Norway by Rail: Bergen, Trondheim, Lofoten and Tromsø

Arrive in Oslo

Oslo Airport, Gardermoen to central Oslo, then the harbour on foot

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Oslo
• Environ 45 min de route

Soir

Plan to land by about 2 pm to join the first walk; later arrivals meet the group at dinner. Mid-afternoon your See Sight Tours guide takes everyone on foot along the harbour: up the sloping marble roof of the Opera House for the view over the Oslofjord, past the Munch museum and the Barcode towers, then along the water to Akershus Fortress, a medieval castle rebuilt as a royal residence in the 1600s. We finish on Karl Johans gate, the main street, which climbs from the station to the Royal Palace. In the evening we sit down together for a welcome dinner, and your guide runs through the journey ahead: two railways and a fjord, a flight north, a long day train across the Arctic Circle, a ferry to Lofoten and a last stop in Tromsø.

Compris

• Pick-up at Oslo Airport, Gardermoen (OSL)
• Harbour walk with your guide: the Opera House roof, the Barcode and Akershus Fortress
• Karl Johans gate
• Welcome dinner

The Bergen Railway and the Flåm Railway

Oslo by train over the Hardangervidda to Myrdal, then down the Flåm Railway to Flåm

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Flåm
• En train

Matin

We walk to Oslo Central Station for the morning Bergen Railway train, with seats reserved for the group. The line runs west past lakes and forest, up the Hallingdal valley through Gol and Geilo, then climbs onto the treeless Hardangervidda plateau. Finse, at about 1,222 m, is the highest station on the line, and snow can lie beside the track into July.

Après-midi

Lunch is included from the café on board. At Myrdal, after about four and a half to five hours, we change to the Flåm Railway, which drops about 860 m in 20 km to the head of the Aurlandsfjord, through twenty tunnels, with a short platform stop at the Kjosfossen waterfall. We reach Flåm by mid-afternoon.

Soir

In high summer the village is busy with cruise passengers during the day, but it empties in the evening: walk up the valley to the little wooden Flåm church, built in 1670, before dinner together at a restaurant by the water.

Compris

• Bergen Railway from Oslo to Myrdal, reserved seats
• Flåm Railway from Myrdal to Flåm, with the stop at Kjosfossen
• Lunch on the train
• Dinner in Flåm

Activités en option

• Kayaking on the Aurlandsfjord in the late afternoon

The Nærøyfjord by boat, then on to Bergen

Flåm by boat through the Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord to Gudvangen, road to Voss, then train to Bergen

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Bergen
• Environ 45 min de route

Matin

A morning on the water. We take an early boat from Flåm up the Aurlandsfjord and into the Nærøyfjord, a narrow arm of the Sognefjord listed by UNESCO in 2005, with the Geirangerfjord, as the West Norwegian Fjords. At its narrowest the fjord is about 250 m wide, with mountains rising well over 1,000 m on both sides and small farms on ledges above the water. Going early puts us ahead of the busiest sailings, and the crossing to Gudvangen takes about two hours. From Gudvangen a private transfer drives us up the steep Nærøydalen valley, about 50 km to Voss, where we board the Bergen Railway again for the last hour and a quarter along lakes and fjord arms to Bergen.

Après-midi

We arrive in the late afternoon.

Soir

Your guide walks the group from the station to the hotel and down to the harbour, so you know where Bryggen, the Fish Market and the funicular are before a free evening.

Compris

• Boat from Flåm through the Aurlandsfjord and the Nærøyfjord to Gudvangen
• Private transfer from Gudvangen to Voss
• Bergen Railway from Voss to Bergen
• Orientation walk in Bergen with your guide

Bryggen early and Mount Fløyen

Bergen on foot, with the Fløibanen funicular

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Bergen

Matin

Late morning we ride the Fløibanen funicular up Mount Fløyen, about 320 m above the city, for the view over the harbour, the islands and the fjords beyond. Ride back down, or walk down through the woods in about 45 minutes.

Soir

The afternoon and evening are free. If it rains, the KODE art museums around the Lille Lungegårdsvann lake, with works by Edvard Munch and J.C. Dahl, are a short walk from the hotel.

Compris

• Bryggen with a local guide, early in the morning
• The Fish Market
• Fløibanen funicular up Mount Fløyen

Activités en option

• KODE art museums
• Ulriken cable car

Fly north to Trondheim

Bergen Airport, Flesland, by air to Trondheim Airport, Værnes, then Trondheim on foot

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Trondheim
• Environ 1 h de route

Matin

An early start: a short transfer to Bergen Airport, Flesland, for a morning flight of about an hour to Trondheim Airport, Værnes. The coastal ships take more than a day and a half for the same stretch, which is why we fly; a private trip can add the sailing.

Après-midi

From Værnes it is about 35 km into the city, and we go straight to Nidaros Cathedral, because its visiting hours end in the early afternoon on most days. Built from about 1070 over the grave of St Olav, the king who became Norway's patron saint, it is still the church where Norwegian kings are crowned or blessed; entry is included. On a Sunday, when it opens only in the afternoon, we swap the order. Lunch is on your own near the river. Then your guide walks the group over the Old Town Bridge of 1861, with wooden warehouses on stilts along the Nidelva, into the cafés and lanes of Bakklandet, and up to Kristiansten Fortress for the view over the city and the fjord.

Soir

The evening is free; tomorrow's train leaves early.

Compris

• Flight from Bergen to Trondheim
• Airport transfers in Bergen and Trondheim
• Nidaros Cathedral with your guide
• The Old Town Bridge and Bakklandet
• Kristiansten Fortress

The Nordland Railway across the Arctic Circle

Trondheim by day train to Bodø

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Bodø
• En train

Matin

The longest travel day, and the reason to come this way: the Nordland Railway, about 729 km from Trondheim to Bodø on the morning train, close to ten hours. That is far more than our four-hour driving cap, so we do it by rail, with seats reserved, a café car, room to walk about and your guide on board. The line follows the Trondheimsfjord north past Steinkjer, crosses forest and farmland to Mosjøen and Mo i Rana, then climbs onto the bare Saltfjellet plateau, where a marker beside the track shows the Arctic Circle.

Après-midi

Lunch on the train is included. The last hours run down the Saltdal valley to the sea, and we reach Bodø in the late afternoon. From here on, in June and early July, the sun does not set.

Soir

Your guide takes the group along the harbour, where white-tailed sea eagles often circle over the boats, before a free evening.

Compris

• Nordland Railway from Trondheim to Bodø, reserved seats
• Lunch on the train
• Harbour walk in Bodø

Saltstraumen and the ferry to Lofoten

Bodø to Saltstraumen and back, ferry to Moskenes, then by road to central Lofoten

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Leknes
• Environ 2 h de route

Après-midi

Back in Bodø there is time for lunch on your own by the harbour before the car ferry across the Vestfjorden to Moskenes, at the southern end of the Lofoten Islands, about three to three and a half hours. On a clear day the wall of Lofoten peaks rises out of the sea ahead of you.

Soir

Our Lofoten vehicle and driver meet us off the ferry for the drive of about an hour to our base near Leknes, through Reine and Hamnøy in the evening light, with a stop for photographs. We stay here three nights.

Compris

• Saltstraumen at the strongest tide
• Car ferry from Bodø to Moskenes
• Our own vehicle and driver from Moskenes

West Lofoten: Nusfjord, Reine and Å

Leknes to Nusfjord, Ramberg, Hamnøy, Reine and Å, and back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Leknes
• Environ 3 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is included at a fish restaurant on the way. At the end of the road is Å, where the Lofoten Stockfish Museum and the Norwegian Fishing Village Museum show how the winter cod fishery shaped every village here, and why fish still hang on wooden racks to dry each spring.

Soir

We drive back in the late afternoon, about two and three quarter hours of driving across the day, with the evening free at the base.

Compris

• Nusfjord fishing village
• Ramberg beach
• Hamnøy and Reine
• Å: the Lofoten Stockfish Museum and the Norwegian Fishing Village Museum
• Sit-down lunch on the way

Vikings, Henningsvær and the Trollfjord

Leknes to Svolvær, a boat to the Trollfjord, then Henningsvær and Borg, and back

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Leknes
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Matin

We leave the base at about 8 am and drive east, about an hour, to Svolvær for the morning boat trip into the Trollfjord, about three hours. The fjord is about 2 km long and so narrow at its mouth that the cliffs seem to close behind the boat, and white-tailed sea eagles nest along the Raftsundet strait on the way in.

Après-midi

Going in the morning keeps the afternoon free of a fixed sailing. Back in Svolvær we drive about half an hour to Henningsvær, a fishing village spread across small islands, with a football pitch on the rocks at its tip and galleries and cafés along the harbour, for a late lunch on your own. On the way back we stop at the Lofotr Viking Museum at Borg, a short drive from our base, where archaeologists found the remains of a chieftain's longhouse about 83 m long, one of the largest known from the Viking age; a full-size reconstruction now stands on the hill. We are back at the base by about 6 pm, after about two and a half hours of driving across the day.

Compris

• Boat trip from Svolvær into the Trollfjord
• Henningsvær
• Lofotr Viking Museum at Borg

Activités en option

• Lofoten War Museum in Svolvær

Out of Lofoten and by boat to Tromsø

Leknes past Svolvær to Harstad by road, then express boat to Tromsø

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Tromsø
• Environ 4.5 h de route

Après-midi

The road runs all the way to Harstad with no ferry, and we break it with a sit-down lunch and short stops. In the afternoon we reach Harstad, where there may be time for Trondenes Church, a stone church from the late Middle Ages on the shore north of town, depending on the boat time. Then we say goodbye to our Lofoten driver and board the passenger express boat to Tromsø, about three hours via Finnsnes, with the mountains of Senja to the west. We confirm the sailing times when we set your dates.

Soir

Tromsø comes into view in the evening, and the night is yours, still light at midnight in June and early July.

Compris

• Drive from Lofoten to Harstad with our driver
• Sit-down lunch on the way
• Express boat from Harstad to Tromsø

Tromsø and the midnight sun

Tromsø on foot, the Arctic Cathedral and the Fjellheisen cable car

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
• Nuit : Tromsø
• Environ 30 min de route

Matin

A morning with your guide in Tromsø, the largest town in northern Norway. We start at the Polar Museum, in an old customs warehouse on the harbour, which tells the story of Arctic trapping and sealing and of the polar expeditions of Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen; entry is included. Then a walk through the centre, past the wooden houses of Storgata and the timber Tromsø Cathedral, before crossing the Tromsø Bridge to the Arctic Cathedral, built in 1965, whose white triangular roof echoes the peaks around it.

Après-midi

The afternoon is free.

Soir

In the evening we ride the Fjellheisen cable car up to Storsteinen, 421 m above the sound, for a farewell dinner together at the top. In June and until late July the sun stays above the horizon at midnight here; in August it dips below for a few hours, and the sky stays light.

Compris

• The Polar Museum
• Guided walk in central Tromsø
• The Arctic Cathedral
• Fjellheisen cable car to Storsteinen
• Farewell dinner

Activités en option

• Polaria Arctic aquarium
• An evening fjord sailing

Tromsø and home

Tromsø to Tromsø Airport, Langnes

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 15 min de route

Matin

A free morning in Tromsø. Walk along the harbour, visit Polaria, the Arctic aquarium with its bearded seals, browse the bookshops and outdoor stores on Storgata, or take a last coffee by the water while the fishing boats come in. Then our driver takes you the 5 km to Tromsø Airport, Langnes (TOS), at a time that suits your flight. Tromsø has frequent flights to Oslo, about two hours, and most connections home to Canada or the United States go through Oslo or another European hub, so leave enough time for the change. A flight leaving after about 11 am keeps the morning for yourself, but any time works. Your guide sees you onto the transfer and checks your flight before saying goodbye. If you want more time in the north, ask us when you book and we add nights in Tromsø or a day trip to the Lyngen Alps.

Compris

• Drop-off at Tromsø Airport, Langnes (TOS)

Activités en option

• Polaria Arctic aquarium