Flam Railway Tour

[sabrefan]

Booked on the Viking Sky in May 2020 and currently looking at shore excursions. Have read a number of reviews on the Flam Railway tour which is taking out of the port stop of Eidfjord, Norway. I have read that there is a lot of bus travel along with the train trip. I have read that there is little opportunity for stopping aside from that of changing between busses and the train. I am a semi professional photographer and I am wondering if the train has an open or partially open car where one could attempt to take decent pictures? I would certainly appreciate any comments or information in regards to the train. Trying to take photos through glass windows is unacceptable for good image quality in my view.

[Peregrina651]

Did you try Googling "Flam Railway" for pictures of the train? I saw a couple that might be helpful, including this one.  What I did not see on any of the cars was an open platform.

 

[just_dont]

My recommendation for Flåm, if your cruise is starting or ending in Bergen, would be to do the Norway in a Nutshell 2-day tour with an overnight in Flåm. Either Oslo to Bergen, Bergen to Oslo, or Bergen to Bergen.
In my opinion, Flåm is much more enjoyable after the cruise ships and tour busses have left.
Then assuming your cruise has Flåm as one of its ports, you can do another activity that day, like a RIB boat tour, rent a Twizzy electric car and take a drive around for independent sightseeing, rent a bike, or do some shopping (amongst the massive daytime crowds).

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[janetcbl]

If I recall from the number of times I have done this trip, there is a small area at the end of some of the train cars outside where you can get good photos.  The train stops at a waterfall where you can get off the train and get some good shots of the falls, the train and the area.

[sabrefan]

Thank you all for the advice. Our cruise starts in Copenhagen and ends in Bergen. However we have already made our air reservations so we will have to do this train trip through the cruise ship. At least there will be some photo opportunities.

[TERRIER1]

I took pictures from the train. I just open the window and slid it down. The weather was good so no rain or snow coming through. I also took pictures from the section between the cars. I have no pics through glass.

[beanpittsburgh]

We recently went on the Flam railway(not with Viking).  There were no open cars.  From what we were told, it rains almost 300 days a year in Norway so the weather can be unpredictable.  The rail cars were crowded and there was not really one side that had better views the whole time.  The right side started out  with the best shots but the left had better views by the end of the trip.  I think the whole trip is only about 20 some kilometers so it goes quick.  There are 2 photo opportunities while stopped.  Once at a pullover so another train can pass.  You can't get off the train then.  The second stop is a gorgeous waterfall where everyone can get off and take pictures.  I'm not a great photog but it was hard to get a pix without anyone else in it or a pix with just us in it.  I think Terrier1 was extremely lucky to get the pixs he/she did.  That was not our experience.  It also rained for 90% of our Fjord cruise too so my pixs were mostly taken from inside the boat.  I hope you have better luck.

[Liz Masterson]

You might pop over to this thread, both to share your toughts on the Flam Railroad and also for more information on some of the excursion options in this area of the world! I will also put a link to this discussion there! 

 

I'm considering skipping the Flam RR. We are doing the train from Norway with Viking and I worry I might be "All Trained Out".  I suspect there is beautiful scenery to be seen in almost everywhere Flam!

 

(Also if it rains 300 days a year... Is the weather really "unpredictable"

or are you hoping it's unpredictably sunny? 😊)

 

 

 

[philw1776]

On our Viking Flamsbana  tour we stopped at least 3 times to get out and photograph waterfalls.  The bus ride is long but then there are 2 of the waterfall stops PLUS a fascinating tunnel ride with a roundabout inside the mountain.  Were told that people held weddings there!  There's snack style lunch at a nice hotel.
I'd take it again even though I'm not a fan of bus rides even in nice Mercedes busses.

[czrunner]

Now I am confused.  I thought that Flamsbana is Flam Railway.  I don't know any Norwegian, but "bana" sounds like railway,  being similar to the German "Bahn".  Does Flambana also run buses in Flam?

[Capt_BJ]

I believe the post was referring to a tour that had the train as one leg ..... there are several of these ......

[just_dont]

Typically, the tours are set up to take the Flamsbanna train in one direction (most likely from Flåm up to Myrdal, which is the other end of the line) and then return to Flåm by a different route (no point seeing the same sights twice) by bus. This enables them to get train passengers heading to Flåm after connecting from the Oslo-Bergen train onto the Flamsbanna train that was likely full of ship passengers on the way up.

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[czrunner]

O.K.  I have seen those excursions on the Viking website.  I guess Phil threw me off by talking about a long bus ride and not  mentioning the train.  Thanks for the explanation.

[Capt_BJ]

btw ... this train is discussed in several threads down below in

Northern Europe & Baltic Sea

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/116-northern-europe-amp-baltic-sea/

 

a popular DIY plan for the Flam railway is to ride the train UP to Myrdal and pickup a rental bicycle and ride down ..... you use the brakes more than the pedals! Most of the train ride you can see the bike/hike path near the tracks.

 

 

you return the bike next to the train station at the bottom, in Flam

Edited November 23, 2019 by Capt_BJ

[Redtravel]

Flam rail trip is fantastic. I did it on another cruise line. We were docked within a short walk of the ticket booth.  We bought tickets and rode the train. The scenery was gorgeous.

[Bimmer09]

On 11/21/2019 at 2:17 PM, sabrefan said:

Booked on the Viking Sky in May 2020 and currently looking at shore excursions. Have read a number of reviews on the Flam Railway tour which is taking out of the port stop of Eidfjord, Norway. I have read that there is a lot of bus travel along with the train trip. I have read that there is little opportunity for stopping aside from that of changing between busses and the train. I am a semi professional photographer and I am wondering if the train has an open or partially open car where one could attempt to take decent pictures? I would certainly appreciate any comments or information in regards to the train. Trying to take photos through glass windows is unacceptable for good image quality in my view.

 Hi, if it isn't raining you can get some clean shots through the windows....

 

 

 

 

 

These were taken on the trip from Myrdal down to Flam from a seat facing backwards-not ideal as you get no warning of what's coming up ahead. Right side of train.

There was no open section of the train to take photos from.

Hope this helps!

Norris

[paphoslady]

We went on the Flam Railway in June 2019, part of Norway in a Nutshell all day tour organised by the cruise company. We stopped at Voss too for lunch. My husband is a keen photographer and took some great photos on the Flam railway journey and when the train stopped at the waterfall. We had the most beautiful sunny day. I would recommend the rail journey.