Advice sought on booking engine Oslo to Bergen via train (rail ninja or vy.no)

[Aussie lost in space]

Hello fellow cruisers and travellers

I have read 100's of reviews over the last few months where people mention booking both via rail ninja and via vy.no for their Oslo to Bergen train trips.  However the search engine does not show these up easily or readily. 

 

So....Seeking advice as to which is the most reliable booking engine to purchase tickets Oslo to Myrdal, Myrdal to Flam return and our final leg Myrdal to Bergen.  Rail ninja have recently released tickets for our dates, however we have read so many recent negative reviews about tickets purchased through this site.  Everything from people buying their tickets to them being non existent when they have arrived at the station (not showing as purchased despite them having card transaction evidence) to last minute cancellations.  How much of it is fear mongering, lack of experience on the part of individuals booking properly or the result of post covid travel difficulties being experienced, I don't know. 

 

Rail ninja have also listed one outgoing journey that leaves just after 6am, however in searching vy.no there is no current list for this train departure time.  We have looked at Norway in a nutshell and the prices seem to be 30-40% more than if you book independently(appreciate they have to add their mark up, we also don't need/want to go via Voss and the ferry, quite happy to remain on the train all the way through).  We are quite happy to book tickets on our own and are seasoned travellers, however seeking any advice or comments from anyone who has booked any train trips via rail ninja as to their reliability.  vy.no won't release tickets until the 60 days out mark, rail ninja are 90 days (and in some cases 120 days) out.  So there is a slim chance if we wait we may not get the seats we want or even get seats at all.  Reaching out to all other travellers who have booked this journey independently, I would value and appreciate your comments and experience. TIA 

[millybess]

We booked the train from Oslo to Bergen for our trip last May on vy.no. The main reason we did that, is because you can’t choose your own seats on rail ninja and we wanted to be facing forward. 

[janetcbl]

vy.no is the way to go. We have used them many times with no problem. The website is easy to manage.  You may be correct about booking only 60 days out; I thought it was 90, but it has been awhile.You can book your own seats, and if you are able, Comfort Class is worth the extra price. If your booking is very involved, a local TA may be be able to help (many are not familiar with Scandinavian transportation). 

[FlyerTalker]

Highly recommend the website The Man in Seat 61.  Extremely comprehensive for train travel, not just in Europe but worldwide.

 

Here's the link for the Norway part of his website:

 

https://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Oslo.htm

 

 

[2cruisecats]

For our Bergen to Oslo trip in June, we used vy.no as we wanted to be able to book seats.  On previous trips (pre covid), the operator of this train (gov't??),  was strict on the 60 day booking rule but vy.no seems a bit lax on that requirement as we  booked 64 days out and no front facing seats were available. Front-facing or not, the scenery is beautiful. Comfort-class basically gives you more room which is nice.   

 

 

 

[claranda]

We’re starting a Viking cruise from Bergen next May and flying in three days before to Oslo. Have booked our hotels in Oslo, Flam and Bergen and will book the train down to Flam through the Vy website - both because it allows you to book your seat and because we can get the ‘oldies’ discount. I’ll be keeping an eye on the website about 70 days before I want to travel as, in confirmation of what 2cruisecats reports, sometimes availability comes up early. I’m hoping that May isn’t too far into the tourist season for us to get what we want.

 

We’ll overnight in Flam, do the fjord cruise in the electric boat to Gudvangen, then bus to Voss and train to Bergen. Having ‘done’ Flam and quite a bit of travelling, we’ll probably just chill and spa when Jupiter gets there on the second day of our cruise!

[mhb1757]

1 hour ago, claranda said:

We’re starting a Viking cruise from Bergen next May and flying in three days before to Oslo. Have booked our hotels in Oslo, Flam and Bergen and will book the train down to Flam through the Vy website - both because it allows you to book your seat and because we can get the ‘oldies’ discount. I’ll be keeping an eye on the website about 70 days before I want to travel as, in confirmation of what 2cruisecats reports, sometimes availability comes up early. I’m hoping that May isn’t too far into the tourist season for us to get what we want.

 

We’ll overnight in Flam, do the fjord cruise in the electric boat to Gudvangen, then bus to Voss and train to Bergen. Having ‘done’ Flam and quite a bit of travelling, we’ll probably just chill and spa when Jupiter gets there on the second day of our cruise!

You will love this trip. We have done it twice. Always booked it via the Vy website. I second the opinion to pay a bit extra for comfort class. The ferry ride to Gundvagen is beyond spectacular. And a night in Flam to take in the beautiful views is such a delight. But here’s a heads up about the bus at Gundvagen…. The bus that runs from the ferry dock to the train station in Voss does not run until mid June. However you can walk about 5 minutes from the ferry dock to the bus stop (covered shelter with a bench right across the road from a beautiful waterfall) and the public bus will take you to the train station in Voss or you can stay on all the way to Bergen. You will arrive sooner if you stay on the bus into Bergen and it is a beautiful ride. You just tell the bus driver how far you are going and pay him when you board. The bus station in Bergen is connected to the train station. 
 

We used, and I highly recommend, a luggage service called Porter Service Norway. They will pick up your luggage either from your hotel in Oslo or on the platform at the Oslo train station. Then they will deliver it to your hotel in Bergen. It was quite reasonable and saved a lot of hassle getting luggage on and off 2 trains, up a gravel road to the hotel in Flam, on and off a ferry, on and off a bus, etc etc. we just had a small overnight/carry on sized bag that we took on the overnight from Oslo to Bergen. It was great. 
 

This trip is amazing. You will love it!

[claranda]

8 hours ago, mhb1757 said:

You will love this trip. We have done it twice. Always booked it via the Vy website. I second the opinion to pay a bit extra for comfort class. The ferry ride to Gundvagen is beyond spectacular. And a night in Flam to take in the beautiful views is such a delight. But here’s a heads up about the bus at Gundvagen…. The bus that runs from the ferry dock to the train station in Voss does not run until mid June. However you can walk about 5 minutes from the ferry dock to the bus stop (covered shelter with a bench right across the road from a beautiful waterfall) and the public bus will take you to the train station in Voss or you can stay on all the way to Bergen. You will arrive sooner if you stay on the bus into Bergen and it is a beautiful ride. You just tell the bus driver how far you are going and pay him when you board. The bus station in Bergen is connected to the train station. 
 

We used, and I highly recommend, a luggage service called Porter Service Norway. They will pick up your luggage either from your hotel in Oslo or on the platform at the Oslo train station. Then they will deliver it to your hotel in Bergen. It was quite reasonable and saved a lot of hassle getting luggage on and off 2 trains, up a gravel road to the hotel in Flam, on and off a ferry, on and off a bus, etc etc. we just had a small overnight/carry on sized bag that we took on the overnight from Oslo to Bergen. It was great. 
 

This trip is amazing. You will love it!

Thanks v much for the bus tip; that’s an interesting option for going on to Bergen. We, too, plan to use the Porter Service, but I have to check whether they pick up from the cheapo option of the Comfort Hotel Xpress in the central station….. . 

[Mich3554]

I used Rail Ninja when I booked our Budapest to Prague trip.  I also paid extra for comfort class.

The web site was pretty self explanatory, the only thing I really didn’t like was that after I ordered the tickets, it was a few weeks before we were actually ticketed.  I printed them out, there were no issues.  

[millybess]

19 hours ago, claranda said:

 I’m hoping that May isn’t too far into the tourist season for us to get what we want.

For our trip from Oslo to Bergen on May 4th of this year, we were able to book comfort class on February 2nd through vy.no and we were also able to get the seats we wanted. In fact, I checked back often, and for a few weeks, we were the only people in that car. I don’t think you will have any problem. 

[mhb1757]

11 hours ago, claranda said:

Thanks v much for the bus tip; that’s an interesting option for going on to Bergen. We, too, plan to use the Porter Service, but I have to check whether they pick up from the cheapo option of the Comfort Hotel Xpress in the central station….. . 

I’m sure they will. They will pick up from any of the hotels in the center of Oslo. We were staying farther out so they pulled their van right up on the platform at the train station and got our bags. That would work for you too since you are already at the station. They were great! 

[LinnieRed]

How does anyone feel about doing this trip in late February? Trying to decide if it is worthwhile to do this or just take a train straight from Oslo to Bergen and catch up with our cruise there

[Aussie lost in space]

Thank you all so very much for your responses and insights, this is where CC excels in terms of resources and people experience. 

 

We have planned on using porter service Norway.  It makes so much sense logistically, for a little output, to have main luggage sent on ahead to Bergen so you are free to move around, climbing up and off train carriages without the hassle of carting big suitcases with you. In our 'hey day' we certainly had much experience with this, travelling through Europe on various train journeys carting 2 and then 4 large suitcases when our children were with us.   It is now exhausting to think back to the effort required to navigate stations, stairs and onto trains.  How I wish (well DH will say how he wished) they had this service back then, at a reasonable price.

 

@janetcbl you are quite right, checked again and it is 90 days out, not 60.  Don't know where I got that number from?  Hopefully the booking window opens up for us very soon.

 

@FlyerTalker thank you for what looks to be an excellent resource with the Man in seat 61.  We took a look at Entur and it seems much the same as vy.no.  Interestingly, if you goggle 'Norway trains' it takes you to a website that is linked with rail ninja, so I am curious how - what seems to be the main government website for train travel in Norway could be associated with a company with a barrage of negative recent reviews? 

 

@LinnieRed our trip is at the end of Jan/start of Feb and we have read so many amazing reviews that this is one of the most spectacular times to journey by train from Oslo - Flam - Bergen.  Possibly because of the snow capped scenery.  A winter wonderland from all the pictures I've seen.  So it has been highly recommended to us especially for this time of the year. 

[LinnieRed]

On 10/16/2022 at 2:30 PM, claranda said:

We’ll overnight in Flam, do the fjord cruise in the electric boat to Gudvangen, then bus to Voss and train to Bergen. Having ‘done’ Flam and quite a bit of travelling, we’ll probably just chill and spa when Jupiter gets there on the second day of our cruise!

Where does one purchase the tickets for the electric boat and bus?

[claranda]

11 hours ago, LinnieRed said:

Where does one purchase the tickets for the electric boat and bus?

I’m looking at https://www.norwaysbest.com/things-to-do/fjords/fjord-cruise-naeroyfjord/  Those who’ve done it may have other options. They seem to offer a bus to Voss, too, but I’ve read elsewhere that the local bus, from a stop five minutes from the harbour, is fine and payable on boarding. 

[Snowcat1]

mhb1757 you mentioned that buses from the dock do not run until the middle of June. We will be doing this trip at the end of May. We were wondering if you, or anyone, knows how often the public bus, which is 5 minutes walk away, runs at that time of the year?

[claranda]

1 hour ago, Snowcat1 said:

mhb1757 you mentioned that buses from the dock do not run until the middle of June. We will be doing this trip at the end of May. We were wondering if you, or anyone, knows how often the public bus, which is 5 minutes walk away, runs at that time of the year?

This timetable for the Skyss bus service seems to indicate that it is the Voss to Gudvangen direction that doesn’t run till June, but the G to V direction does, apparenly matching up with boat arrivals.

https://www.norwaysbest.com/globalassets/pdf/rutetider/rutetider-2022/bus-voss-gudvangen-2022.pdf

[mhb1757]

2 hours ago, Snowcat1 said:

mhb1757 you mentioned that buses from the dock do not run until the middle of June. We will be doing this trip at the end of May. We were wondering if you, or anyone, knows how often the public bus, which is 5 minutes walk away, runs at that time of the year?

We were there the first week of June one year and last week of May the other time. When we got off the ferry on the first trip there were many buses sitting there waiting on the ferries but all were charters. The lady at the information counter told us the Skybuss didn’t run from there until the middle of June. She told us to walk down to the bus stop down the road. We did and the time table was posted there. We had to wait about 45 minutes as I recall. I think the bus ran about every 75 minutes. It came within a few minutes of the posted time. The next time I asked about the bus again at the same desk and was told it wasn’t running yet. So we just went back to the same bus stop. Both times a few other ferry riders joined us but everyone else on the bus was Norwegian.  It definitely wasn’t the tourist bus!  
 

I don’t remember what the fare was but we just paid the driver when we boarded. we took the bus all the way to Bergen. It was a beautiful drive. And was easier than getting off at Voss and waiting for another train. 

 

[Snowcat1]

Does anyone know how long the bus ride would be if you took the bus all the way to Bergen?

[FlyerTalker]

13 hours ago, Snowcat1 said:

Does anyone know how long the bus ride would be if you took the bus all the way to Bergen?

 

Google Maps puts it at a bit over 7 hours of driving between Oslo and Bergen.  Figure a bus ride would be longer than that.

[Snowcat1]

Sorry, I was meaning the bus ride after you get off the ferry in Gudvangen and get the bus that goes to Voss and then Bergen. Instead of getting on the train in Voss, you stay on the bus and go all the Way to Bergen by bus? How long would that bus ride be?

[janetcbl]

1 hour ago, Snowcat1 said:

Sorry, I was meaning the bus ride after you get off the ferry in Gudvangen and get the bus that goes to Voss and then Bergen. Instead of getting on the train in Voss, you stay on the bus and go all the Way to Bergen by bus? How long would that bus ride be?

The “Norway in a Nutshell” bus from Gudvagen stops at Stalheim ( after climbing up the mountain) where you have a great view. Then it continues on to Voss where you catch the train back to Bergen. Everything is coordinated. This was a couple of years ago; it has been this way for decades, don’t know if it still is. You can usually find a time table at TA sites that offer this tour.

Edited January 16, 2023 by janetcbl
Information

[claranda]

Hi all. We’re doing the NIN independently in May. Just a couple of  comments from my experience of booking so far. It seems things may have changed a bit for this year from what has been reported above.

 

Firstly, if you are traveling Independently you have to be careful which ferry you take from Flam to Gudvangen (talking about the electric ‘Best of Norway’ ferry here). There are only TWO buses meeting ferries. The 09.30 ferry from Flam is met by the VY450 bus at Gudvangen (stop E16 about 7 minutes walk from the ferry) at 11.50,  arriving Voss at 12.35 in time  to catch the 12.56 train to Bergen arriving 14.14 (seems tight, so we’re not booking the train in advance, just in case we have to take the next one at 13.51, arriving Bergen 15.00. May actually book this later one and have a bite at the station cafe). No bus meets the ferry that leaves Flam at 11.30. The one leaving Flam at 15.00 is met by a bus at 17.25 arriving Voss at 18.20. I have double checked this by ‘chatting’ with Best of Norway. I don’t know what the situation is with the conventional ferries. Anyway, I’ve gone ahead and booked the 9.30 ferry.

 

The only bus I can find running between Gudvangen and Bergen is an express that leaves Gudvangen at 19.05, arriving Bergen 21.35. This would match up nicely with the 16.35 ferry that arrives Gudvangen at 18.35. See https://www.nor-way.no/en/

 

Finally, note that the hairy, vertiginous Stalheim road is closed until further notice, although I think the bus to Voss may possibly stop at the Stalheim Hotel so we can run through to see the view! Just noticed that Viking offers a tour including this road….hmm.

[Clay Clayton]

On 10/18/2022 at 7:03 PM, mhb1757 said:

We were there the first week of June one year and last week of May the other time. When we got off the ferry on the first trip there were many buses sitting there waiting on the ferries but all were charters. The lady at the information counter told us the Skybuss didn’t run from there until the middle of June. She told us to walk down to the bus stop down the road. We did and the time table was posted there. We had to wait about 45 minutes as I recall. I think the bus ran about every 75 minutes. It came within a few minutes of the posted time. The next time I asked about the bus again at the same desk and was told it wasn’t running yet. So we just went back to the same bus stop. Both times a few other ferry riders joined us but everyone else on the bus was Norwegian.  It definitely wasn’t the tourist bus!  
 

I don’t remember what the fare was but we just paid the driver when we boarded. we took the bus all the way to Bergen. It was a beautiful drive. And was easier than getting off at Voss and waiting for another train. 

 

Thanks for the info!  A couple more questions if you don’t mind.

How much was the fare and how did you pay? Credit card? cash? If cash did you need exact change?

How comfortable was the bus?  I’m six foot seven inches tall and therefore don’t fit in most bus seats-I usually sit on the benches that face into the aisle rather than in a seat that faces forward.  Did you bus offer such a seat?

 

TIA!

[janetcbl]

6 hours ago, claranda said:

Hi all. We’re doing the NIN independently in May. Just a couple of  comments from my experience of booking so far. It seems things may have changed a bit for this year from what has been reported above.

 

Firstly, if you are traveling Independently you have to be careful which ferry you take from Flam to Gudvangen (talking about the electric ‘Best of Norway’ ferry here). There are only TWO buses meeting ferries. The 09.30 ferry from Flam is met by the VY450 bus at Gudvangen (stop E16 about 7 minutes walk from the ferry) at 11.50,  arriving Voss at 12.35 in time  to catch the 12.56 train to Bergen arriving 14.14 (seems tight, so we’re not booking the train in advance, just in case we have to take the next one at 13.51, arriving Bergen 15.00. May actually book this later one and have a bite at the station cafe). No bus meets the ferry that leaves Flam at 11.30. The one leaving Flam at 15.00 is met by a bus at 17.25 arriving Voss at 18.20. I have double checked this by ‘chatting’ with Best of Norway. I don’t know what the situation is with the conventional ferries. Anyway, I’ve gone ahead and booked the 9.30 ferry.

 

The only bus I can find running between Gudvangen and Bergen is an express that leaves Gudvangen at 19.05, arriving Bergen 21.35. This would match up nicely with the 16.35 ferry that arrives Gudvangen at 18.35. See https://www.nor-way.no/en/

 

Finally, note that the hairy, vertiginous Stalheim road is closed until further notice, although I think the bus to Voss may possibly stop at the Stalheim Hotel so we can run through to see the view! Just noticed that Viking offers a tour including this road….hmm.

Wow! Things have really changed since I was there a few years ago. I wonder if the Stalheim road is closed for the winter and will reopen in the Spring?