you can have a 6 course meal much less so that's what we will do fir our last evening

put it this way the flights into Oslo, back from Stockholm and 10 nights accommodation and travel costs are around the same as 5 nights in Venice the same week in susbtantially inferior accommodation with no luggage which is what I was looking t !