Do it yourself Norway ports with rental cars

We did a Norway North Cape cruise this summer. Four ports were with in rental cars.

In Geiranger, we took a mountain bus to Mount Dalsnibna for $34 per person. There are also Viator tours for less than ship tours and emobility rental cars in port although I think the rates are high. Town is right at the dock and Fjord museum is walkable.

In Trondheim the main sights are about a half mile walk from the port and we were given walking maps at the dock. Most things are easy to find.

In Tromso we rented a car and drove to the Arctic church, cable car and Sommoroy. We used Google Maps for directions. There are some one way streets here but otherwise it was not bad. We took a ship shuttle to the main city area and the rental car was about 3 blocks away.

In Lofton islands, we had the rental car brought to us at the dock. It was about $200 for the day but ship tours are quite expensive here and we did 3 ship itineraries for the price of a rental car. Driving was easy with good highways. We went to A, Reine, Sund blacksmith, the Flak onion church, Nusfjord village and the Viking museum.

In Honninsvag, we rented a car which was right at the port. They had overbooked so beware. Rental car was easy walk. Driving was on good roads. We drove to North Cape, visited a Sami camp, went to the Christmas house and took the Crab Safari. It is about $70 cheaper to book direct and about a block from the port.

In Ålesund, we rented a car which was about 4 blocks from the port. Driving was easy. We went to Godoy and Giske islands, Sunnamore open air museum and Aquarium.

In Bergen, most sights are concentrated in a small area so it is easy to see these on your own.

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Thank you for your notes!

We will be cruising to Norway this coming June. Been thinking about renting cars at various ports, what side of the road do they drive on over there?

this was good help. Thanks for your posts.

To: angeleyes27:

When you drove to North Cape, did you previously book the crab safari or did you find one along the way to visit? We will be in port from 8am-5pm and trying to figure out how to squeeze everything in if we have to book in advance. Thanks for any advice!

There is also car rental in Olden for they who is going to visit this port in 2018 :)

Here is a link to the company : https://olden-adventure.trekksoft.com/en

Condocat, we booked it in advance with them. We got off the boat as soon as we could and got to North Cape ahead of the crowds. Billet rental service is right at the port and less than a block from the Crab Safari. It takes about 45 minutes to drive to North Cape. There can be fog at the last part so you can’t rush but we had enough time at North Cape and even made several stops on the way back for pictures as well as the Sami Camp. We got to see most of the exhibits at North Cape and got back a little early. We were also there from 8am to 5pm.

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Angeleyes:

This is really helpful. I'm looking at car rentals from Hertz. May I ask who you rented from?

Also checked at the cruise schedule and noted MSC has a mega ship in at the same time as we are there with 4500 people...ouch! Your advice is excellent. Get out fast and head up the highway!

One more question. My husband is not a big fan of heights. Was the road on the edge of the cliffs or was there some land to give it a buffer?

Appreciate all your insights!

We used Nordkapp Biletservice. They were right outside the port but they overbooked and we had to argue with them to get our car. Most of the road was not on cliffs. The one portion that did was a couple miles of the road up the plateau but had a guard rail of steel in parts and concrete in other parts but my husband said it did not scare him. It was also a 2 lane highway in most spots.

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They drive on the right in Norway

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The portion of road that was higher with guard rails was similar to some of our roads out West. It was not bad. The roads in Geiranger would be scary to drive on but not these. I would be nervous with the hairpin curves and narrow roads in Geiranger. Also driving up the mountain to the one viewpoint in Flam was scary as it was only wide enough for one car around mountain passes

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Another important thing to note if you're coming from someplace like the US (where unmarked intersections are not especially common) is the "right-hand rule" -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priority_to_the_right

Most intersections on smaller roads are not marked with Stop or Yield signs, so unless you're on a marked priority road (yellow diamond signs), be aware that you need to yield to any vehicle entering or crossing your path from a road to your right. They will be expecting you to give way, so if you do not, it's easy to cause an accident. This is especially common within town centers where small streets intersect with one another.

Thanks for all the great information!

Thanks for the info. We are looking at hiring a car in Lofoten (Leknes) in June 2018. It would be great if they bring the car to the dock. We will be there from 6am til 5pm. Could you let us know what company you booked with and did you need an international drivers licence.

Thanks Sharon

We used Hertz which charged us $50 extra to bring the car to the dock. There were several car companies in Leknes such as Avis and Europacar. We were there on a Sunday which made it very difficult to get a reasonably priced car.

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We used Hertz which charged us $50 extra to bring the car to the dock. There were several car companies in Leknes such as Avis and Europacar. We were there on a Sunday which made it very difficult to get a reasonably priced car.

 

 

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Thanks I will send them an email and see what they come back with.

We used Hertz which charged us $50 extra to bring the car to the dock. There were several car companies in Leknes such as Avis and Europacar. We were there on a Sunday which made it very difficult to get a reasonably priced car.

 

 

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Do you have an email address for Hertz or Avis in Leknes. I am having trouble contacting them.

Hertz is: hertz.leknes@hertz.no. Avis is: leknes@avis.no. It takes them a while to write back.

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They may have blocked out the email addresses.

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They may have blocked out the email addresses.

 

 

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No all good. Thanks for that. I have sent them both an email and hope we get a response.

Thanks angeleyes27 for the great info...we, too, are planning to rent a car in Leknes but we’re stymied as to how to get to the pickup at airport....

chris

They will bring it to the port for $50 so you don't need to get to the airport

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Hi!

Thanks for your information. We will be on a fjords cruise in June, 2018. Were you able to book the rental car in Honningsvag over the internet, and, if so, do you have a link for that? Also, what was the approximate cost for the day/

Angeleyes, did you think the rental car in Tromso was worthwhile? I have read others feel they covered this town with buses and walking?

It depends on what you want to see. We drove to Sommoroy

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It depends on what you want to see. We drove to Sommoroy

 

 

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Did you enjoy Sommoroy?

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