Norway or where??? (1 Viewer)

[Daffy64]

Its my 60th this sept so we have been looking forward to a trip to Norway this year and if we dont get to Nordkap then I’d definitely want to get to the Lofoten islands.

I’m thinking that as we wont be able to get away until the middle of August and need to be back by the end of Sept then we might have left it a little late for a reasonable chance of OK weather in Norway this year.

So it’s just the 2 of us and Buddy the Spaniel, is it sensible for us to go to Norway and if not has anyone got any suggestions of where we and the dog can go for 6 weeks???

 

[CAB96]

Its my 60th this sept so we have been looking forward to a trip to Norway this year and if we dont get to Nordkap then I’d definitely want to get to the Lofoten islands.

I’m thinking that as we wont be able to get away until the middle of August and need to be back by the end of Sept then we might have left it a little late for a reasonable chance of OK weather in Norway this year.

So it’s just the 2 of us and Buddy the Spaniel, is it sensible for us to go to Norway and if not has anyone got any suggestions of where we and the dog can go for 6 weeks???

How, no idea I'm afraid, but hopefully someone will know.

Good luck with wherever you end up going!

 

[Brize]

Daffy,

You've asked a pretty open-ended question which I guess most people (including me) are finding difficult to answer - a lot depends on what you like doing.

We are in Norway now, on an 8 week trip. My advice to you is that if you are keen on a trip to Norway research about taking a dog as some have commented that it is better to enter from Sweden with the dog, and there will no doubt be various certificates you need.

In a 6 week trip, don't try and do too much as you will just find yourself sitting in the vehicle all day. Outside of the very few motorways, the maximum speed limit is 80kph (50mph), and your average speed will be a lot lower because roads go through most villages, with speed restrictions. Don't feel you have to go to the Lofotens; it is a motorhome traffic jam, and there are many other beautiful parts of the country. Let me correct that - every bit of the country is beautiful.

In a 6 week trip I would confine myself to going no further north than Trondheim, and make the most of the many wonderful tourist routes south of there. Make some broad plans, and look at the many (recent) threads on this forum about tags and ferries.

Hope this helps. Happy to address any further detail you need.

 

[DavidG58]

We did pretty much what you are planning so linking our travels here, many others have done it, but you might find it useful

Particularly the travel per day , Lofoten to home Derbyshire via Chunnel was a few miles short of 3000, it’s a very long way

We would do it again, but definitely not in 7 weeks next time

Thread 'Nordic travel plans August / September 2017'
https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/nordic-travel-plans-august-september-2017.152241/

 

[frwjd]

The Nordkapp isn't worth a visit unless you just want to "tick" it off your list, it isn't even the most northerly point in Europe.

The Lofoten islands and the rest of Norway are absolutely beautiful!
We're just back from a 12 week trip, most of which was in Norway.
Where else in the world can you drive for weeks on end covering 6,500 miles and every single minute is in the most beautiful scenery?

We had extremely good weather but had the clothing for any event.
You won't regret it, go for it, bon chance!

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[Bleau’s]

Just come back from 45 days and 4800 mile round trip got up to Tromso via the lofoten islands and loved it see the video on motorhometours website we got the dog wormed in ribe Denmark no problems message with any questions

 

[Daffy64]

Thanks all, I’ve got some serious research to do then

Thanks also to those that have offered to personally help with any questions, no doubt I’ll be in touch…

 

[TerryL]

Our first Norway trip was to Nordkap, simply because it was on my bucket list. Bit of a disappointment to be honest due to bad weather. Our plan was then to travel south to Lofoten and work our way back home - we'd allowed 6 weeks for the whole trip. Sadly we had to cut out Lofoten due to van troubles but went back last year and only went as far north as Lofoten but then, as mentioned above, took advantage of the various tourist routes you can find on the Norway Tourist website, which was brilliant. See our blog for our route. We travelled June/July.

Would strongly suggest you travel north through Sweden as the roads are much better. For our first trip we also went to Finland and crossed into Norway from there - nobody was interested in the dog! Last year we did the proper thing and had him "wormed" by a Swedish vet before crossing into Norway, although again nobody was interested.

And definitely get a ferry/tolls pass, it saves 50% on ferry fares, and there are a lot!

 

[paddymcc]

I would be inclined not to go all the way to Lofoten islands, as Brize and other people have said it's all beautiful. We have been 4 times and never got much north of Trondheim as there's so much to see and do. Our trips have been max of 6 weeks from home door to door.

 

[Daffy64]

Ok so we’ve decided we are going to go and limit ourselves to south of Trondheim as per several comments thus far.

I’m working on a route based on the Blogs above but I’m confused about tolls and ferries, can someone give me a heads up on the best value provider and what I need - so far I think I need a tag as the no plate recognition option doesnt give a discount - is this correct???

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[DavidG58]

One significant decision to make is how you cross to Norway, when / if we go back we will get the ferry from Denmark to southern Norway then do southern Norway. We did the Orendsun bridge / tunnel which also means a second bridge , the combined return tolls were over £200 for that part alone , we had only factored the Orendsun bit

 

[Bleau’s]

Just paid our skyttel tag bill and it was just under £200.00 up to Tromso and back excluding the orendsun bridge

 

[Brize]

Daffy,

You should get a tag from one of about 6 providers. This takes care of tolls, and gives you a 10% discount on ferries. If you then sign up for the autopass ferry extended discount scheme, your ferry discount goes up from 10% to 50%. It's worth it, but you need the tag first as the ferry extended discount scheme (autopassferje) need the tag number.

Everyone has a different experience with tag providers. All I can tell you is that we used OrsundPay, and they have been straightforward and helpful. I registered my UK Visa card with them, and all tolls take place automatically. There are lots of tolls, but each is small - £1.50 here, and £2 there. For the ferry extension you should go to the autopassferje website for details, you will need to deposit 2000 NOK, and your ferry charges come out of that. (Contact autopassferje by phone first).

In terms of routes, you will find the following helpful:

Norwegian Scenic Routes

Norwegian Scenic Routes are 18 selected roads that run through landscapes with unique natural qualities, along coasts and fjords, mountains and waterfalls. The routes are intended as alternatives to the main roads, and the drive itself sh …

www.nasjonaleturistveger.no

It gives all the details of the tourist routes (and it has a helpful map). As you will see, many of the tourist routes are in the south. I can provide further details on my own views later if you want. From this, you can easily work out a broad route - but be flexible, we changed our route a few times.

That's it for now. Get started on the prep now because it takes 2-3 weeks to get the tag, and then there is the ferry to do afterwards if you want it.

Let me know if you want anything further (or PM me).

 

[Lazyboy]

Meke sure you get your dog treated in Swweden or Denmark before entering Norway. (Exactly the same as if you are coming back from France).Although when we went no one was interested in the dog there were acouple of you tubers who had issues.
As said earlier it is a long drive so limita your expectations in terms of travel distance and enjoy. PM me if you want to.

 

[Daffy64]

I thought I’d update on our Norway trip to perhaps give others some idea of the costs of getting around.

We went up the Baltic coast of Sweden, through Finland and up to Nordkapp over the first 2 weeks and then 4 weeks back down the west coast of Norway down to Bergen and then across to Denmark via the Bridges. In total a fraction under 6,000 miles.

We got a tag from Skyttel pass, the road tolls were £19 in Norway, for the Ferries we used Autopass for Ferje, 15 ferries in Norway for a total at £53.

Obviously we had to get to Sweden before any of that kicked in, to get across the channel, Germany to Denmark and Denmark to Sweden and back was approx £700, all in fuel, tolls and ferries was just under £2k for a 7m motorhome doing 31mpg.

We’ve seen Moose, Reindeer and Deer, the dog found some Ticks - one of which managed to get his teeth into me. We saw the Northern lights, a Maelstrom and Roundabouts in Tunnels - had some great food (which was expensive but extremely high quality) - We found some wild(ish) camping but mainly stayed on sites (ave cost in Scandinavia was less than £20) and met some lovely people.

We’ve been all over the world and done many road trips on Bikes, Car and camper and our Scandinavian adventure was truly stunning.

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[Next Stop]

The whole Norway/Finland/Sweden thing is definitely on my bucket list, but due to work commitments it's on the back burner for the moment until I win the lottery or retire, which ever comes first!

Glad you had a great time, what was Nordkapp like, worth the drive? I've always wanted to go as I like ticking off boxes

 

[Daffy64]

The whole Norway/Finland/Sweden thing is definitely on my bucket list, but due to work commitments it's on the back burner for the moment until I win the lottery or retire, which ever comes first!

Glad you had a great time, what was Nordkapp like, worth the drive? I've always wanted to go as I like ticking off boxes

Nordkapp was a bit of an anticlimax really, it’s a tick box and whilst we were that close we had to do it but theres not much theres apart from a visitor centre, we got there early afternoon and it was packed with Criuise ship passengers but the parking includes an overnight, once they’d cleared out we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

 

[Next Stop]

Nordkapp was a bit of an anticlimax really, it’s a tick box and whilst we were that close we had to do it but theres not much theres apart from a visitor centre, we got there early afternoon and it was packed with Criuise ship passengers but the parking includes an overnight, once they’d cleared out we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Shame it was a bit of an anti-climax, but to say that I've camped out at the most Northern (drivable) part of Europe would be a huge tick box for me

 

[Daffy64]

Shame it was a bit of an anti-climax, but to say that I've camped out at the most Northern (drivable) part of Europe would be a huge tick box for me

Absolutely, when I say an anticlimax, it was as expected but there’s not much there, saying that I’m glad we made the effort and wouldn’t do anything different knowing what I know now.