Norway with older teens

[OChristmasTreeHowLovelyAreYee]

We are planning a summer trip to Norway. We have 2 late teens who like the outdoors and activities.

We are planning on going to Oslo, and across to the fjords. This is in July. I know this is Norway's school holidays but it’s the only time we can go.

Any tips welcome on things to do, activities, great food, places to stay and anything else very welcome. We will be there for 2 weeks.

Voss is a great stop for teens.

Indoor skydiving/ cable car and walks on the mountain/ boats on the lake etc.

From there, there are also tourist destinations - train to Flåm etc

If you travel on to Bergen, then you can take some fjord cruises.

Have a look at Norway in a Nutshell for day trips and really well planned trips between cities. We did a day from Bergen to Flam and I will never forget it. Beautiful.

Lofoten Islands. North Cape. I've only been in winter though. Don't forget you can use the Hurtigruten to travel around on too, you don't need to do a full on cruise, just use it like the locals do.

We did Bergen in the summer. Unforgettable. Kids aged 4, 7 and 14. They all loved it. Fløyen (take the tram up) is a full day of adventure! Science museum (Vilvite) incredible. AdO Arena for swimming. Natural History museum. Great sushi. Honestly, it was extraordinary.

Gosh, fab responses thank you.

Can I ask, did you use a travel agent or tour company or arrange yourselves?

I’m sooooooo looking forward to this 🙃

Last summer, we did a DIY 2 week road trip from Bergen spending a few nights in Bergen, Sogndal, Geiranger, Stryn & Balestrand. Did everything ourselves. Really recommend the Flam zipline & cycle ride after the train ride up - that was a great day out. There are plenty of fantastic hikes especially in Geiranger and one of our highlights was the Stoltzekleiven hike in Bergen. Another highlight was the hikes at the top of the Loen Skylift. There are a lot of waterfalls to see and if you hire a car to drive youself around, it's not hard to escape the masses even in peak summer. The Bøyabreen Glacier had very few tourists when we visited at the start of August this year. We also decided to fly direct to Bergen because we didn't want to take 2 days out just to travel from Oslo to/from the fjords. We're visiting Oslo separately next year.

What will the weather be like in May?

Good month to visit Bergen. Later on maybe slightly better (April is still wintry, May is when everything blooms).

Our plan is to hire a car in Oslo and head west in a clockwise circle back to Oslo. We don’t want to move every day and would rather have a few bases we can explore from. Maybe 2-3 nights in 5-7 places. Would welcome suggestions on bases and must do things along the way.

We have been looking at travel agents and tours, but they seem really expensive and if we mock it up ourselves it comes in thousands cheaper.

Did you use a tour company?

Does reply 2 on here help?

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g190455-i550-k14472496-Oslo_to_Bergen_full_circle_or_not-Norway.html

I can help with the west coast, but have never been interested in the Oslo area.

Thx FedUp

I hope you aren’t feeling fed up by the way?

I was when I created the name (not now though!). Mumsnet keeps old names on the threads. I had forgotten about this 😂

Oslo itself is good for teenagers because it's quite cool but safe enough to perhaps let them out by themselves to get a coffee , ice cream or pizza. It has a beach if you get nice weather. We just went to Norway without teens but can see that Voss and Bergen would be ideal.

What would you recommend taking to wear in the summer? I was thinking of leaving my nice dresses and sandals behind and packing zip off hiking pants, layers, fleeces, coat and buff.

Would we need thick coats, hats and gloves just in case? What about dinner out?

We went to Oslo in August last year. It was sunny and warming. You needed a coat or jumper in the evenings. We went up to the ski jump which was good. No where we went was very dressy. Good public transport in Oslo.

When are you going?

It could be 30° or it could be 12°

Take layers. If you're in the countryside, you won't want dresses.

If you know when you're going, you can look at the weather trends.

If you go on a boat on the sea, it could be freezing even in the hottest of weather if you're on deck in the wind

Going mid July. We will be in Oslo, but then mainly driving the Atlantic coast and countryside.

I like cold, but I don’t like to be cold 😝

I went last August, I wore shorts most days. The trusty hoodie came in useful but I never needed the Big Coat I packed. Comfy trainers were fine.

We had lovely weather, mind. The year before, at the same time of year, they had floods.

Honestly, the weather was similar to the weather in the North east of England. East Coast of Scotland - not spectacularly different.

If you go on a boat though - I echo the PP. You need something to cover your ears! The wind blows through them!

We went Jul/Aug last year with a road trip from Bergen northwards. We did quite a bit of hiking so layers including thin fleeces and rainwear which we needed on a few days during our fortnight’s trip.

Bergen is the the rainiest city in Europe so if you are planning to go there have lots of rain gear! In terms of temperature I was there last August and went from a summer dress/birkies in Oslo to seeing snow route to flam. Lots of layers are your friend.

Voss is perfect for active teens. There's indoor skydiving, VossAktive klatrepark (like Go Ape), the gondola ride up the mountain, kayak hire places, lots of hiking, swimming in the lake, whitewater rafting, cycling, I could go on and on!

There's an extreme sports festival there sometime in June I think. Great fun to watch some of the events, and an amazing atmosphere. Paragliders everywhere doing crazy stunts!

I took my teen DS and his favourite thing if he had to pick one was the segway tour of Bergen. It was absolutely brilliant, whizzing round the streets with our guide and stopping at various places to be told interesting facts and have landmarks and amazing views pointed out.

We did lots of other things as well (fjord cruise, Flåm, food tour) and they were all great but the segway is great for teens especially.

We were there in July and the weather was fantastic and hot, but we were very lucky and they get a lot of rain so go prepared.

i booked the hotel and flights through Expedia and organised transfers myself.