We do a lot of jigsaw puzzles. Usually they are beautiful landscapes of mountains or jungles or rivers. The entire 10 days of Norway was like looking at a view and wondering it would look beautiful as a jigsaw puzzle! Snow covered mountains, tall and thick green trees in abundance, streams where you could clearly see the stones and just countryside that kept changing colors as our train kept moving forward.

Please do read our blog on Tromso. Covered that separately as we felt the Northern Lights were too special an experience to not warrant a separate blog!

General Information/ Travel Suggestions

Norway is Viking country and we got to see some of the Viking lifestyle during our trip. Strongly suggest that you start your trip from Tromso, right in the Northern part of the country and head on down. We flew from Tromso to Oslo although there are other means of transport and the rail is an option but it takes too long so do opt for air travel to save time. The tickets are not too expensive and I would assume if you book early you might get good fares. It’s a short 2 hour flight.

We stayed overnight in Oslo but then spent a couple of days as the final stop on this lovely trip.

The Train Ride Through Norway

We took the train from Oslo to Flam. The Oslo to Bergen sector is considered one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world and it certainly did not disappoint.

It is a long train ride from Oslo to a small train station by the name of Myrdal. After 4.5 hours you have to change trains and get on to the Flam railway. The Flam train ride is one of the steepest in the world. It is a 20km journey to a small town by the name of Flam. Once again we were completely captivated by the views, albeit not too much of them as there are around 20 tunnels that you have to pass through.

The train does stop in the middle to allow you to take photographs of the above waterfall! Another example of us wishing to take this to a puzzle company and getting one made for ourselves!

From Flam we took the bus to a small village by the name of Gudvangen.

The Viking Town of Gudvangen

There is only one hotel and there are only 2 restaurants but this is a must visit place on your next trip to Norway!

We paid extra for the Viking room but I really wanted to have the window on the roof so we could either see the stars at night or the sunshine in the morning and if lucky, get to see both!

The property is surrounded by mountains on all sides and we were told that there were some nice hiking trails. We only experienced one as we were only there overnight. If you are fit enough or interested enough to take on the difficult hikes, of which there are some in Gudvangen, then we would suggest that you stay a couple of days extra. We could not get over the beauty of the surroundings!

The bridge was right outside our room and it leads you to the other restaurant. There is also a fuel station on the other side but most importantly there was a well kept Viking village which showed how they lived all those centuries ago.

It was if I was on the set of Viking Valhalla with people in costumes. We got to try archery and axe throwing. Needless to say none of the axes landed anywhere close to the mark!

There are tours scheduled throughout the day but due to shortage of time and since we did not know; we ended up strolling through the village on our own.

The Chic Town of Bergen

We were supposed to go from Flam to Sogndal and from there take a Fjord cruise to Bergen. This would have been another highlight of our trip but unfortunately due to a landslide enroute to Sogndal; all bus services were suspended. The other alternative was to take the bus to Voss and from there take the bus to Sogndal. This entailed an 8 hour ride and we just did not have it in us to make that trip. So we ended up taking a train ride straight to Bergen and missed out on the cruise altogether.

Bergen is the second largest town in Norway and has enough to do to warrant a 2 day stop over. It is situated on the western tip of the country and has ample to do. Outside of Tromso, there was no other place where we thought of renting our own vehicle and so used the local transport.

Hiking Bergen

Like most cities of Norway; Bergen has some great walking trails and so we decided to continue with our average of over 10,000 steps per day. There is a funicular that takes you to the top of the city. However we decided to walk it! Half way through our legs gave way and we got on the funicular and got to the top of Mount Floyen. The sights are incredible and for us the clean air is always a welcome change!

We did, however, decide to walk all the way down. Took us a little under an hour and needless to say was much easier on the way down!

There are a lot of dining options in Bergen and a ton of cafes. After the long walk down we decided to venture into a random cafe in the centre of town. Had one of the best chocolates of the trip. Fjak Chocolate Shop & Cafe. They gave me the biggest marshmallow I had ever seen put into a mug of hot chocolate. Did not need to have a meal after that!

One of the learnings from this trip was that there was more to do in every city/ town/ village that we went to and so we should have spent more time in Gudvangen as well as Bergen! Unfortunately we had to leave for Oslo the next day and so missed out on some of the more locations that we would have loved to see.

Oslo – The Last Stop in Norway

Oslo is as modern as any city in Western Europe. There is plenty of shopping for those interested. Sightseeing locations are aplenty and it had every sort of cuisine you could ask for!

By this time we were on our 12th day of the trip and so were yearning for Dubai and our home pillows! 12 days of single digit temperature had taken its toll and so we resorted to carefully choosing where all to go and what all to see and although we had overspent, we also resorted to Ubering our way around town quite a bit.

Norway is a photographer’s dream come true and although Oslo doesn’t have the same landscape but it is very beautiful nonetheless!

The one park that you must visit is the Ekeberg Park. The view of the city is outstanding and it has around a 100 different sculptures by various renowned artists. We walked to the park from the centre of town but got the tram on our way back. Luckily there is a station right outside the park. Go there in the evening for the fairy lights and during the day for a long stroll and to see all the sculptures.

There is a fairy light show which is on display on a daily basis. It is incredible how simple lights hung in straight lines can look so beautiful! It is a must see on your visit to the park. There is light background music which makes the experience even more wholesome.

Food Heaven

To be honest; by this time we had had enough and were too tired to explore more of this beautiful city and so food was the only other attraction left.

Some outstanding choices for food. The first one is for dinner.

We went to this small restaurant which is a Bib Gourmand rated restaurant and signed up for a 6 courses tasters meal. We tried a couple of types of fish and some meat items and they were all outstanding. However the serving sizes were small till the 4th course and we feared we might have to drop into a Burger King to fill the stomach. However by the end of the evening, we were completely full and extremely satisfied with the quality of food and service! I would highly recommend Smalhans to be on your list on your visit to Oslo. Quite expensive but well worth the money!

The next place is for a casual meal. San Franciso Bread Bowl is an amazing place. Small with quick service but the bread bowls were simply out of this world! I would have happily gone there again had we stayed another couple of days! I had the Oslo bowl. You cannot go to Norway and try the different fish dishes in every restaurant you go to! Just an amazing place to have a hearty meal!

How can I go to a new place and not try desserts. Mendel’s is a fancy coffee shop right in the middle of downtown. It has a wide variety of desserts. We tried a couple but they have a chocolate bomb hot chocolate. They give you plain milk with a chocolate ball that you drop into the cup and it melts. Fascinating process. The one I had in Bergen was better. However the desserts were heavenly!

The National Museum

Worth a short stop. There were sections that I couldn’t figure why are situated in a museum but there were some interesting sections. It will take a couple of hours to go through the entire place. On a list of things to do; I would not put this in the top 10.

Where To Stay in Norway

The last bit from our side that was a major learning for us: if you have a car for the duration of your stay in any city, you have the luxury of staying a little far from the centre of town. In fact we would normally do that so that you can explore the wilderness, go on some hikes or casual walks and just enjoy the down time.

However… if you are relying on public transport in a big city… stay as close to the centre as possible. We have learnt the hard way! Logistics on a daily basis and that too multiple times became extremely tiresome and monotonous! Norway has amazing public transport facilities but there is only so much of walking and waiting that you can do every day!

Overall Suggestions & Conclusion

Norway was a once in a lifetime trip to us. We fell in love with every city, town and village that we were lucky enough to explore. Tromso was a true highlight of the trip and we would recommend you reading our blog on Tromso separately. We missed out on a great Fjord cruise but maybe Norway will call us again. Truly one of the most beautiful countries we have ever been to!

We leave you with our first selfie on our blogs!