Bergen; Alesund; Olden; Skolden; Eidfjor; Stavanger

Hello from the very cold Houston, British Columbia, Canada. -22 degrees Celsius today but beautiful clear skies.

We are traveling to Norway and Svalbard in June this year and I am researching each port on our somewhat hodgepodge adventure. We have 3 days in Oslo before we head to Svalbard for a week on the Explorer; then fly to Bergen for two days before we board the Pullmantur Monarch for the "Fjords of the North" cruise, which includes Bergen; Alesund; Olden; Skolden; Eidfjord; and Stavanger.

Although the ship continues on to Berlin as the final destination we are disembarking in Stavanger where we are going to spend one night at the Preikestolen Mountain Lodge hopefully to do some kayaking and hike to the top of Pulpit Rock. Then back to Stavanger for 3 more days.

Lastly, on to Bergen to catch the train to Flam, where we will spend 4 nights, and finally back to Oslo.

We are in our early 60's but reasonably active. We like to do easy to moderate hikes, kayaking, and just generally exploring the surroundings. We do not plan to take any of the ship excursions unless there is a compelling reason to do so, instead we would like to explore the ports on our own and maybe fit in a few hikes, etc. We are mainly doing this cruise to be able to see the fjords (Nordfjord, Sognefjord, Hardangerfjord

Looking for suggestions.

Hope you can help

Joan

Our family of four just toured Norway this past August for 3 weeks. We did a road trip + air. Here are some of my suggestions.

Oslo: The cityscape itself isn't as impressive as Paris or Rome. We enjoyed the tour of the city hall (10AM), Fram museum, Norwegian cultural museum (a little disappointing), of course the national gallery (the scream!), and the vigeland sculpture park.

Bergen: The fish market! super expensive though.

Alesund:

Olden: The hike to the glacier is super-easy. The lake itself is breathtaking. We stayed in one of the cute cabins by the lake and loved rowing in the lake.

Stavanger: pretty easy hike to the pulpit rock. about 2 hrs up. must hike up to be above the pulpit rock for an amazing view

Flam: beautiful, but Geiranger is even more gorgeous.

Stavanger, Eidfjord, Alesund, Bergen & Oslo are all very doable without paying for a ship's excursions. You will have a fabulous time. Svalbard was the highlight of our trip there even though there were no excursions on offer. It was spectacular just to see it and sail past ice floes.

Stavanger - the ship will berth near to the town ( there are a couple of berths but both are near to the sights.) The old town is worth a visit and consists of a collection of old white houses higher up the hill as you disembark the ship. It is very scenic and there is a warren of little alleyways which are great to explore. Worth a look. Stavanger has lots to see and do for being quite a small place and you will easily fill a day. Museums include the excellent oil museum (much, much more interesting than it sounds.) 3D exhibitions and hands on activities. Brilliant. There is also the Sardine Canning Museum where you can pack sardines - great fun. There is also a Fishing Museum, shopping centre, Cathedral, HoHo bus/train and a beautiful lake to walk around.

Eidfjord as has been said is small and walkable - set at the top of a beautiful fjord. You can go kayaking on the water , walk around the village past farms, rivers etc - there are printed walks available from the tiny tourist office and trails to follow or there is also a small land train which gives an excellent trip around the area. This was one of our favorite places.

Alesund is also easily accessible - the walk into town is only a few minutes and you can start exploring. We found guided walking tours available from the Tourist Office for a small fee and we enjoyed them. Everyone very friendly and the guide was great. I believe they departed about 1.00pm but you can check on line before the holiday. Norway has a very good web site for tourists and holiday makers.

Oslo is lovely and you can take a small ferry across from near where the ship docks to the Folk Museum and the Viking Ship Museum across the fjord. You will also be very near the City Hall where you can visit and see inside where some of the Nobel Prizes are given out. There is also lots of examples of Nordic Art and Life of the Sami people. (Although this may not be there now, not sure.) The City Hall is very close to where the ship docks.

So there is no need to take a tour in these particular stops if you prefer not to. They are all easily walkable.

Bergen is easy to do on your own - recommend the Hoho bus which includes the cost of going up the cable car at Mount Ulriken ( not the funicular) which I feel is more spectacular and less busy. The old town is lovely as is the market etc.

You will have a fabulous time throughout.

Stavanger, Eidfjord, Alesund, Bergen & Oslo are all very doable without paying for a ship's excursions. You will have a fabulous time. Svalbard was the highlight of our trip there even though there were no excursions on offer. It was spectacular just to see it and sail past ice floes.

 

Stavanger - the ship will berth near to the town ( there are a couple of berths but both are near to the sights.) The old town is worth a visit and consists of a collection of old white houses higher up the hill as you disembark the ship. It is very scenic and there is a warren of little alleyways which are great to explore. Worth a look. Stavanger has lots to see and do for being quite a small place and you will easily fill a day. Museums include the excellent oil museum (much, much more interesting than it sounds.) 3D exhibitions and hands on activities. Brilliant. There is also the Sardine Canning Museum where you can pack sardines - great fun. There is also a Fishing Museum, shopping centre, Cathedral, HoHo bus/train and a beautiful lake to walk around.

 

Eidfjord as has been said is small and walkable - set at the top of a beautiful fjord. You can go kayaking on the water , walk around the village past farms, rivers etc - there are printed walks available from the tiny tourist office and trails to follow or there is also a small land train which gives an excellent trip around the area. This was one of our favorite places.

 

Alesund is also easily accessible - the walk into town is only a few minutes and you can start exploring. We found guided walking tours available from the Tourist Office for a small fee and we enjoyed them. Everyone very friendly and the guide was great. I believe they departed about 1.00pm but you can check on line before the holiday. Norway has a very good web site for tourists and holiday makers.

 

Oslo is lovely and you can take a small ferry across from near where the ship docks to the Folk Museum and the Viking Ship Museum across the fjord. You will also be very near the City Hall where you can visit and see inside where some of the Nobel Prizes are given out. There is also lots of examples of Nordic Art and Life of the Sami people. (Although this may not be there now, not sure.) The City Hall is very close to where the ship docks.

So there is no need to take a tour in these particular stops if you prefer not to. They are all easily walkable.

 

Bergen is easy to do on your own - recommend the Hoho bus which includes the cost of going up the cable car at Mount Ulriken ( not the funicular) which I feel is more spectacular and less busy. The old town is lovely as is the market etc.

 

You will have a fabulous time throughout.

Thanks So much for the great information.

4 months to go

Joan

Stavanger, Eidfjord, Alesund, Bergen & Oslo are all very doable without paying for a ship's excursions. You will have a fabulous time. Svalbard was the highlight of our trip there even though there were no excursions on offer. It was spectacular just to see it and sail past ice floes.

 

Stavanger - the ship will berth near to the town ( there are a couple of berths but both are near to the sights.) The old town is worth a visit and consists of a collection of old white houses higher up the hill as you disembark the ship. It is very scenic and there is a warren of little alleyways which are great to explore. Worth a look. Stavanger has lots to see and do for being quite a small place and you will easily fill a day. Museums include the excellent oil museum (much, much more interesting than it sounds.) 3D exhibitions and hands on activities. Brilliant. There is also the Sardine Canning Museum where you can pack sardines - great fun. There is also a Fishing Museum, shopping centre, Cathedral, HoHo bus/train and a beautiful lake to walk around.

 

Eidfjord as has been said is small and walkable - set at the top of a beautiful fjord. You can go kayaking on the water , walk around the village past farms, rivers etc - there are printed walks available from the tiny tourist office and trails to follow or there is also a small land train which gives an excellent trip around the area. This was one of our favorite places.

 

Alesund is also easily accessible - the walk into town is only a few minutes and you can start exploring. We found guided walking tours available from the Tourist Office for a small fee and we enjoyed them. Everyone very friendly and the guide was great. I believe they departed about 1.00pm but you can check on line before the holiday. Norway has a very good web site for tourists and holiday makers.

 

Oslo is lovely and you can take a small ferry across from near where the ship docks to the Folk Museum and the Viking Ship Museum across the fjord. You will also be very near the City Hall where you can visit and see inside where some of the Nobel Prizes are given out. There is also lots of examples of Nordic Art and Life of the Sami people. (Although this may not be there now, not sure.) The City Hall is very close to where the ship docks.

So there is no need to take a tour in these particular stops if you prefer not to. They are all easily walkable.

 

Bergen is easy to do on your own - recommend the Hoho bus which includes the cost of going up the cable car at Mount Ulriken ( not the funicular) which I feel is more spectacular and less busy. The old town is lovely as is the market etc.

 

You will have a fabulous time throughout.

I just read your post, thanks so much for the information. If I'm understanding correctly, you hiked up to Pulpit rock and still had plenty of time to check out the town of Stavanger. Did you hike up without being on a tour? The cruise ship excursions are ridiculously expensive, so hoping for options. Thank you! Sandra

This is scheduled to open on May 20th in Olden:

https://hovenloen.no/english/