Norway: Nomadic holidays between fjords and northern islands (page 4 of 4)

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing, the video is just wow! Great music and clever use of the little guinea pig.

Quick question: was it easy and legal to find free spots to park the camper van every day?

Fabien

Thanks for the video 😊

For motorhome spots, at first we were a bit uneasy, wondering if we really had the right to park there... We weren’t very adventurous either when it came to venturing onto side roads. Most of the time, we trusted the Park4Night app, which is collaborative and lists spots that you can also review. We tried to find quiet spots away from roads or near a lightly trafficked one.

Wild camping is legal in Norway as long as you’re more than 150m away from a dwelling. However, in some places, it’s stated that wild camping isn’t allowed. But we’re not sure if that applies only to tents or if it also includes motorhomes (especially when there’s a designated parking area). Anyway, we were never bothered, and we always respected the rules.

Driving early in the morning, we could see lots of motorhomes or tents parked in various spots...

Good evening, Well done on the slideshow and your travel journal—it’s really descriptive! It’s encouraging us to keep moving forward with our plan to leave around August 15th to October 12th, 2020. We’re traveling in a camper van, and the vehicle’s width isn’t too much of an issue on the roads. Is this timing good for seeing the northern lights? We don’t want to go in winter.

We’d like to visit the North Cape, eastern Norway, Tromsø, the Lofoten Islands, birdwatching parks, glaciers (for photography), Trondheim, Bergen, and Oslo. Like you, we’ve got no shortage of plans—maybe too many for just two months?

Could you give me a rough idea of the prices for ferries, bridges, and toll roads? I’d like to get a realistic sense of costs for my budget. How many kilometers do you cover in a day? Are the walking excursions difficult? We’re 71 and 74, but we still get around just fine.

Thanks!

Best regards, Bernard Boulet

Hi, This site https://www.fjellinjen.no/private/toll-calculator/ lets you calculate tolls in Norway.

Hi there,

Ferry prices vary a lot. For the short crossings (the ones at the start, in the fjords), the price was around 40-50 € per trip. For the longer crossings (Molde, Lofoten, Senja), it’s much higher: between 150 and 250 € per trip. That’s for a camper van under 7m (it’s more expensive if it’s longer). It’s still a real budget... And apart from the trip to the Lofoten, the others can’t be booked in advance, so you can’t spread the cost during planning.

For tolls, we were charged on the way back (toll by license plate, like Florida’s SunPass). Around a hundred euros in the end. So I’d say it was pretty reasonable!

For mileage, we based our plans on what we’d read and what was considered reasonable—around 200 km per day. That might seem low, but as many have said in other discussions, trips are measured in time, not kilometers... Google Maps gives pretty accurate travel times, which is a good starting point in my opinion. Overall (except for the drive back to Bodø), we tried to keep it to 2-3 hours max on the road so we could enjoy the trip. I thought our route was well-balanced and let us take our time.

For hikes, we also planned based on time and difficulty. We aimed for a max of 450-500m elevation gain, with a duration of around 1h30 each way, rated as easy or medium difficulty. We used sites like rando-lofoten, 68°north, and outt, which list all that info. Combining that with the photos we saw, it’s easy to pick hikes that seem doable. The hikes we did were manageable (especially with dry ground—with wet weather, I wouldn’t say the same, especially given your travel dates), with an 8-year-old kid. We’re not hiking experts or super fit. So I think you should be able to do the same ones, or even others! By reading comments or info on the sites, you can get a feel for whether the terrain is tricky or well-marked, etc. Either way, we don’t regret our choices—the hikes were amazing!!

Happy planning! !

A lovely moment dreaming over these beautiful images, soothed by the music—pure bliss while planning our own adventure... We’ll make use of all these details, tips, and experiences. Thanks again, Adeline

Thanks for this amazing travel journal.

I’ve only skimmed it so far, but I’ll dive in as soon as I can because we’re planning a family trip to Norway next July—driving from the Rhône-Alpes region all the way to the Lofoten Islands over four weeks.

I think it’s doable, but I need to plan my routes to be sure.

I’ve saved the links for hikes in the Lofoten. We’re not super-experienced hikers, so easy hikes with beautiful viewpoints work perfectly for us.

I’ve decided to skip Oslo since I think we can visit it on a long weekend instead.

I’ll read through to see which spots are really worth it.

How many days would you recommend in the Lofoten Islands?

Hi there,

We spent a little over a full week between the Lofoten, Vesteralen, Senja, and Tromso. It seemed like a good amount of time to see quite a few things, go hiking, and so on... But you could easily spend a week just in the Lofoten (and some people even spend more time there!!). I’d say that at a minimum, to have time to see the "main" spots in the Lofoten, you should plan for at least 3-4 full days. On a 4-week trip, that leaves plenty of time (though you do have to account for the round trip from France...).

For hikes, I don’t think the word "easy" really applies there... Still, as you’ve seen (or will see if you couldn’t read everything ), we’re not exactly seasoned hikers, and we didn’t tackle any super long treks. That didn’t stop us from seeing some breathtaking landscapes. That said, you shouldn’t head out in flip-flops—the trails are pretty steep and not exactly simple (and we were lucky not to run into mud or wet terrain!!!). But it’s still doable, and it’d be a shame not to gain a little elevation to take in all those stunning views!!!

Amazing video! What camera did you use to film?