Geiranger question

[poorer]

Hi 

We are on Iona in May.

We have visited Norway before but never Geiranger.

Should we book a tour with the ship or is there plenty to do on our own?

Many Thanks

 

[pete14]

11 minutes ago, poorer said:

Hi 

We are on Iona in May.

We have visited Norway before but never Geiranger.

Should we book a tour with the ship or is there plenty to do on our own?

Many Thanks

 

Geiranger is beautiful and the sail in / sail out is spectacular. There is very little to do in Geiranger because it is very small. There are some nice walks but a tour from the ship is perhaps the best option if you actually want to do anything. The trip to the top of Mt Dalsnibba   is good provided the views are not obscured by clouds. On a clear day, you can see the ship in the fjord below, on a cloudy day, there is little to see. Any coach trip is likely to be very scenic, especially in good weather. The more adventurous may go for something a little more active such as a ride on a rib boat but it will at least partially follow the route in the fjord that the ship takes, only more quickly!

[kruzseeka]

This is our favourite stop.  We like to take the HoHo in Geiranger - tickets were on sale on board but were cheaper on shore.  It doesn't go far but takes you to a viewpoint above the village and gives you 10 minutes there to take photos whilst the bus goes to turn round.  We usually get off at the first stop on the way down again - the stop is for Westeras.  There is about a 15 minute walk to the Westeras Farm where there is a terrace with fab views where you can get coffees and waffles.  Walk back to the bus stop ( try to time it - the buses run at half hour intervals),  get back on the HoHo and get off at the next stop which is the Visitor Centre.  That is very interesting and well presented but then rather than catching the HoHo back down to the Fjord, there is a spectacular walk from here alongside the gushing waterfall on a relatively new metal walkway with lots of steps back down to the Fjord.  If you are able to do the walking it is definitely worth it.

But even without doing the HoHo/part walk round trip, you can walk up to the Visitor Centre from the village.  There is a pretty octagonal church and quite a few cafes and tourist shops.  Of the Fjord villages, Geiranger has more of interest than some. 

Enjoy!  But above all try to see as much of the sail in and sail out of the Fjord as it is awesome in the true sense of the word. 

 

 

[poorer]

Many thanks to you.

 

We have booked this cruise to experience Iona but was also interested in this port as we have not visited this one.

 

The other ports we have visited .

 

Thank you have definitely given us something to think about x

[SarahHben]

We are torn between doing the Roof of Norway excursion from Geiranger or wandering around independently, walking to the waterfall etc. Maybe the hop on hop off would work well for us. If it's a clear day we would like to get to the viewing point where you can see ships in port.

 

There's a webcam for Geiranger here  http://www.stranda-hamnevesen.no/webcamera

It's snowy at the moment, I found it really interesting in the summer months seeing the scenery and watching the where ships dock. Also in the summer the webcam below it on the page shows Hellesylt.

[silkworms]

Thank you Kruzeseeker for the advice above, sounds really interesting,

think we will give it a go. Going in June, so hopefully weather good.

[Britboys]

You can also buy tours from the Tourist Centre beside the landing platform.  We did this several years back and got a local coach up to Mt Dalsnibba, which was much cheaper than the ship's excursion.  One lady on our table at dinner was waxing lyrical about the coffee and waffles included in the ship's tour until I explained that with what we had saved booking independently we had bought a bottle of champagne... 😁

[kruzseeka]

2 hours ago, silkworms said:

Thank you Kruzeseeker for the advice above, sounds really interesting,

think we will give it a go. Going in June, so hopefully weather good.

 

Hope you enjoy it.  When we went to Geiranger first we actually walked to the farm at Westeras - the first time along the road but I wouldn't really recommend this as it's quite busy not least of all with coaches and there are multiple hair-pin bends and no pavement. 

You can miss out a lot of the road though by taking a well posted track (red paint splodges on tree trunks and boulders at very regular intervals)  on the left a bit further on from the Church.  It is a fairly rugged trail though and quite an uphill pull. 

I prefer the easy way out now though and use the HoHo to do the hard work!  The walk from the HoHo drop off is a proper road/vehicular track which serves the holiday cottages which are located here too.  It's a good 15 walk - a bit up and down but generally uphill on the way out to the farm as it stands higher than the road  - but not too strenuous.

https://www.geirangerfjord.no/hiking-map

If you download the hiking map from this link the first page gives you a good view of the Fjord Centre and the tumbling waterfall from there back down to sea level which you walk literally alongside it - complete with spray in parts!

The map of hiking trails on the 2nd page shows Westeras (or Vesteras, both spellings seem acceptable)  at #32.  Have a look at the picture of the terrace and view here.

https://www.fjordnorway.com/planning-your-trip/food-and-drink/westeras-restaurant-p1831253

On of our all-time favourite coffee stops and the waffles are good too!  For Norway the cost of coffee isn't bad either.  Hope you find it as memorable as we do. Enjoy 😊

 

[Chrisdriving]

Been to Geiranger twice first time we docked at Andalsnes and i hired a car and drove there second time we docked at Geiranger and hired a car from tourist info on pier and drove up to Dalsnibba and then on toward Olden.Hiring a car in Norway is dead easy not cheap but far better than the ships tours and you are not stuck on their timetable of how long you stay at places.We were up Dalsnibba it was cloudy and the tours had done thieir time and went on,we knew weather was going to clear so stuck around and the views were stunning.Same applied doing northern lights from Alta,own car own agenda.

Edited January 5, 2020 by Chrisdriving

[Thejuggler]

I would wait until you arrive.  There are plenty of tour options ashore so you can wait and see what the weather is doing before deciding which one to do.

 

It was throwing it down when we visited with low cloud, seeing anything was almost impossible from the viewing points.  An expensive trip would have been money wasted.

[poorer]

Thanks for the information.

 

I think you  are right we will leave it until we get into port to decide.

 

Many thanks to you and all others that have answered my query.

[eric4395]

My wife and I are on Iona in June, we have already booked a  mini bus tour max 16 people in Geiranger with the  local company visiting the 3 main viewing points. We paid 550 Nok pp (about £46) Already I know cruising excursions.com are charging £71pp for the same tour and they will be cheaper than what p&o cruise ship tour will charge. The company has also informed me the ship is docking next to the skywalk so there should be no need for tenders. 

[bee-ess]

9 hours ago, eric4395 said:

My wife and I are on Iona in June, we have already booked a  mini bus tour max 16 people in Geiranger with the  local company visiting the 3 main viewing points. We paid 550 Nok pp (about £46) Already I know cruising excursions.com are charging £71pp for the same tour and they will be cheaper than what p&o cruise ship tour will charge. The company has also informed me the ship is docking next to the skywalk so there should be no need for tenders. 

Which company is that, we are there in July and could be interested in this tour

[eric4395]

Geiranger Fjordservice

[SarahHben]

On 1/16/2020 at 10:48 AM, eric4395 said:

Geiranger Fjordservice

Eric, do you know if this company guarantees to get you back before the ship leaves? The prices are so much better but I am a worrier and don't want to drive my husband mad worrying about the time.

[davecttr]

How long will Iona be berthed in Geiranger? There will be  a drop of point at Hellesylt for passengers on day excursions so I would not expect Iona to get to Geiranger much before lunchtime. I presume they are using the seawalk as tendering would take hours.

[SarahHben]

13 minutes ago, davecttr said:

How long will Iona be berthed in Geiranger? There will be  a drop of point at Hellesylt for passengers on day excursions so I would not expect Iona to get to Geiranger much before lunchtime. I presume they are using the seawalk as tendering would take hours.

According to the cruise personaliser the start times for P&O’s Hellesylt excursions are around 6:45-7am and Geiranger excursion start times vary from 9:45am - 1:30pm

[eric4395]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

How long will Iona be berthed in Geiranger? There will be  a drop of point at Hellesylt for passengers on day excursions so I would not expect Iona to get to Geiranger much before lunchtime. I presume they are using the seawalk as tendering would take hours.

Geiranger arrival is showing as 9 am on my itinerary, with a 5 pm departure.

[SarahHben]

3 minutes ago, eric4395 said:

Geiranger arrival is showing as 9 am on my itinerary, with a 5 pm departure.

Sorry to be a pain but where can you see arrival and departure times? I can't find those details on my itinerary.

[eric4395]

2 hours ago, SarahHben said:

Eric, do you know if this company guarantees to get you back before the ship leaves? The prices are so much better but I am a worrier and don't want to drive my husband mad worrying about the time.

Hi SarahHben, they deal with cruises every day we arrive at 9am, and I have booked an excursion for 3 hours in the mini bus starting at 10 am, it was them that told me that p&o Iona was docking at the seawalk and we should not be tendering. Bearing in mind we depart at 5pm there should be no problem on being back for the ship departing. However email them if you have any concerns and they will reply to you. Let me know if you hear any different from what I'm saying.

[eric4395]

7 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

Sorry to be a pain but where can you see arrival and departure times? I can't find those details on my itinerary.

 

[eric4395]

On the p&o website under our cruise and intinery G005.

[SarahHben]

3 minutes ago, eric4395 said:

On the p&o website under our cruise and intinery G005.

Thank you. I was looking in the cruise personaliser rather than the main website.

Also thank you for your reply about Geiranger Fjordservice. I think I will email them, although my husband has found the Hop On/Hop Off bus details so we may do that instead.

[eric4395]

11 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

Thank you. I was looking in the cruise personaliser rather than the main website.

Also thank you for your reply about Geiranger Fjordservice. I think I will email them, although my husband has found the Hop On/Hop Off bus details so we may do that instead.

Yes we looked at that as well but it only takes you so far, the 3 main sight points are covered by the mini bus tour.

[chismrules]

Did you book ahead or at the information/tourist center? I'm worried that I'm going to book these and it will be raining or cloudy and we will not be able to see anything. But also worried if I wait they might be sold out. Off chance do you know the web pg. that list how many cruise ships are there on a certain day? Thank you