Planning a trip to Norway

[Terry Sweet]

We are starting to plan a trip to Norway in our motor home next May. Anyone done a trip before with advice and tips. Thanks in advance.

 

[Southdowners]

If you do a search on this site you’ll find a lot of info on travel in Norway.

It’s a fantastic country I feel sure you’ll have a great time.

 

[Geistguy]

Visited Norway a couple of years ago on my motorbike but the practicalities of getting there are the same. Take the ferry from Newcastle or Harwich to Holland then drive north to Hirtshals in the far north of Denmark, here you get the ferry to Kristiansand, Norway. It's about 600 miles from Ijmuiden to Hirtshals but easy driving with plenty places to park up for the night along the way. The ferry to Norway is a floating supermarket so stock up with food, far cheaper than in Norway.

Overnight parking is tolerated in most parts of rural Norway and there are some beautiful spots. There is a good and reasonable camp site at Geiranger right on the edge of the fjord by the waterfalls, worth a visit

If you get as far north as the arctic circle I believe you can overnight on the massive visitor car park.

Norway is a fantastic country, good roads and friendly people. Certain things are very expensive so take plenty supplies.

Have fun !

 

[Augusta08]

We did it in May this year, Hull-Rotterdam, Holland, Germany, Denmark over the bridge to Sweden then up thru Oslo Trondheim and up to Artic Circle, came back down the west coast Atlantic highway etc. to Bergen (Pulpits Rock) and finally to Kristiansand and Ferry back to Denmark.

Two tips : 1 get a Oresundbron Tag to pay tolls you cannot live without one!!!!
2 Take plenty of supplies, wine food etc. They are eye wateringly expensive in Norway

 

[Geistguy]

Augusta 08, we didn't have the time to do that route when I went but it's a good alternative.

I'm not aware of that tag, is it needed in Norway ? I've no recollections of paying any tolls whatsoever.

I agree that Norway is very expensive and any alcohol other than beer has to be purchased in state run outlets. Beer can be purchased from supermarkets, 4 of us went and we managed to carry 8 bottles of malt - well we did go for 3 weeks !! ?

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[Augusta08]

Tolls are everywhere in Norway, Denmark & Sweden, they are cheap enough but failure to have registered for a tag can result in big fines. AutoPass is one, or the Oresundbron Tag is the other I used.

Just Google Tolls Norway and you can see the coverage.

I think registering your vehicle with EPC is a legal requirement.

 

[Geistguy]

Perhaps because we were on motorbikes we were exempt - or my memory is suspect ! No fines arrived anyway.

 

[jollyrodger]

Terry Sweet
Went up a couple of months back a lot of driving (but I like that)
Cheapest ferry route we found was Rostock to Trellbouge with TT lines .
Wild camping mostly as do many others.
Possibly back up next year

HOWI ON THE ROAD AGAIN LOOKING FOR THE LIGHTS

Off tomorrow to hopefully get the 0200 ferry (Thursday) Dover-Dunkirk Then heading northish altimalely up through Sweden-Finland-Norway cross the artic circle and get the T-shirt .But only have a 5 week window So hoping for a spot of fishing and maybe catch site of At some time along the...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

 

[Bailey58]

It matters not to many if you're taking the van, taking your time and have the means to stopover wherever you like on the way through northern Europe whether from the channel ports or Holland. But if you're taking a car as we do each year then it would be useful to have the ferry link to Denmark as we did until 5 years ago. If you care to join the campaign here's a few links:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/RHEGFerry/

https://www.change.org/p/dfds-seaways-reopen-the-harwich-to-esbjerg-ferry-crossing

https://www.reopen-the-harwich-to-esbjerg-ferry-group.com/

 

[TerryL]

We didn't pre-register or buy any tags for the tolls, most of which were automated. We made a note as we passed through them and a couple of weeks after we got home we got a bill itemising the tolls and which we could pay direct to a UK bank account at no extra charge. If I remember there were just a couple of tolls where we just paid by card as normal.

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[Wools]

We visited Norway as part of a 6 month tour of Europe. Visited Nordkapp midsummer's eve.
Other highlights were the Atlantic Highway, Oslo and the fjords. My favorite of the 10 countries we visited. Stunning scenery. Nice people.
Things we found out,
Norway is a feast for the eyes, not the stomach. Stock up with food & drink, eye wateringly expensive.
You can register online for the tolls.
LPG not so common. needs planning.
It can take time to do distances because of road conditions.

Go for it. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

 

[Jenka]

Tolls are everywhere in Norway, Denmark & Sweden, they are cheap enough but failure to have registered for a tag can result in big fines. AutoPass is one, or the Oresundbron Tag is the other I used.

Just Google Tolls Norway and you can see the coverage.

I think registering your vehicle with EPC is a legal requirement.

You don't need to register with EPC they will send you an invoice ,I registered and my last invoice from June came last week.we travelled the length and breadth of Denmark and I can't recall a toll road or at least no fines !

 

[thebriars]

Its a shame they stopped the Newcastle to Bergen ferry.

 

[Themselves]

We went last year. Used a Brobizz pass. Ferry to Dunkirk and a drive up through Denmark, eye-wateringly expensive bridge across to Sweden and then a jolly nice drive to Flam and Bergen. The tunnels, and there are many of them in Norway, are long and probably the reason the drink- drive limit is effectively zero. One tunnel even had a traffic island in it . It’s a beautiful country and I would certainly go there again.

 

[Delboyarapaho]

There are a couple on Facebook who go by the name of motoroaming. They are a bit up themselves but some very useful information. link to their blog below

Norway - All things Travel - Motoroaming

Fancy travelling Norway in a motorhome yet worried about the practicalities? Our Norway series removes any uncertainties. Read about all things travel related, helping you plan your motorhome trip with ease.

motoroaming.com

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[jollyrodger]

For the smaller van these guys did a 4 or 5 part series wilding up that way

 

[hblewett]

We went to Nordkapp back in 2013. We went Esberg, across the Oresund crossing (expensive but fantastic if you like that sort of thing), Oslo then out to the coast. Lierdal tunnel then back by the Ice Road (check it’s open first), Atlantic Road.

As well as everything said above, if you’ve got time I would recommend taking the coastal route rather than the E road up the middle .... lots of ferries across the fjords which add up if you’re over 6 metres, but as we’re never likely to go again, so worth it - just fabulous vistas day after day. We were the best part of a month from Oslo to Nordkapp and it was brilliant!

We got caught out at the furthest north LPG station (Alta, iirc?) arriving at 17.30 to find they shut at 17.00; so we overnighted there in the hope they would be open in the morning .......they weren’t! Fortunately the sun shone for us the whole time so we used very little heating and just about got away with it till we got to Tallin on the long way home ??

 

[mid4did]

I personally wouldn,t go over the oresund bridge again €100 for a 6.4 metre,electronic measuring system.Same as the severn bridge but longer.The other ferries up the west coast we magically shrunk to 6 metres and got away with the cheaper rate,which is what we told the person with the ticket machine.
Only stopped at 1 campsite to see the briksdal glacier.
Scandinavia trip may 2018

 

[Wully]

Tolls are everywhere in Norway, Denmark & Sweden, they are cheap enough but failure to have registered for a tag can result in big fines. AutoPass is one, or the Oresundbron Tag is the other I used.

Just Google Tolls Norway and you can see the coverage.

I think registering your vehicle with EPC is a legal requirement.

Only toll bridges in Denmark- no toll roads and I don’t recall any toll roads in Sweden but we were off the beaten path there.
A Scandi Tour is well worthwhile for the epic scenery in Norway alone if for no other reason. I love Denmark, need to go back and properly see Sweden and spend a lot more time in Norway - it is a HUGE country with slow roads and jaw dropping geology that they have tunnelled through in the most astonishing way - we were gobsmacked driving over to Bergen by the amount of them.
A Danish work colleague gave me some excellent advice:
Buy your beer and wine in Germany. Buy food in Denmark and Sweden. Don’t buy anything in Norway!

 

[Terry Sweet]

Thanks for all the info it will take me 5 months to research it all. First question what is the EPC.
The main thing is everyone seems to love it.

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[Augusta08]

Thanks for all the info it will take me 5 months to research it all. First question what is the EPC.
The main thing is everyone seems to love it.

Euro Parking Collection plc

www.epcplc.com

 

[mid4did]

Buy your beer and wine in Germany. Buy food in Denmark and Sweden. Don’t buy anything in Norway!

except for the amazing hot dogs and burgers when you get your fuel
Circle K Norway

 

[Themselves]

except for the amazing hot dogs and burgers when you get your fuel
Circle K Norway

The most amazing thing about the hot dogs in Flam was the price. Didn’t buy one as €16 a hotdog and €24 for a bowl of bambi soup is beyond my feeble resources.

 

[Bailey58]

Terry Sweet, if you want to PM me with your email address I'll be happy to send you all the stuff I copied and saved before my trip. With their permission it's edited threads from Robert Clark, DavidG58, lorger, jumartoo (which trip I can't remember).

There's a 130+ page word doc from Our Tour which I edited to include Tromso south including Bergen, Flam, Stavanger, Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen as far as Gouda in Holland, you could turn that upside down if it helps going from this end.

Mentioned in plenty of threads is the fishing opportunities, particularly the Saltsraumen, read their blog on Shooting Fish in a Barrel, the Maelstrom at Saltsraumen. There's also a list of their stopovers with co-ordinates, and all sorts of other notes of my own. Given the tolls were all through EPC and ferries paid by Clarity Card it was easy to total our costs, well, I've listed them all from the cards and EPC statements into various categories but never actually totalled them.

On the subject of the cost of the Danish bridges, I don't know why it appears so costly for some. I had read all sort of posts on this but we paid 200 DKr for the electronic screen gadget from Brobizz and went through both bridges for around £75 in a 7.5metre van. Our return was with Fjordline from Kristiansand to Hirtshals at £230.

02/06/18​	Fyn to Sjaelland​	294.74 DKr​	Toll​	Brobizz - CC​	34.87​
05/06/18​	Oresund​	328.00 DKr​	Toll​	Brobizz - CC​	38.72​

 

[jumartoo]

Terry Sweet, if you want to PM me with your email address I'll be happy to send you all the stuff I copied and saved before my trip. With their permission it's edited threads from Robert Clark, DavidG58, lorger, jumartoo (which trip I can't remember).

There's a 130+ page word doc from Our Tour which I edited to include Tromso south including Bergen, Flam, Stavanger, Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen as far as Gouda in Holland, you could turn that upside down if it helps going from this end.

Mentioned in plenty of threads is the fishing opportunities, particularly the Saltsraumen, read their blog on Shooting Fish in a Barrel, the Maelstrom at Saltsraumen. There's also a list of their stopovers with co-ordinates, and all sorts of other notes of my own. Given the tolls were all through EPC and ferries paid by Clarity Card it was easy to total our costs, well, I've listed them all from the cards and EPC statements into various categories but never actually totalled them.

On the subject of the cost of the Danish bridges, I don't know why it appears so costly for some. I had read all sort of posts on this but we paid 200 DKr for the electronic screen gadget from Brobizz and went through both bridges for around £75 in a 7.5metre van. Our return was with Fjordline from Kristiansand to Hirtshals at £230.

02/06/18​	Fyn to Sjaelland​	294.74 DKr​	Toll​	Brobizz - CC​	34.87​
05/06/18​	Oresund​	328.00 DKr​	Toll​	Brobizz - CC​	38.72​

Go ahead and use anything of mine. It's all on here anyway ?

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[mid4did]

The most amazing thing about the hot dogs in Flam was the price. Didn’t buy one as €16 a hotdog and €24 for a bowl of bambi soup is beyond my feeble resources.

not quite that expensive from the right places Checked the price from my clarity card and saved receipts,,2 @ 44 NOK plus other stuff total NOK 108, came to £9.62 from a YX Storforshei fuel station

 

[lorger]

Terry Sweet, if you want to PM me with your email address I'll be happy to send you all the stuff I copied and saved before my trip. With their permission it's edited threads from Robert Clark, DavidG58, lorger, jumartoo (which trip I can't remember).

There's a 130+ page word doc from Our Tour which I edited to include Tromso south including Bergen, Flam, Stavanger, Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen as far as Gouda in Holland, you could turn that upside down if it helps going from this end.

Mentioned in plenty of threads is the fishing opportunities, particularly the Saltsraumen, read their blog on Shooting Fish in a Barrel, the Maelstrom at Saltsraumen. There's also a list of their stopovers with co-ordinates, and all sorts of other notes of my own. Given the tolls were all through EPC and ferries paid by Clarity Card it was easy to total our costs, well, I've listed them all from the cards and EPC statements into various categories but never actually totalled them.

On the subject of the cost of the Danish bridges, I don't know why it appears so costly for some. I had read all sort of posts on this but we paid 200 DKr for the electronic screen gadget from Brobizz and went through both bridges for around £75 in a 7.5metre van. Our return was with Fjordline from Kristiansand to Hirtshals at £230.

02/06/18​	Fyn to Sjaelland​	294.74 DKr​	Toll​	Brobizz - CC​	34.87​
05/06/18​	Oresund​	328.00 DKr​	Toll​	Brobizz - CC​	38.72​

Feel free to use any of my posts

 

[7735]

We haven’t been by motorhome but we have cruised up the fjords as far as the russian border. Did me the world of good, 12 days teetotal. No way could I bring myself to pay £100 for a bottle of wine, or £10 for a bottle of beer.
spongy

 

[Kelso]

We went up to Norway on the summer of 2017 - no toll roads in Denmark (apart from the bridges).
We took the ferry from Frederikshavn to Oslo - and made sure we were well stocked with food and essentials before leaving Denmark.
Campsite in Oslo very expensive (£40 + shower tokens) but convenient with bus service to the centre.
Lots of places to park throughout Norway. We did not buy any passes for roads or tunnels etc. But had a bill for a couple of roads/tunnels sent to us in the uk - with no fees or fines added.
From Flam you can drive through the longest road tunnel in the world (25 km - great experience).
We drove up to Lofoten islands and then up to the North Cape.
A good tip is to do a night drive in the north when the roads are empty but you still need your sunglasses at 2am (summertime).
We then crossed over to Finland from the north and then made our way south through Finland and Sweden.
Norway is a fantastic country, very beautiful and so are the people.

 

[IanPbo]

We went in May 2018. Fabulous. We went through the channel tunnel and drove through Belgium, Germany and Denmark, stopping a couple of nights in Skagen, where we have been before and wanted to see again. Lovely place where the North Sea meets the Baltic. Took ferry from Hirstals to Kristiansand 3.5 hours.

Register on line for the road tolls with EPC. Makes it very easy. No need to mess about with a toll box.

Food is expensive and often poor quality. We took a fair amount. Alcohol is very expensive, but Norway is not in the EU so your duty free allowance is small. There did not seem to be many checks, so we took a moderate amount, and they do have some very good beer.

In some of the more popular places in fjords, check the cruise ship schedules. When there are multiple ships docked, the places get overrun. Especially in Flam, if you want to go on the fabulous railway, pick a day with no Cruise ships in port. We did and there were only 6 people in our carriage, whereas the following day with a huge cruise ship in port the trains were all crowded and no tickets available.

If going to the Lofoten islands, before your cross go to Saltstraumen. It is superb with huge maelstroms on every tide. Good site within a short walk.

Atlantic highway, the fjords, - all superb. Lofoten islands great. Don't come on and off on the same ferry, start in the South and work north or vice versa.

Oslo was good, and there is a good motorhome site near the marina, with good transport in to the centre or a cycle track. Get to the motorhome site early, it gets full.

We did not go to the far North. We know too many people who have gone there and seen nothing due to fog. We found several good places to see the midnight sun from the Lofoten islands. Park your moho so that you can see the sunset position from your vehicle. In one location we stayed we could not see it as our view was blocked. At 2am you soon get cold, even with lots of layers if standing around.

The Arctic Circle Centre in Norway was very disappointing. Geiranger was superb, but we cut short our stay. There were 4 cruise ships in each day, and as well as the crowds, the shape of the fjord meant you could smell diesel fumes all day. Pity lots to do there.

Agree that refillable gas is a bit limited. Use the app mylpg.eu . We had to plan carefully at one point.

Wild camping is legal anywhere in Norway under their right to roam act, provided you are not on agricultural land and are more than 150 metres from the nearest building. We only used wild camping once on our trip, preferring to use sites which are plentiful.

We made two major mistakes. We did not spend enough time on the Lofoten islands. We came back on to the mainland as the weather went poor. Mistake. Secondly, and worse. We went up through Bergen, the fjords, the Atlantic Highway, Trollstiegen, etc. Superb. We then came back down through the centre of Norway to Oslo. Having seen the best, that was an anti-climax. Oslo was good, and we then crossed into Sweden and back via the Oresund bridge in to Denmark near Copenhagen, and then the Rodbyhaven ferry into Germany. If you buy the ticket for the Oresund Bridge and the ferry at the same time, you get a discount. We bought a flexible ticket for the ferry, which did not cost very much extra, but we arrived the day before our booking, and not only could change it, but we were in a priority lane and were first on the ship.

If we were planning now, I would do Oslo on the way north, go via the fjords, etc, and after the Lofoten Islands would cross in to Sweden and on in to Finland and come back that way.

We went on 11 or 12 ferries on this trip. On all of the Norwegian ferries. They carefully measure your length, so anything on the back of the moho is included, such as bikes. Make the extra length as short as possible! The prices tend to go up in half metre increments.

We absolutely loved it, and I am sure you will too.

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