Norway fiord ferries costs/vehicle size

[Pugwash52]

We're off to Norway, Denmark and Sweden in 2026 and I hope someone can advise about vehicle size vis-a-vie ferry charges.

We have a Fiat Ducato PVC which according to Fiat is 5.99m in length. However, ours has a bike rack and a storage box sitting on the bike rack (we don't have bikes). From what I can discover it appears that vehicles of 6.0m or less are treated as private cars whereas anything over 6.0m is charged at double the car rate. We struggle to store our bits and pieces without the box on the back and end up with hose pipes, levelling ramps, power cables, tent pages, awning guy ropes etc under the bed. After our Scandinavian tour we're heading south to Germany and France so we'll be away for a while and I'd really like to keep the box on the back if I can get away with it on the ferries as it would make life much more comfortable when we've left Scandinavia.

Does anyone know how strict or lenient the small ferry operators are regarding this sort of thing when crossing the numerous fiords on the small ferries? Will they just charge for a 5.99m Ducato PVC or will they immediately double the charges at every ferry crossing when they see the box sticking out at the back?

Any advice much appreciated.
P&D.

 

[LiFePO4Convert]

If your vehicle is 6.4 meters long, they wll charge you accordingly.

They are quite happy to get the tape measure out.

The same with the Øresund Bridge to get there.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

Interesting thread. We too are going to Scandinavia in 2026. We are 7 metres plus bike rack with bikes. But I think we will still fall in the 6-8 metre category.

Do you plan to get a toll tag for bridges, roads and ferry?

 

[PP Bear]

Can you take the rack and all contents off, store inside for the crossing and then refit the other side. Might well save you a few bob

 

[haganap]

we are just over 8 meters, we used 26 ferries on our trip, we were hit twiced for being over 8 meters.

Get yourself set up with the ferry and toll system and load your card accordingly.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

we are just over 8 meters, we used 26 ferries on our trip, we were hit twiced for being over 8 meters.

Get yourself set up with the ferry and toll system and load your card accordingly.

Which ferry and toll system did you use.

 

[haganap]

Which ferry and toll system did you use.

we used Flyt for the toll tag, when you recieve the tag we registered it with Autopass Ferje

 

[Wanders from Glos]

we used Flyt for the toll tag, when you recieve the tag we registered it with Autopass Ferje

Thanks

 

[fred_jb]

We toured Scandinavia including Norway, Sweden and Denmark in the summer. Our van, even with a bike rack is less than 6m. We signed up to the ePass system which made it all very easy, though it took about a month for each charge to come through and meanwhile these were not visible in the app which left us a little in the dark about what charges we were incurring. However, in the event we only paid very modest fees for tunnels, ferries and tolls. It is based on number plate recognition so no transponder is required, and on the ferries crew just used handheld scanners to record number plates. Seems a very efficient system.

 

[Mad dog]

From our experience they'll charge you for being over 6m. The government run ferries are very cheap though using the pre-payment system, we did a couple of dozen & treated them like mini cruises. I think we paid something like £250 - £300. If it doubles it, does that really matter to you? It's a small part of the cost if you're travelling right to the Nordkapp, especially if you eat & drink out!

 

[Pugwash52]

we are just over 8 meters, we used 26 ferries on our trip, we were hit twiced for being over 8 meters.

Get yourself set up with the ferry and toll system and load your card accordingly.

Thanks for your response. When you say you were hit twice for being over 8 metres do you mean you had to pay double all the time or it was only on two occasions you had to pay extra?

 

[Daffy64]

We did Nordkap in Sept/Oct ‘24 and found the internal ferries and road tolls incredibly good value, we spent less than £100 and took probably 30 ferries, lots were free.

It was very easy, just turn up to the ferry, wait for the next one and get on, get a toll pass and link it to the ferry via Autopass ferje to save a good %age.

In all, including the oresund crossing and a cruise ferry from Geraingerfjord we spent approx £300 all in.

Our van is 6.8m

 

[Pugwash52]

Interesting thread. We too are going to Scandinavia in 2026. We are 7 metres plus bike rack with bikes. But I think we will still fall in the 6-8 metre category.

Do you plan to get a toll tag for bridges, roads and ferry?

Yes we intend getting a toll tag. The Flyt system seems to be the one to go for. Is that the one you're looking at?

The main ferries across from Denmark and the bridge from Copenhagen seem to have various length ranges, eg 6 to 8 metres, but that's a one-off cost and we're not too concerned about that. It's the short trips across fiords we're concerned about and I don't know if that will be five trips or fifty trips as we work our way up the west coast. If I understand correctly being over 6.0 metres doubles the fare so if my 5.99m Ducato van has to pay double several times a day because it has a box on the back I guess I'll be removing the box before we go. I'm unsure how they view an addition like this.

 

[Pugwash52]

We did Nordkap in Sept/Oct ‘24 and found the internal ferries and road tolls incredibly good value, we spent less than £100 and took probably 30 ferries, lots were free.

It was very easy, just turn up to the ferry, wait for the next one and get on, get a toll pass and link it to the ferry via Autopass ferje to save a good %age.

In all, including the oresund crossing and a cruise ferry from Geraingerfjord we spent approx £300 all in.

Our van is 6.8m

Thank you for this - very useful info. We're not going as far as Nordkap but I expect we'll be using a lot of ferries on the way up the west coast. The costs you incurred are much better value than I was expecting. Did you use Flyt for a toll pass?

 

[Wanders from Glos]

Yes we intend getting a toll tag. The Flyt system seems to be the one to go for. Is that the one you're looking at?

The main ferries across from Denmark and the bridge from Copenhagen seem to have various length ranges, eg 6 to 8 metres, but that's a one-off cost and we're not too concerned about that. It's the short trips across fiords we're concerned about and I don't know if that will be five trips or fifty trips as we work our way up the west coast. If I understand correctly being over 6.0 metres doubles the fare so if my 5.99m Ducato van has to pay double several times a day because it has a box on the back I guess I'll be removing the box before we go. I'm unsure how they view an addition like this.

We haven’t made a decision about which system to use yet. I think I like the idea of number recognition over a toll tag. But will have to look more closely at it.

Whichever we will then link it to the ferry system because I think the reduction is often around 50%. From what I have researched so far the short hop ferries along the coast are inexpensive and some times free. I have been using autosync.noto calculate costs and these ferries are often no more than a few pounds. The website also calculates toll charges.

 

[haganap]

Thanks for your response. When you say you were hit twice for being over 8 metres do you mean you had to pay double all the time or it was only on two occasions you had to pay extra?

On only 2 occassions we had to pay extra. The thing is, you don't actually know either. It's not until you log in to your account and check, that you see what you've been charged. You put your vehicle details in when you register so you say what your van is in length etc. On two occassions the ferrymaster pay man must have said "no" it's bigger and registered it on the system.

Wanders from Glos you simply can not, not register via the way I said or the other company that's available. It would be scandalous to try to go on to each ferry and expect to pay as you go. On two occassions on two different ferries, they had signs saying they were only taking "registered vehicles" not sure why, but people were then having to register online prior to boarding. It's so simple and as said above, it is amazing value.

 

[Mick and Ruth]

We are 8m used SkyttelPASS and then registered for the ferry when it arrived. A lot of the ferries use an ANPR system with the employees walking along with a hand held device unfortunately we have a reg starting C 1 but it looks like an I so a few times we had to explain UK plates to them. There were signs saying you had to be registered to get on.
Also there are weighbridges all over and in a few remote areas electronic signs were telling you to stop if you were in a specific vehicle, minibus’s tended to be a favourite. If I remember rightly you have a 7.5% tolerance to allow for calibration. Enjoy we were up there for nearly 3 months.

 

[Minxy]

You could change your rigid box for a soft one something like the below which you can empty and fold up on the rack prior to the crossing then repack after the crossing.

BIKE RACK REAR STORAGE BAG

Store your caravan/motorhome accessories in a strong heavy duty bag on the back of your bike rack. It is made from our anti-rip reinforced and water resistant canvas material. Ideal for those items you cannot fit inside your vehicle like levellers, camping chairs, pegs, tools and so on. It is...

bags4everything.co.uk

 

[The Wino]

We're off to Norway, Denmark and Sweden in 2026 and I hope someone can advise about vehicle size vis-a-vie ferry charges.

We have a Fiat Ducato PVC which according to Fiat is 5.99m in length. However, ours has a bike rack and a storage box sitting on the bike rack (we don't have bikes). From what I can discover it appears that vehicles of 6.0m or less are treated as private cars whereas anything over 6.0m is charged at double the car rate. We struggle to store our bits and pieces without the box on the back and end up with hose pipes, levelling ramps, power cables, tent pages, awning guy ropes etc under the bed. After our Scandinavian tour we're heading south to Germany and France so we'll be away for a while and I'd really like to keep the box on the back if I can get away with it on the ferries as it would make life much more comfortable when we've left Scandinavia.

Does anyone know how strict or lenient the small ferry operators are regarding this sort of thing when crossing the numerous fiords on the small ferries? Will they just charge for a 5.99m Ducato PVC or will they immediately double the charges at every ferry crossing when they see the box sticking out at the back?

Any advice much appreciated.
P&D.

Our last mh was 5.99 m. We never got around to going but the plan was to put the rack and bikes in the MH for the trip across then back on its very easy to get on and off.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

On only 2 occassions we had to pay extra. The thing is, you don't actually know either. It's not until you log in to your account and check, that you see what you've been charged. You put your vehicle details in when you register so you say what your van is in length etc. On two occassions the ferrymaster pay man must have said "no" it's bigger and registered it on the system.

Wanders from Glos you simply can not, not register via the way I said or the other company that's available. It would be scandalous to try to go on to each ferry and expect to pay as you go. On two occassions on two different ferries, they had signs saying they were only taking "registered vehicles" not sure why, but people were then having to register online prior to boarding. It's so simple and as said above, it is amazing value.

Yes I think that is my preferred option.

 

[Daffy64]

Thank you for this - very useful info. We're not going as far as Nordkap but I expect we'll be using a lot of ferries on the way up the west coast. The costs you incurred are much better value than I was expecting. Did you use Flyt for a toll pass?

We used Skyttel pass, it was very easy although you can’t diet up your account online due to to many scammers, just drop them a line and they’ll sort it out - theres no fee and we still have the tag for when we go back (maybe 2026?)

I was really nervous but they were great via e-mail and on the phone - did I say I was nervous?

The tag arrived to home in a week or so - it just worked.

We linked it to Autopass for Ferje, although we did need to deposit approx £250 to pay upfront for the ferries, they were great to deal with as well as I wasn’t sure how it would work but they said just drive on the ferry and it’ll sort itself out - it did.

I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to get the remainder of our deposit back and half resigned myself to never seeing it again, again they did exactly what they said they would, I closed the account and within a few days the money was credited to my revolute card.

I funded the toll and ferry passes from my revolute card as I only hold a smallish balance when I’m away so if it was a scam they couldn’t clear out my bank or credit card accounts - it wasn’t and they didnt.

 

[Brize]

This subject - or variations of it - comes up quite frequently. The thread here takes place over a two year period, but is still valid now - not much changes. You will find it useful.

Getting a toll tag for Norway: Update (22nd June, 2022)

Getting a toll tag set up, if one goes about it the right way (which I didn't), is not too difficult. I've eventually done it, while in Norway, but for reasons that are or will become obvious, this is not to be recommended. Do it in good time and somewhere - at home, for example - to where a tag...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Mick and Ruth make a valid point on number plates with a number 1 in them. We had that problem. Many countries have numberplates that have both a figure 1 and the letter I. As they scan your numberplate at the ferry I had a couple of occasions at the beginning where it did'nt seem to scan. I overcame this with a small piece of shaped black electrical tape to make the I into a 1. I never had a problem after that, and 18 months later it's still there (back and front), and no one cares!

There may be other threads if you search. Good luck