Norway by Rail: Bergen, Trondheim, Lofoten and Tromsø

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Oslo

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

   • Environ 45 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Oslo
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Oslo Airport, Gardermoen (OSL), about 50 km north of the city, where our driver meets you in arrivals for the 45-minute drive to a central hotel. 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

   Temps libre : Free until the mid-afternoon walk

   Activité : About 3 km on foot, flat apart from the Opera House roof.

   

2. Jour 2 : The Bergen Railway and the Flåm Railway

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

   • En train
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Flåm
   Détail du jour 2

   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. 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. 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

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free in Flåm

   Activité : Start: we leave the hotel at about 7:30 am for the morning train; the exact time follows the timetable we confirm with your dates. About six hours of rail travel in all, broken by the change at Myrdal. Keep a warm layer in your day bag for the plateau.

   

3. Jour 3 : 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

   • Environ 45 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Bergen
   Détail du jour 3

   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. We arrive in the late afternoon. 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

   Temps libre : Evening free in Bergen

   Activité : Start: we leave the hotel at about 8 am for the early boat; the exact time follows the summer sailing times we confirm with your dates. A day of sitting and looking: two hours on the boat, under an hour by road and about 75 minutes on the train.

4. Jour 4 : Bryggen early and Mount Fløyen

   Bergen on foot, with the Fløibanen funicular

   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Bergen
   Détail du jour 4

   Bergen is famous for rain, so your guide sets the order on the day. We start early at Bryggen, the row of wooden Hanseatic wharf buildings on the east side of the harbour, listed by UNESCO in 1979, before the cruise crowds arrive. A local guide takes us through the narrow passages between the leaning warehouses and explains how German merchants of the Hanseatic League ran the stockfish trade from here for close to four hundred years. Then the Fish Market and a coffee by the water. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Ride the funicular both ways and spend the afternoon at the KODE museums or in a café.

   Option plus active : Take the Ulriken cable car and walk the Vidden trail across the plateau to Mount Fløyen, about 12 to 15 km and four to six hours depending on the start point, in good weather.

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free in Bergen

   Activité : About 4 km on foot in the morning, on cobbles and wooden boardwalks.

   

5. Jour 5 : Fly north to Trondheim

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

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Trondheim
   Détail du jour 5

   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. 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. 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

   Temps libre : Lunch and evening free in Trondheim

   Activité : Start: we leave the hotel at about 7 am for the morning flight. About 4 km on foot, with a short steep climb to Kristiansten Fortress.

6. Jour 6 : The Nordland Railway across the Arctic Circle

   Trondheim by day train to Bodø

   • En train
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Bodø
   Détail du jour 6

   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. 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. 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

   Temps libre : Evening free in Bodø

   Activité : Start: we leave the hotel at about 7 am; the morning train leaves Trondheim at about 7:30 to 8 am and reaches Bodø at about 5:30 pm, on the timetable we confirm with your dates. About ten hours on the train. Bring a book, a charged phone or camera and a layer for the plateau.

   

7. Jour 7 : Saltstraumen and the ferry to Lofoten

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

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Leknes
   Détail du jour 7

   A slow start in Bodø, then a drive of about 33 km to Saltstraumen, where the tide pushes the sea through a strait about 3 km long and 150 m wide, among the strongest tidal currents in the world. We time the visit to the tide table to see the whirlpools at their strongest, from the bridge and from the rocks on the shore, and sea eagles often hunt here. If the strongest tide falls too close to the sailing, we visit at the tide we can reach before the ferry. 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. 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

   Temps libre : Lunch free in Bodø

   Activité : Bring a warm layer for the ferry deck. The ferry time follows the yearly timetable, which we confirm with your dates; a cancelled sailing in bad weather means the next one.

8. Jour 8 : West Lofoten: Nusfjord, Reine and Å

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

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Leknes
   Détail du jour 8

   We head west early, before the tour coaches and camper vans fill the narrow road and the small laybys. First Nusfjord, a fishing village of red rorbu cabins, an old general store and a cod liver oil factory, tucked into a narrow bay and one of the best preserved in Norway. Then Ramberg, a white sand beach under steep peaks, and on over the bridges to Hamnøy and Reine, the view of red cabins below sheer granite that most Lofoten photographs show. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Stay in Reine while the hikers climb, with time for a café and a walk along the harbour.

   Option plus active : Climb the Sherpa-built stone steps up Reinebringen, about 450 m above Reine, two to three hours up and down with your guide, for the view over the village and the fjord.

   Temps libre : Evening free

   Activité : Easy village walks. The Reinebringen climb is steep and unrelenting; choose it only if you are comfortable on long staircases.

9. Jour 9 : Vikings, Henningsvær and the Trollfjord

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

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Leknes
   Détail du jour 9

   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. 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

   Option plus facile : Skip the boat and spend the morning in Svolvær's cafés and galleries by the harbour, then rejoin the group at the quay.

   Temps libre : Lunch free in Henningsvær

   Activité : Start: we leave the base at about 8 am for the morning boat; the sailing time follows the operator timetable we confirm with your dates. Wind on the boat is cold even in July; bring a hat and gloves.

10. Jour 10 : Out of Lofoten and by boat to Tromsø

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

    • Environ 4.5 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
    • Nuit : Tromsø
    Détail du jour 10

    Our one long road day: about four and a half hours of driving and 260 km, more than our usual cap, because the rest of the way goes by boat; the all-road route to Tromsø is about 420 km and six hours or more. We leave the base at about 8 am and drive east past Svolvær, then over the Raftsund Bridge onto Hinnøya, Norway's largest island. 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. 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

    Temps libre : Evening free in Tromsø

    Activité : Start: we leave the base at about 8 am. About four and a half hours on the road and three on the boat, broken into short stretches by lunch and stops.

11. Jour 11 : Tromsø and the midnight sun

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

    • Environ 30 min de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
    • Nuit : Tromsø
    Détail du jour 11

    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. The afternoon is free. 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

    Option plus active : Walk up the Sherpa steps beside the cable car instead of riding up, about 1 to 1.5 hours.

    Temps libre : Afternoon free in Tromsø

    Activité : About 4 km on foot, including the Tromsø Bridge, which is long and exposed to wind.

12. Jour 12 : Tromsø and home

    Tromsø to Tromsø Airport, Langnes

    • Environ 15 min de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    Détail du jour 12

    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

    Temps libre : Morning free

    Activité : Book a flight home leaving after about 11 am to keep the morning free.

Faune et météo : June to August brings the longest days: north of the Arctic Circle the sun does not set from about early June to early or mid July, and August nights are short and light. Summer weather is changeable, from warm sun to cold rain on the same day, especially in Bergen and on the Lofoten coast. White-tailed sea eagles are common at Saltstraumen and in the Trollfjord. The northern lights are not visible in summer.

• Oslo1 nuit
• Flåm1 nuit
• Bergen2 nuits
• Trondheim1 nuit
• Bodø1 nuit
• Leknes3 nuits
• Tromsø2 nuits