After 26 days in Norway, I feel like we really got to see this amazing and magically beautiful country. David and I feel like there are so many places in the world we want to see, that we don’t often talk about revisiting a place we’ve already been. Norway may be an exception. Why? In such an extreme geographical location, the weather in much of Norway has a severe impact on the way you see it. We visited in the fall and could only imagine what summer would be like with the ability to hike more or even be out on the water in a kayak or surf in Lofoten. And at the same time, we could only begin to imagine the uniqueness in the winter with a whole other set of activities and beauty.
You may be wondering what we did in the 26 days we were there, so this blog post will focus mostly on the places we visited and the things we did (Rachael and Josh, you probably won't enjoy this one 😘). And some of the gluten friendly, vegan friendly places we ate.
I’ll start with a huge caveat - we are not museum people, so you will see very few museums listed amongst the “things to do” and we’ll give an honest 👍 or 👎 for those we did visit.
General information you might find useful if you’re planning a trip, or maybe just interesting
Practicalities - literally never needed cash, all Apple Pay / card tap of your choice.
Grocery stores - as we stayed in many apartments along our journey, we found the grocery stores had everything we could need and most have a “Fri from” section, which is an allergy friendly section with products that are gluten free, nut free, lactose free, you get the idea
Liquor (for at home) - is sold at separate stores called “Vinmonopolet” and are not open all that late (if the town even has one)
Oslo: 3 nights, 2 days
Quick impressions
Blown away by public transit in the city center; really only saw taxis on the road, and the buses, trams, and trains run so frequently we didn’t have to worry about the schedule much
There were a lot of new(er) buildings and not much of an ‘old city center’ with the charming Scandinavian design we’d expected. That said, the new opera house, the city library and the Edvard Munch museum were all very new and modern
What we saw / did
Day 1
We’ve become big fans of “free city walking tours” and did one in Oslo. These tours actually exist all over the world and are led by licensed tour guides. They are not exactly free, but are tip based and we found that most people give $10-$20/per person. These tours last about 2 hours and do a nice job providing a city overview.
After the tour we went back to visit some of the places in more depth, we enjoyed walking on the roof of the Opera House, browsing through the city library and revisiting Akershus Fortress (all free activities)
Day 2
We took a bus out to the Norse Folksemuseum which was pretty neat. This museum has collected historic buildings from across Norway’s different regions and created a park of sorts where you can walk through and see all these restored buildings
Then took the bus to Frogner Park where Vigeland Sculpture Park is, here we explored the more than 200 sculptures by Gustav Vigeland in bronze, granite and cast iron. Amazing collection.
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Where we stayed
Hotel Christiana Teater, was in a great location, near many sights including the national theater and a block from the largest transport center in the city
The breakfast buffet was not only delicious, offering a wide variety of foods, but it also had a “gluten free corner” which made me SUPER happy and was in the cutest room I’d ever seen for a hotel breakfast buffet
Where we ate and/or drank, that was noteworthy
Himcock Cocktail Bar - David found this super cool, speakeasy type place. The menu of cocktails was unique and maybe a little hard to understand, but the bartenders were super helpful, made beautiful drinks and were fun to watch as well. It’s purposefully hard to find.
Baker Hansen is a chain of bakeries in the city and fortunately there was one right next to our hotel. The main reason I loved this bakery was because they not only had gluten free bread loaves (which we used for travel days and picnics) but they also had a few gluten free pastries to enjoy
Nordvegan was a great little all vegan spot we found with lots of gluten free options.
From Oslo to Bergen: 1 night, 2 days
The next part of our trip was some trains, planes and automobiles but in this case more like trains, more trains and ferries. A lot of people book a tour called “Norway in a Nutshell” that takes you from Oslo to Fläm and onto Bergen. We had looked at this and after talking to some friends (👋 AJ & Whitney), followed their lead and just booked it all ourselves. This saved a little bit of money and gave us some flexibility. And, as AJ and Whitney had literally just done this themselves, we just did what they did!
Train from Oslo to Myrdal (beautiful train ride through the country side, nearby a glacier, it was the beginning of our “awe” for the beauty of this country)
Historic Fläm railway from Myrdal down into Fläm - this was an unreal experience
Spent the night in Aurland (10 minute bus ride from the very overcrowded and touristy Fläm) at Vangsgaarden Gjestgiveri
Spent the morning hiking with un-believ-able view of the fjords
Took an afternoon ferry to Bergen (5.5 hours but very smooth fjord waters)
Bergen: 5 nights, 4 days
We were ready to slow things down a bit and our time in Bergen helped with that. We had arranged for a HomeExchange and got to meet our hosts in Aurland actually as they were headed out to the Mountains while we stayed in their apartment. Their place was about 15 minutes by lightrail outside the city center. Their apartment was perfect, giving us some space to hang out, slow down, cook a few meals and of course do some sightseeing around the area.
What we saw / did
Bergen
We started our visit with another free walking tour, this one covering the main sights of the city center including the UNESCO Bryggen area, fish market (not much of one left today, a bit disappointing), the Old Town Hall, Theater, Fortress and more
We went back on our own through some of the Bryggen historic areas, and some of the cool little neighborhood streets
On another day we watched the weather forecast carefully and made our way to the Fløbanen which is a funicular that takes you up above Bergen to some beautiful and vast hiking areas. As the day was actually warm, yet forecasted to rain we found ourselves in shorts, hiking boots and rain jackets - a bit odd, but amongst the other Norwegians dressed similarly.
Hardanger Fjord Day Trip!
This was a big day - we had picked up a rental car to drive out to Hardanger Fjord the day prior
Norway has a number of National Scenic Routes throughout the country, Hardanger is amongst them. These roads take you through some stunning areas of Norway but the one thing I appreciated about them more than anything: many rest stops along the way with clean and often interestingly designed bathrooms
As this was definitely off-season we didn’t find many restaurants or cafes open (and there are not many to begin with). As we have been doing during our travels, we planned ahead bringing some picnic foods we could eat / snack along the way.
The drive was beautiful, with many waterfall stops along the way, each one better than the last
The road were often narrow and winding
We found the people along the way very friendly, including a woman at Aga Sideri (Cider Distillery), who opened the store so we could make a purchase. The fall is apple harvesting season, so she was pretty busy when we came across the Sideri.
A nice museum in Utne that provided an overview of the Hardanger history, people and gorgeous traditional clothing and music
Our route: Bergen to Tørvikbygd where we took the ferry to Jondal. We drove up to Utne and down towards Aga. After visiting the Sideri, we drove back to Utne, took the ferry to Kvanndal and drove back to Bergen.
Where we ate / drank
As I mentioned earlier we enjoyed a bit of cooking during this part of our trip but did find one place we fell in love with, so much so we visited twice for lunch
Daily pot - vegan and omni options, beautiful large yummy bowls and a great selection of homemade soups.
Ålesund and the Geiranger Fjord Area: 4 nights, 3.5 days
Probably one of our favorite parts of our Norway trip, I’d say tied with the last phase which took us to the Arctic Circle.
What we saw / did
Ålesund itself is a really small but beautiful little city. We arrived to the airport, rented our car and spent the afternoon in the city - that was probably enough. We climbed the 418 steps to the top of Mount Aksla and enjoyed the views. And we enjoyed the art nouveau architecture the city is known for
Geiranger fjord (UNESCO site) cruise/ferry - We drove to Hellyslt and took the car onto the ferry. Then enjoyed the views and the glassy water for just over an hour as we arrived in the village of Geiranger.
Geiranger Skywalk (100% worth the cost and the crazy drive) - we met a young Italian cyclist on the way who we gave a ride up to and even experienced snow up there
Hiking in Geiranger - so many options, we enjoyed this one
Special day in Liabygda - this was a day we won’t soon forget and we’re so grateful to Isabel and Luis (Enrique & Molly Guadiamos’ Norweign family!) for spending a day of their weekend with us, showing us their home and sharing their family. We took a hike through their forest to their family’s cabin, picked and ate wild blueberries along the way. Isabel took us out to the last working farm in their village (with stunning fjord views), Luis made us a delicious poke bowl with fresh salmon from the company they work for of course! And then the two of them drove us out to Trollstigen (Troll Road) to the viewing area above the road of 12 hairpin turns (which was closed due to some avalanches!) Two of their three children, Marcos and Melinda were also able to join us for parts of the day - truly special.
Where we stayed
From Ålesund we drove to Stranda and stayed in an Airbnb that was beautiful, new, modern and literally on the fjord. Stranda may be a strange place to stay and there’s not much there (grocery store, gastropub, one hotel, bakery) but it was well situated to explore the area. Stranda is also home to a ski resort.
Union Hotel in Geiranger was our original plan and comes highly recommended; we were just feeling the need to have some extra space and again, be able to cook some meals for ourselves - eating out gets tiresome
Where we ate of note
In Geiranger: lunch at Brasserie Postin was very good and had the best gluten free bread, perfect for dipping in a huge bowl of mussels
The Lied / Guadiamos home - sorry but this one is not open to the public ☺️
Tromsø (3 nights, 2 days), Senja (1 night) & the Lofoten Islands (7 nights, 6 days)
The Arctic Circle of Norway - bucket list!!!
What we saw / did
The northern lights, baby! David wrote a whole blog post on this, bottom line, join a tour with a great guide!
Hiked the 1,203 steps on the Sherpatrappa trail to an amazing viewpoint and took the Fjellheisen cable car down!
Drove by the Arctic Cathedral - was told it’s not that cool and not worth spending money to go inside and we agreed
Polar Museum - small little museum that shared a lot about “seal hunting” in the Nordic, pretty interesting, worth a visit
As this was a stop on our way from Tromsø to Lofoten, we followed the national scenic highway from the hotel to the ferry along our way. The gold bathroom was worth the trip alone!
Ferry ride from Gryllefjord to Andenes was on the open Norweign Sea… let’s just say, we barely held it together while many others made use of the barf bags
Drove south from where we stayed to Reine - made some stops along the way in various fishing villages for some un-real picturesque photos, caught some gorgeous rainbows along the way and did the Reinbringen hike (2,000 steps, 1,790 elevation gain in less than a mile, thankfully from sea level! ) - all for the insta photo
Drove north to Henningsvaer and Svolvaer (if Lofoten had a capital city this town woul dbe it) to explore some more beautiful roads and scenery
Hiked at Haulkland beach on the west coast of Lofoten where the beaches are just gorgeous
Spa’d at Nyvågar Rorbuhotell - about $100 for the two of us to enjoy the sauna, hot tubs and cool off in the fjords. The lounge area was calming, robes and towels were provided; would visit again! Also a cute "fisherman cabin" hotel
Where we stayed
Tromsø - Scandic Ishavshotel - it was fine, I’d stay somewhere else and not pay the high prices for a pretty poor harbor view. Not a lot of privacy with the windows of all the rooms facing towards each other.
Senja, Mefjord Brygge - cute little inn with a very cool, comfortable and hygge lounge/ bar. Not a lot of choices in the area and for one night on our way to Lofoten it worked well. Very helpful staff and restaurant did a nice job for dinner.
Lofoten Islands - we did a HomeExchange here and enjoyed staying in an old family farm house that has been restored and made to be very comfortable. We enjoyed a view of the sea and a bit of a remote location on these magical islands; yet within driving distance to all the main sites
Where we ate of note
Tromsø - my gluten free research failed me miserably here; a lot of restaurants had outdated info on their websites or the reviews were dated.
Asian Healthy Foods - Vietnamese spot we found that was casual and maybe not that knowledgable on the gluten free stuff, but was able to navigate it with some common sense. Also had vegetarian & vegan options
Suvi - so glad we found this place, had a great sushi dinner
Egon is a chain in Norway and we finally went to eat there for lack of other options; not a lot for this gluten free/ vegan-preferred diner.
Senja - see note above on Mefjord Brygge, the inn where we stayed. Otherwise we did picnics on the route / in the car when needed
Lofoten - we only ate one meal out, keep in mind it’s offseason, we stayed in a fairly remote area and there is not a lot around anyhow. The one meal was at Kjokkenet (the kitchen) in Svolvaer. This was traditional Norwegian / Lofoten cuisine where David enjoyed a vegan Risotto (not very Norwegian) and I had the local Boknafish. Oh, we tried whale carpaccio as well - not what I expected, in a good way.
That’s a wrap of Norway - perhaps one we might just visit again!
And as always... P.S. send us texts, emails, photos - we’ll be sharing our life on the road, please share your life with us as well - miss you already!
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