Alesund- Experiencing the non touristy Norway on a day trip to Øye

Hello Fellow Cruisers,

A lot of ships make Alesund one of their destinations and many passengers elect to visit Trollstiegen from here. We, however, had the opportunity to experience Trollstiegen from Andalsnes and were looking for other DIY options from Alesund.

Icruiser, who lives in Alesund and tirelessly gives excellent advice on this forum on what to do in port, suggested a trip to the tiny village of Øye. Since we are huge nature lovers and shy away from large crowds, we decided that this option would be a perfect fit for us.

The following pictorial is a review of our adventure. I hope it will aid other cruisers in planning their day in port.

The ship was in port from 8 to 5 and we were waiting at the gangway to leave as soon as possible. We rented a car from Avis and had to walk for about 10 minutes through town to reach their office. Pick up was quick and soon we were on our way. One more word concerning car rentals. We usually bring our own GPS, a Garmin Nuvi, for road trips abroad and use micro S/D cards with local maps of the specific country. We are very familiar with our own device, which saves us valuable time. If you don't want or have a GPS, Avis in Alesund actually has excellent , free maps of the area.

Here is a visual of the first leg of our trip

The whole trip included 3 fjord crossings via ferry. Since we had never used this type of transportation prior to this trip, I was a little nervous about it. But no need to worry....Ferries are like floating buses for cars. They run very frequently on a very timely schedule and are inexpensive to use.

We left Alesund and stopped for the first time near Sykkylven. The reflections of the landscape in the still fjord waters were amazing and made my photographer's heart jump with joy.

Some impressions

more to follow

We continued on Rd 60 through a very alpine looking area near Stranda, which obviously is home to a popular ski-center area. The ski slopes without snow and the huge, empty parking lots of the lifts looked kind of out of place to us. I am sure it is different during the winter with snow cover and people around.

We pushed on towards Hellesylt and almost missed our next stop, the panorama viewpoint of Ljoen. There was a lot of road construction going on and I spotted the parking area very last minute behind metal traffic barriers and inbetween tunnels. So watch out! The vistas are terrific and offer great views of the Sunnylvsfjord and the Geirangerfjord

more to come

We followed Rd 60 past Hellesylt and then turned onto Rd 655 to Øye. We drove through the Norangsvalley which is one of the narrowest valleys in Norway with spectacular scenery.

The crystal clear lake was formed by a rock slide in 1908. On a clear day you can still see the submerged remnants of farm houses

more to follow

I spotted these well hidden fishing cabins and walked closer for a better look

Every cabin has its individual touch. I was waiting for the trolls to come out, but no luck....:p

After a 30 minute scenic drive through the valley, we arrived in Øye

more to come

We soon found Hotel Union, a beautifully quirky place. In the late 1800's it was frequented by lots of European aristocrats who were seeking out the beauty of the nearby Hjorundsfjord. The hotel was brilliantly restored to its original state in 1989.

I love this place! If you have time, stop for a cup of coffee or lunch.

more to follow

After our visit at the hotel we headed back to Alesund.

I had to post 2 photos of the maps, because Google Maps didn't think our route was a recommended way to go. We would have rather taken the ferry into the Hjorundsfjord to Standal and followed a road along the fjord back to Alesund. This particular ferry though runs very infrequently and we wouldn't have been back to Alesund by "all aboard". Lars came to the rescue again and proposed the alternative route. We took the very frequently running ferry from Lekneset to Saebo.

Some photos of Hjorundsfjord

more to follow

We followed Rd 655 to Ørsta, where the weather, all of the sudden, became absolutely beautiful. We enjoyed a drive right along the fjord on E39 to the our last ferry ride from Festoya to Solavagen

more to come

At this time, we programmed "Fjellstua" into our GPS. We really wanted to visit the Aksla viewpoint of Alesund before returning the car. The GPS led us safely along winding roads up to the viewpoint, where parking was free and the vistas outstanding

The Rhododendron was in full bloom. This particular bush caught my eye due to its huge size

more to come

We returned the car around 4pm and had plenty of time to explore Alesund's waterfront on our way back to the ship.

Alesund is known for its unique concentration of Art Nouveau architecture. A fire in 1904 destroyed the city and left over 10,000 people without shelter. The town was rebuilt in stone, brick and mortar in Jugendstil(Art Nouveau), the period's architectural style.

The building on Mt. Aksla as seen from town with stairs leading up to it

Before returning to the Caribbean Princess, we sat down for a few minutes next to this fountain to enjoy the warm sun

Another beautiful sunset on our way to Bergen, our last port of call on this voyage

More port reviews from our most recent cruise

Stavanger

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2232099

Olden

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2233136

Flam

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2236140

Andalsnes

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2237893

Trondheim

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2239089

North Cape

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2241112

Tromso

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2242143

Lofoten Islands

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2244503

Appreciate your nice pictures, postings and details. They bring back nice memories from our July 2010 "adventure" in many of these same locations.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 183,016 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

Thanks for your review! Love seeing pictures of the fjords and surrounding areas its absolutely stunning. We wished there was cruiseline that did an overnight at some of these ports as 8 hours never seems to be enough time to take it all in.

-Sean

I am again speechless. Your review and pictures are absolutely stunning.

Its very inspiring how you diy your days in port.

I used to do that..then for some reason I stopped...Now, thanks to you I will find my "path" again:)

Reading your review also reminded me that we have not taken the trip to Øye this year. I must make that happen soon.

Just some silly info. In your post #6 - in the map you see a place called "Viddal".

A very dear friend of mine move there a few months ago. She is starting her own winery!!

Lars

I am again speechless. Your review and pictures are absolutely stunning.

Its very inspiring how you diy your days in port.

I used to do that..then for some reason I stopped...Now, thanks to you I will find my "path" again:)

 

Reading your review also reminded me that we have not taken the trip to Øye this year. I must make that happen soon.

 

Just some silly info. In your post #6 - in the map you see a place called "Viddal".

A very dear friend of mine move there a few months ago. She is starting her own winery!!

 

Lars

Lars,

Thanks so much!

I really appreciate the compliment. It makes the postings even more worthwhile. I am glad I could awaken the sleeping DIY'er within again:)

Thanks again for all the help you provide on this forum!

Petra

Beautiful! Thanks for posting.

You posts are just terrific. We'll be in Alesund next month for a day from 9 am- 6pm. I would love to do what you did. Can you give me an idea of the cost.....car, gas, ferries. Did you feel stressed at all that you wouldn't make it back to the ship in time? Thank you!

You posts are just terrific. We'll be in Alesund next month for a day from 9 am- 6pm. I would love to do what you did. Can you give me an idea of the cost.....car, gas, ferries. Did you feel stressed at all that you wouldn't make it back to the ship in time? Thank you!

Hi there, thank you so much for following my post.

We did not feel rushed or stressed at all. I printed out all the ferry schedules ahead of time and knew that they were running fairly frequently.

We rented a manual transmission car from Avis

Price incl insurance NOK 837

The cars over in Norway are very fuel efficient (engine shuts of at red lights,etc), so our gas was only about $30.

The ferry cost were as follows

Magerholm to Sykkylven:

Driver + car: NOK 74 and per passenger 29

Lekneset to Saebo: same as above

Both ferry crossings took about 15 min

Festoya to Solavagen

Car+ driver NOK 80, per passenger 31

This ferry crossing was 20 min

The Lekneset to Saebo ferry runs only hourly from 1pm to 3pm, so plan your trip accordingly.

Don't hesitate to ask more questions, I'll be happy to help!

Enjoy your trip

Regards

Petra

What a fabulous review - so informative & photos are stunning. We are thinking of taking this trip in June 2016 on Emerald. We did the Baltic Heritage Cruise on Caribbean Princess this year, and had forgotten how great cruising can be.

Just one/two questions (for now ☺) - how busy do the tenders get ? Is it best to be there first, or give it some time to quieten down during the morning ? I've not had to tender for 8yrs, and cannot recall.

Many thanks for any advice.

What a fabulous review - so informative & photos are stunning. We are thinking of taking this trip in June 2016 on Emerald. We did the Baltic Heritage Cruise on Caribbean Princess this year, and had forgotten how great cruising can be.

Just one/two questions (for now ☺) - how busy do the tenders get ? Is it best to be there first, or give it some time to quieten down during the morning ? I've not had to tender for 8yrs, and cannot recall.

Many thanks for any advice.

Hi there Mollyblu,

We are early risers and always want to spend as much time as possible exploring the ports. Therefore we tried to be in the tender meeting area, which in our case was one of the MDRs, as early as possible. You have to pick up a tender ticket and then wait your turn. Princess shore excursion guests have priority and go first. Each time we tendered we were able to get on the first boat available for "regular" people and only had to wait maybe 15 to 20 minutes. I imagine that the wait time gets longer later on, because most people like to sleep in a little...

Don't hesitate to ask more questions. I'll be happy to help!

Regards

Petra

Absolutely beautiful....thank you!

Thank You Petra, I appreciate your help.

Just stunning....fantastic review as always

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thanks again Petra for a very useful review. We only stop in Alesund, if you had to choose between this day trip or doing the trolls path which would you choose?

James

thanks again Petra for a very useful review. We only stop in Alesund, if you had to choose between this day trip or doing the trolls path which would you choose?

James

Hands down, the Trollstigen! The drive is wonderful and the viewpoints fantastic! Leave as early as you can to beat the crowds....

Regard

Petra

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Hands down, the Trollstigen! The drive is wonderful and the viewpoints fantastic! Leave as early as you can to beat the crowds....

Regard

Petra

 

 

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Perfect, thanks a lot

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