Flam Railway on your own - be aware!

[hallasm]

For the Flam Railway you can only purchase tickets at the day of departure when you arrive into Flam Harbour, however you can buy tickets in advance

form travel agencies like 'Scandinavian Rail' or NSB /Norwegian Rail) either at the web or at a NSB station but be aware:

When buying in advance you can only buy open tickets - you might get the impression from the web that you can just enter the queue for the train and then enter the train - this is NOT anymore (June 2013) the case!

If you have a ticket not purchased at the day at the Flam Train ticket office, your ticket must be validated at the Flåm Train ticket office.

So even when buying the tickets in advance, you cannot avoid the queue at the ticket office!

And with more than one cruise ship in port, it is very likely that all trains during the day are sold-out (see image below).

Check how many ships in port, You can see a list at http://aurlandhavn.no/cruise/skipsanlop-2013/ - if more than one ship you have to be early at the ticket office - either to buy your tickets or get your pre-purchased tickets validated. Othervise you might miss the Flam train tour that day!.

You can however reserve seats for free at http://www.visitflam.com/flam-railway/ if you are a group of 10 or more and then buy tickets in advance.

 

This is the text from http://www.visitflam.com/flam-railway/ regarding reservation and buying tickets in advance but you need to get the tickets validated. "Seat reservations are not required on the Flåm Railway, and there are no special seating charges. Groups of 10 persons or more must however always book in advance. Tickets for the Flåm Railway, alone and in combination with NSB's network, can be purchased at all served stations and at most travel agencies."

 

I have asked The Flåm railway as well as ACPRail to make the procedures clear to all at their web pages. If any changes I'll add to this post - also please add your past experiences - procedures have changed in 2013 from previous years

[paksey]

For the Flam Railway you can only purchase tickets at the day of departure when you arrive into Flam Harbour, however you can buy tickets in advance

form travel agencies like 'Scandinavian Rail' or NSB /Norwegian Rail) either at the web or at a NSB station but be aware:

When buying in advance you can only buy open tickets - you might get the impression from the web that you can just enter the queue for the train and then enter the train - this is NOT anymore (June 2013) the case!

If you have a ticket not purchased at the day at the Flam Train ticket office, your ticket must be validated at the Flåm Train ticket office.

So even when buying the tickets in advance, you cannot avoid the queue at the ticket office!

And with more than one cruise ship in port, it is very likely that all trains during the day are sold-out (see image below).

Check how many ships in port, You can see a list at http://aurlandhavn.no/cruise/skipsanlop-2013/ - if more than one ship you have to be early at the ticket office - either to buy your tickets or get your pre-purchased tickets validated. Othervise you might miss the Flam train tour that day!.

You can however reserve seats for free at http://www.visitflam.com/flam-railway/ if you are a group of 10 or more and then buy tickets in advance.

 

This is the text from http://www.visitflam.com/flam-railway/ regarding reservation and buying tickets in advance but you need to get the tickets validated. "Seat reservations are not required on the Flåm Railway, and there are no special seating charges. Groups of 10 persons or more must however always book in advance. Tickets for the Flåm Railway, alone and in combination with NSB's network, can be purchased at all served stations and at most travel agencies."

 

I have asked The Flåm railway as well as ACPRail to make the procedures clear to all at their web pages. If any changes I'll add to this post - also please add your past experiences - procedures have changed in 2013 from previous years

Thank you so much for this info!! We are going to Flam in July, and was planning to take this train. I have also passed this thread to our roll calls for our particular cruise, to give others this information too!

do you happen to know anything about the scenic boat cruise out of Flam?

[hallasm]

Please spread the message - there were a number of dissapointet people missing the train tour.

I have no information about the scenic boat cruise out of Flam - I would recommend to see the fjord from the cruise ship and then do the railway tour.

[Francesco]

Cruising Nærøyfjord, the narrowest and winding fjord is a good alternative to Flam Train. Or it can be easily added to the train ride. It takes about 2.5 hours to cruise on the ferry from Flam to Gudvangen and return by bus (bus alone takes 20 minutes). The fare includes both boat and bus rides.

 

The ferry and bus tickets can be purchased in the Tourist office, which opens at 8:30 am. We like this fjord cruise very much. You can see the beauty of the route from the following video:

 

[KirkNC]

That is certainly different than when we went but that was in 2011. We pre purchased tickets from Rail Europe and walked right on without having to deal with the zoo in the station. The big winners here will be the cruise line tours.

[paksey]

That is certainly different than when we went but that was in 2011. We pre purchased tickets from Rail Europe and walked right on without having to deal with the zoo in the station. The big winners here will be the cruise line tours.

You got that right

[Ragwort]

From my experience last week. The trains after mid-day (roughly) had loads of space on them. The morning ones were pretty full.

Oceana and a smaller Princess boat in port.

 

TIP: Sit on the right hand side of the train forthe best viewing. Yes the large waterfall is on the left. But the train stops here and everybody gets out to take a look / photos.

[joyride21]

I was one of the first to be affected by this change. We had purchased tickets from Scandinavian Rail, and was told we could just walk on the train. We got off the ship (June 5th) and got in line to board straight away. There were very few people ahead of us. When boarding began the conductor turned us away and told us the ticket had to be validated. We went back to the ticket office where we did not have to wait in the queue, we were ushered to the front of the group sales line. Not sure if this always happens, but that was our personal experience. They were able to validate our ticket for the train leaving in a few minutes, but were told we had to wait an hour at the top as the first return was sold out. This made me slightly nervous as the return they validated us for arrived back at 1:05 and the Nærøyfjord cruise I had also booked left at 1:20. This turned out to be a non issue, even though we were late getting back (arrived at 1:10) the boat for the tour docks literally next to the train station. (A note regarding the boat tour as well, since someone asked - it was great! I was made a bit nervous once again at the end of the boat portion because the shuttle was not waiting for us as the paperwork stated. It arrived a little bit past it's stated pickup time of 4:00. Even though the cruise is a little over two hours, the drive back is only about 20 minutes, so we made it back to our ship in plenty of time. All's well that ends well, and the scenery on both the rail trip and the boat ride were wonderful. (No scenery on the shuttle bus back...you are in a tunnel almost the entire ride - so if you have issues with tunnels avoid this at all costs.)

[hallasm]

Here are two very short videos from my visit to Flam June 5, 2013 - Vision of the Seas Norwegian Fjords Cruise from Copenhagen.

 

Click on either picture or link to see the videos.

Flam Railway, - 3 minutes Train ride from Flam to Myrdal

Link to video

 

Flam, 2 minutes video from the fjord and the 'city'

Link to video

[Jules 1970]

I Visited Flam this May, so it's kinda good to see your Clips.

and you've also included yourself in one.

"Hollywood beckons I think ! ;) "

[KirkNC]

I wonder what is the whole purpose of the validation? Cant the conductors tell if a ticket is legit?

[hallasm]

The problom is, that tickets not bought at the Flam Ticket office are open tickets - on busy days with more than one ship many trains are sold out.

You neet to ghave a specific departure assigned to your ticket.

[P&O SUE]

I was advised by a friend who had been before to book the cruise tour because she knew of people who were left disappointed - but she went in June. We went in April and booked via the ship - and saw plenty of people from our ship smug that they had run to the front of the queue and spent so much less than us. However it was April and we were the only ship in port - I was still happy to be guaranteed being on the trip because it is not to be missed :)

[Maddle]

I was advised by a friend who had been before to book the cruise tour because she knew of people who were left disappointed - but she went in June. We went in April and booked via the ship - and saw plenty of people from our ship smug that they had run to the front of the queue and spent so much less than us. However it was April and we were the only ship in port - I was still happy to be guaranteed being on the trip because it is not to be missed :)

 

I agree with your friend - and the general philosophy: IF it is important to you, don't take chances. IF you can't make an absolute plan on your own in advance THEN the cost of the ship excursion upcharge is well worth it.

 

We did about half independent and half ship excursion - I don't regret any of the extra money we spent to make certain we got to the sites that I had set my heart on. For the independent excursions, I had the tickets in hand when I left home. I wouldn't leave something like the Flamm train to chance and the queue at the station - I suggest setting up a group in your roll call, or go ahead and book through the ship.

 

By the way - sitting on the right hand side is great advice...and but try to sit forward facing if possible. My tall husband and I choose a pair of seats that faced backwards right at the entrance to the car (for the legroom, the seats were not part of any group) ...I regretted it the whole way up - I sat twisted in my seat most of the time....but it was still a spectacular ride.

 

Maddle

[eandj]

For those that pre reserve for a group of 10 or more, go into the buidling when you disembark and you will see two lines. There is one specifically is labeled for groups and that's where you would pay for and pick up the tickets. We found only a a couple people in that line. The other line was huge, and you'd waste time by standing there.

 

Lots of disappointed cruisers didn't get on any of the trains from our ship. Using cruise critic and the roll calls have made the trip easier to get for some and harder for those not in the know. Spread the word when you can. It's a very nice couple hours.

[Alaskanb]

Cruising Nærøyfjord, the narrowest and winding fjord is a good alternative to Flam Train. Or it can be easily added to the train ride. It takes about 2.5 hours to cruise on the ferry from Flam to Gudvangen and return by bus (bus alone takes 20 minutes). The fare includes both boat and bus rides.

 

The ferry and bus tickets can be purchased in the Tourist office, which opens at 8:30 am. We like this fjord cruise very much. You can see the beauty of the route from the following video:

 

Is it possible to book the ferry tickets in advance? Do you recollect the timing?

Thanks

[Alaskanb]

Found this link about the ferry / bus http://www.visitflam.com/sognefjorden/fjord-tours/whc-naeroyfjord/roundtrip-from-flam/

[JayS]

My experience may help future cruisers. I was on a B2B on the HAL Rotterdam with 2 stops in FLAM. I booked the ship's excursion for the second leg.

 

There were 3 ships in port requiring 2 tendering. I took the 4th tender at 8:15.

By the time (8:45) I was was able to buy a ticket the only trains available were 11:00 and 13:45 which if everything went on schedule would give you 15 minutes to get the last tender. By 9:30 all the trains before 14:50 were sold out.

 

I canceled the train for the second leg and booked the bus/ferry tour at the ticket office. This time I took a 9:00 tender. All the trains were booked, but there was no problem for the ferry.

 

BTW the bus trip is about 20 km of which 5 km and 11 km are in tunnels.

[cruiser620]

The best way to do the Flam train is to have a group reservation. We were able to put several groups together from our ship using the Cruise Critic roll call. You have to have a minimum of 10 people, make the reservation online ahead of time, and then pay once in Flam. You get a discounted group rate. The leader of each group collected everyone's payment the day before and then got off the ship ASAP once in Flam to get the ticket. It is a single ticket for each group, and there is a reserved train car with your group name on it. This worked perfectly for us as the trains sell out and it is very risky to hope to get an individual ticket.

 

The http://www.visitflam.com website has lots of good information about booking the train and the boat as well as a link that will show you which ships are in port each day -- http://www.visitflam.com/flam-cruise/ship-arrivals/

 

The train was great, but I think we liked the boat trip that we did after the train even better. We had enough time to do both. We did the "World Heritage Cruise" down the Nærøyfjord, a branch of the Sognefjord which is included on Unesco's World Heritage list and is considered to be among the most scenic fjord areas on Earth. Your cruise ship will NOT go down the Naeroyfjord. The boat can be booked here:

http://www.visitflam.com/sognefjorden/fjord-tours/whc-naeroyfjord/

 

Flam is a VERY small village without a lot to explore unless you do an excursion or maybe do some hiking.

[Patti22]

We are in Flam on Aug. 1 and on a small ship (Seabourn Sojourn - 400 pax) and we are just 2 people, maybe 4. We are the only ship in port that day. What are our chances of getting on the train? Thanks !

[hallasm]

As Seabourn Sojourn is the only ship in port August 1st you will get tickets for the train.

My recommendation is to go to the ticket office and buy tickets just after your arrival (only 5 minutes from the pier). You can chose from the following departures: 09.45; 11.00; 12.20; 13.35; and 14.50 - and still make you 18:00 departure. also time for a fjord cruise.

[msmoger]

The best way to do the Flam train is to have a group reservation. We were able to put several groups together from our ship using the Cruise Critic roll call. You have to have a minimum of 10 people, make the reservation online ahead of time, and then pay once in Flam. You get a discounted group rate. The leader of each group collected everyone's payment the day before and then got off the ship ASAP once in Flam to get the ticket. It is a single ticket for each group, and there is a reserved train car with your group name on it. This worked perfectly for us as the trains sell out and it is very risky to hope to get an individual ticket.

 

Is there a special line to pick up the group ticket and is it obvious? Do you remember where it was in relationship to the main ticket line?

 

Thanks.

[Patti22]

hallasm,

Thank you for the information. We sail on 7/23 and we are now packing! Can't wait!

[eandj]

Is there a special line to pick up the group ticket and is it obvious? Do you remember where it was in relationship to the main ticket line?

 

Thanks.

 

 

Both lines start inside the building. One of the group goes into the bldg and there will be two windows/lines..one with a sign stating "Prebooked groups" or something like that. Get in that line. MANY folks just stand in the main line which will wind outside, not bothering to look to see if there is indeed a separate window to pick up the group reservation ticket. Then gather your group outside and wait in the area where trains will board. Just ask and someone will tell you which track to wait at. The train cars will have the group names posted on the window so you know which car to go into. It's all pretty easy to do.

[msmoger]

Both lines start inside the building. One of the group goes into the bldg and there will be two windows/lines..one with a sign stating "Prebooked groups" or something like that. Get in that line. MANY folks just stand in the main line which will wind outside, not bothering to look to see if there is indeed a separate window to pick up the group reservation ticket. Then gather your group outside and wait in the area where trains will board. Just ask and someone will tell you which track to wait at. The train cars will have the group names posted on the window so you know which car to go into. It's all pretty easy to do.

 

Thanks for the info!!