So, on July 17th, 2016, my girlfriend and I set off in our own car for the longest trip of our lives. We planned to travel for a whole month in foreign countries: Finland, Sweden, Norway. But the main purpose of our trip was Norway.
On the way, we collected the essentials, and the car (Hyundai accent) was packed to capacity. The trunk and the back seat of the car were fully stocked, so if 3 people went, we wouldn't all fit in. Our goal was to spend as little money as possible, because, as you know, Norway is an expensive country. Therefore, the most important thing that had to be taken was a tent, sleeping bags and foam, so that you could sometimes spend the night in nature and not pay big money. We also took with us a gas burner for cooking and a supply of gas. We collected all kinds of cereals and noodles, since it would be expensive to buy all this there. We haven't forgotten about clothes either. Although it was summer, our path lay through the North Cape, and this is the northernmost point in Norway, not counting Svalbard.
On the first day, we covered the longest distance that we traveled during the entire trip - this is 790 km from the city of Dubna (northern Moscow region) to Vyborg, where we had already booked a hotel. For the first time we were going to cross the border like this, on our own vehicles. Therefore, we tried to drive as close as possible to the border in order to storm it early in the morning. In the morning we woke up and drove off, passed the border without any problems, although we read that some were being turned back there.
Finding ourselves in a foreign country in our own car, we were a little scared. The speed limit was strictly observed, even with a margin, but then they realized how the locals drive cars there, and entered into their driving style.
For a little over two days we traveled through Finland, spent the night in two hotels. We passed through Finland in transit, so we almost didn’t see beautiful places in it, although it was beautiful here:

North Cape met us with a strong wind, but we were ready for it

During the entire journey through Norway, we drove no more than 550 km per day, since it was impossible to drive any more. Because while driving, you stop every kilometer to enjoy the beautiful view and take pictures.
Then we stopped booking hotels and began to rely on the fact that we can find a place to stay on the road, and if we don’t find it, then we have a tent.
Looking at the whole trip as a whole, after we visited it, I understand that the most beautiful thing in Norway is its north. We traveled from north to south and that was our mistake. We observed all the sights in descending order. Therefore, I would advise you to start from the south.
Further on our way lay the beautiful island of Senja.

After the island of Senja, we planned to take a ferry to Andøya, but we didn’t have time, the line was already gathering the next day. So we decided to go by car. The next day we were already there, but, unfortunately, the weather let us down - fog began to appear from the sea, and most of the trip around this island was in fog. Although sometimes we drove beyond the mountains, where fog and cloudiness had not yet reached, but made attempts to break through. And somewhere the mountain defense failed.

Then we visited Lofoten. These are wonderful islands and we arrived on time. The manager of the campsite we stayed at told us that the day we arrived was the first day of summer. But we did not notice this, since we were driving from the island of Senya, where the weather was wonderful a day ago. In Norway, the weather is changeable, according to blogs and articles. But we were still lucky with the weather. Often it was good, and if it rained, then it fell just in time for our movement between the sights. And in fact, all this is not accidental, because before the trip I took care to choose the dates of the trip. I wrote a script that took 14 years of weather data for several major cities in Norway, discarded extreme temperature fluctuations, and showed me averages over short calendar periods for those cities. Yes, on Wikipedia you can find average temperatures by months in cities around the world, but I needed more accurate information. A month is too long. I divided everything into five days. As a result, according to my calculations, it turned out that it is better to go to Norway from mid-July to mid-August, which we did.
On the first day in Lofoten, we were not lucky - it was raining. But then the weather cleared up, and we thoroughly traveled around them, even twice walked long distances on foot.

We spent 3 days in Lofoten, and when I noticed on the weather sites that we were going to have several days of rainy weather, we hurried away from the islands, so that the rain caught us on the way, and not when we were enjoying the views.
Further we were waiting for road 17, in my opinion, the most beautiful road on our way. It began with the Salstraumen whirlpools, which appear 1-2 times a day according to a schedule known in advance. But not everywhere this road can be called a road, because, moving along it, you need to make several ferry crossings. Throughout the road there are many beautiful places that are in the immediate vicinity of the road or at a distance from it. For example, one of the sights is a mountain with a through cave.

After we had driven on road 17, we went towards Kristiansund to get acquainted with one of the main attractions of Norway, the Atlantic Road. Further on our way were several famous fjords, as well as a tunnel 24.5 km away. After we visited the city of Bergen.
I think that when traveling in Norway, you need to avoid large cities, since all the beauty of Norway is in its nature, but in cities it is not.
Then a fascinating journey to the Troll language awaited us, to which we decided to go and return in one day, and we succeeded, although we were not lucky with the weather near the language itself. But while we were going there, the weather was good.

Here, of course, we made a mistake. The most correct thing is to go to the Troll's tongue with an overnight stay, in one day you can decently wear yourself out. The most difficult section of the route is the 1st and 3rd km towards the tongue, especially if you are already walking at night. The 1st km is very steep, there is a lot of mud, so it is very easy to slip and break something. We went to the language around 9:30 and returned at 23:30.
Everything, after the language, we were already exhausted, and the view outside the window was no longer pleasing, since we had already visited all the most beautiful, and this was the 20th day of our trip. We decided to move towards the house, but we decided to check in on the south coast, so we went there. Next was Oslo, which was as indifferent to me as Bergen. Let's go further. We drove from the border with Sweden to Stockholm, spent one day there. Further 11-hour ferry to Turku (Finland). He was great and not expensive.

We also passed through Finland in transit, spending one night in Turku. And then there was the border with Russia, a 3-hour wait due to some problems at the border and that's it, we are in Russia. We spent one full day in St. Petersburg, since we had not been there for a long time, and then we left for Dubna.

That's all. The journey turned out to be very interesting and unique.

The journey lasted 2½ weeks. In the first days we swiftly swept through the whole of Finland from the south almost to the very north. Then we slowly drove through Norway from the northwest to the southeast, visiting a large number of natural, historical and urban places of interest - from the North Cape to Preikestolen. And in recent days, no less rapidly swept from west to east through Sweden and Finland back to St. Petersburg. The total was about 6800 km (according to the car odometer) plus numerous short and long ferry crossings that we did not count.

The main impression of the trip: the harsh northern nature is beautiful! Sea, fjords, mountains, glaciers, turbulent rivers and waterfalls, unusual vegetation in the north - mosses and lichens, deer roam everywhere, as if there were no people around, the sun shines all night, bridges and tunnels - dozens every day, the height is constantly changing from 0 to 1000 meters above sea level, which already lays the ears. I wanted to stop every 50 kilometers and massively photograph all this, so that I could show it for three years later.

The main disappointment of the trip: on the fifth day of the trip, my camera died, unable to withstand the harsh northern climate, so there will be no photos.

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2. The journey began through Finland, and every time Finland gives us unexpected surprises. This time the surprise was the open-air bell museum, which we met near the 4th road somewhere in the south of northern Ostrobothnia.

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3. We stopped in Oulu to walk for several hours and spend the night. Oulu turned out to be a big and pretty Finnish city, as expected. In the photo - a sculpture of a policeman on the market square, one of the symbols of the city.

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4. The next day was Rovaniemi - the largest city in Europe in terms of area, but rather small in terms of population. Rovaniemi, unlike Oulu, did not like it. The building is chaotic and not interesting, there is no Finnish comfort. In the photo - Lordi Square, the central square of Rovaniemi, named after the famous modern Finnish punk rock band.

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5. Near Rovaniemi, we crossed the Arctic Circle back and forth several times :-) and walked around the “museum” village of Santa Claus, more precisely, Youlu-pukki, if in Finnish. They also wanted to go to the underground Santa Park, located under the Arctic Circle, but in those days it was closed due to “summer Christmas”. This is the last Finnish photo, and then there will be, in fact, Norway.

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6. The northernmost point of our journey is the North Cape, the northernmost point of mainland Europe, located on a 300-meter cliff on an island connected to the mainland by a 6-km tunnel 250 meters deep. We tried to get here on the week of the summer solstice and certainly at midnight to enjoy the highest possible midnight sun. Unfortunately, at midnight we were unlucky with the weather (watering clouds started at a 50-meter height, and the North Cape is at an altitude of 300 meters), but the northern weather suddenly changes several times a day, and after a couple of hours it was already quite sunny.

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7. A glacier (or a snowfield? :) on a mountain in the summer on a sunny night is beautiful! All glaciers-snowfields are located at different heights, so they begin to melt at different times, so mountain streams-rivers and waterfalls continuously flow in the Norwegian mountains throughout the summer.

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9. But Hammerfest is considered the northernmost real city in Europe, although it is located somewhat south of Honningsvåg. There are almost no sights in the city, there is only a museum of polar bears, which is located right in the building of the city administration. After the wet Hammerfest, my camera got damp and refused to turn on, so there will be no more detailed photos, all the other pictures were taken on a mobile phone in order to somehow dilute the text of this post with pictures.

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10. In Alta we went to the rock art museum. In the second half of the 20th century, numerous hollowed-out rock paintings were found here by accident, the age of which is from 6 to 3 thousand years, they cleaned, painted, painted and put on public display. Moose-deer, bears, people, boats, scenes of hunting and fishing and other shamanistic actions. And in the upper right corner, we saw something similar to a computer keyboard.

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11. The next day was the Lofoten Islands. Previously, they were engaged in fishing here, and now mainly tourism (since a few years ago a new E10 road was laid here and a couple of dozen bridges and tunnels were built). The photo shows the historic fishing (and now a museum) village of Nusfjord. Previously, fishermen lived here, and now these houses are a museum, hotels and fish restaurants.

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12. The Lofoten Islands are also located beyond the Arctic Circle, so the sun shines here at night in the summer. Taking pictures on the phone in the backlight is, of course, a perversion. But, unlike the North Cape, this picture was honestly taken at astronomical midnight.

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13. Another former fishing, and now tourist town on the Lofoten Islands - Oh! Locality with the shortest name. In Norwegian, its name is written as "Å". By the way, the houses stand on legs not only because it is more convenient for fishermen, but because it is the open Atlantic Ocean and there are ebb and flow several times a day, the water level fluctuates by about a meter.

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14. In order not to go again on the same single road, from the Lofoten Islands we crossed back to the mainland on a 100-kilometer ferry to Bodø. The view of the Norwegian mountains from the sea is also beautiful. Unfortunately, this cannot be captured on a mobile photo.

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15. On the same day (more precisely, on the same polar day, because by this time we had a complete breakdown between day and night, and the calendar day was already completely different) we crossed the Arctic Circle again and gradually began to return to more familiar latitudes. The Arctic Circle in Norway on the E6 road is more severe than that near Rovaniemi: here it is located on a plateau at an altitude of 680 meters above sea level on a bald plateau, blown by all winds, and visitors built up this entire plateau with traditional Sami stone pyramids.

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17. Trondheim, aka Nidarus - the ancient capital of Norway. There is an old fortress, an old Gothic cathedral built in the 11th-13th centuries, and an embankment with houses of unusual architecture. Unfortunately, by the end of that day, the weather deteriorated again (in Norway it changes several times a day to a completely opposite one), and by this day we had some delay from the schedule, so we examined Trondheim very superficially and in the rain, time to wait for a good We didn't have the weather.

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19. After Trondheim, interesting and picturesque roads awaited us. For example, the "Atlantic Road", laid on the islands on the western coast of Norway with numerous bizarre bridges. Since this is the very very coast in front of the open sea, this is the very place where during high tides the water begins to flow into long narrow fjords, at such moments there is a very rapid current under the bridges.

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20. The Troll Ladder (also known as the Troll Road) is one of the most popular Norwegian natural and anthropogenic attractions. A picturesque 7-kilometer serpentine road with a slope of 10%, rising among the waterfalls to a height of almost 700 meters.

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21. On our journey, the roads were both steeper and more extreme, but the “Troll Ladder” is distinguished among them by the fact that it looks very picturesque from above, and there are observation platforms hanging over the cliffs.

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22. The Geirangerfjord is Norway's most popular natural attraction. A very long and narrow (about half a kilometer) fjord with emerald-colored water, windingly stretching among the picturesque mountains. All entrances to Geiranger are either on extreme serpentine roads or by ferry.

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24. Having set off from Geiranger further along our route, we accidentally noticed a pointer to some natural landmark, and turning onto an inconspicuous winding path with a sign that you drive here at your own peril and risk, after a few minutes we found ourselves on Mount Dalsnibba at a height 1500 meters above sea level (it turned out to be the highest point of our trip). It’s good that by car, and not on foot, because the entire supply of clothes is constantly fiddling with itself, and often several times a day I had to change from a light T-shirt and shorts to a warm jacket with two sweaters and a hat.

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27. And this is a man-made attraction - the Flåm railway leading from the shore of one of the fjords to an 800-meter height to the Oslo-Bergen main railway line. Previously, this railway had a transport and cargo function, but in our time it has become exclusively tourist. During the hour-long rise from the windows of the carriages, absolutely wonderful views of the mountains, valleys, gorges and waterfalls open up.

Fabulous Norway is waiting for us

To begin with, we choose the city of departure, it is most convenient to leave from St. Petersburg, because luxexpress buses run closer in distance and from it for 670 rubles. to Tallinn (Estonia), but you can also go from Moscow, from Kiev to Tallinn by budget buses from Ecolines, Eurolines, etc. from 1800 rubles. one way.

An example of buying bus tickets to Tallinn with a fare of 670 rubles.

Discount offers

There are discount days.

Buses are the most comfortable.

They often offer:

• Separate Lounge area at the back of the buses;
• Comfortable leather seats with tables, where it is convenient to work with a laptop;
• Bottle of water and snack;
• Free hot drinks and newspapers;
• Simple free internet access WiFi*;
• Electric sockets (220 V) are located at each pair of seats;
• Audio-video program "Lux Express TV": breaking news, weather forecast, music videos for entertainment;
• Possibility to purchase a set of pillows and blankets;
• Climate control;
• Permanent toilet.

Comfortable travel by bus to Tallinn

Apply for a visa online:

Or we immediately go by plane from the budget air carrier Ryanair for 20 euros (800-1000 rubles) to Oslo, the capital of Norway.

An example of buying a ticket to Oslo for 20 euros

From Oslo airport to the city center every 20 minutes there is a special train "Fly tog" (fly toget), it costs 50 crowns per person (about 200 rubles).

It takes 15 minutes and arrives at Oslo Central Station (Oslo Sentralstasjon), in the very center. From there it is easy to get to almost any hotel, drop off your things, relax a little and you can walk around Oslo in the evening.

Walks in the capital of the Norwegian fjords - Oslo.

Night city of Oslo

Worth a stroll around the Royal Palace. From the palace begins the main street of the city - Karl Johans gate (Karl Johans gate), it is very easy to find it.

If you stand with your back to the building of the Central Station, then this main street will be right in front of you. It is lined with shops, restaurants and other entertainment.

It is not long, it is easy to walk in 15 minutes. The Royal Palace stands on a hill and is clearly visible.

Akeshhus fortress

To the right of the Royal Palace is the City Hall and Akker Brygge - Oslo's waterfront, the most expensive place in the city.

The restaurants there are very biting, but you can just sit cheaply on the steps of the promenade, eat ice cream, admire the view of Osloford and the Akershus Fortress (Akershus).

Below is a video on how to get to the troll tongue.

If you have come to admire, but there is not much money and you do not have the opportunity or desire to rent a car to see the picturesque fjords of Norway to the maximum, then we proceed as follows.

Norwegian fjords in Bergen

Order an inexpensive transfer - taxi in Norway

Let's go to a fairy tale with the fjords in Bergen

We have a trip to Bergen, the country of fjords and mountain peaks, so it's worth going to bed early and getting a budget ticket.

In general, tickets to Bergen can be bought by train, plane or bus.

I won’t talk about the first two, everything is simple there, I went to the ticket office of the station and bought it. Only one ticket costs 700 CZK one way. It will be expensive!

I want to advise a budget option, tell a secret secret.

There is such a bus, it is called the "Bus of low prices" if translated literally. You need to find a website on the Internet.

Unfortunately, it is not configured for English, but it is not so difficult to figure it out there, you can automatically translate the site from Norwegian even into Russian using Google translator.

Website translated into Russian, thanks to Google

If you don't have Google Chrome and you only have Norwegian, let's deal with it! :) At the top is "Velg strekning", which means to choose a direction.

If you click on the arrow, Oslo will open - Vergen-Oslo, Oslo-Trondheim-Oslo and so on. This bus runs from Oslo to Bergen, Trondheim, Kristiansand and Copenhagen.

Then select passengers:

• voksne- means adult, student;
• militaer is a student and a military man serving in the army;
• barn/honnor- These are children under 18 years of age;
• recent- children under 3 years old.

The latter go without a seat, but the bus is always full of empty seats, this is not a problem.

Understanding the site in Norwegian :)

At the bottom there is a calendar, the days marked in black are the regular price, orange are discounted. Gray days are not active, the bus does not run. We chose the right days and clicked on the orange Neste key.

The bus schedule will immediately appear with the departure and arrival times and prices.

Discounted price can be as low as 49 CZK one way! The earlier you book, the more likely you are to get good discounts.

For example, from July 22 to July 23, I watched tickets, they cost 99 crowns to Bergen and 49 back, all together only 148 crowns.

Car rental in Norway

It's fantastically cheap for Norway

Prices are arranged in two columns, the first column can be changed after ordering, prices are higher there, the second column cannot be changed! But even if something breaks, 148 crowns is still not such a big loss.

Then we click on the Forsett bestilling button and enter data on passengers. Fornavn - first name, Etternavn - passenger's last name, phone number and email address below.

Again we press Forsett bestilling, we continue the order. You need to pay for the order by credit card, other payments are not accepted, you can not pay on the bus!

They accept VISA, MasterCard, American Express. We select a card, enter its number, date and the last square - the security code on the back of the card, above the magnetic strip.

However, I think everyone who has such cards knows very well how to use them. It is completely safe, no one takes anything superfluous.

And we press the last button - Betal. That's it, the order is made, you need to print a confirmation with the order number, another confirmation will be sent to the email address you specified.

After that, go to the bus station to the desired platform, it will also be indicated in the order, something like Oslo, Sentral bussterminal, spor 5, show the driver a printout and an identity card.

A passport, a driver's license, and even a credit card will do.

Narøyfjord - what you will meet along the way, riding the lavprisekspressen bus

I advise everyone to take the bus leaving at 10 am. This trip in itself is not an ordinary tour through the whole of Norway. The first two hours the bus goes through quite picturesque places, but still not mountains, but then just dizzying beauty begins! For example:

passing Gudvangen

Mirdal station

Stalheim Gorge

Schöfossen waterfall

The trip, in general, takes time from 8.40 to 20.35, almost all day.
Those who wish can stay in Bergen for one more day and take a boat ride along the Sognefjord, visit the islands or take some other exciting walk.

Those who do not have much time can return to Oslo by night bus. It leaves at 11 pm from the bus station in Bergen and arrives at 7 am in Oslo.

fabulous places near Sognefjord

Get travel medical insurance

Choosing economical and comfortable accommodation in Norway

All housing, in more or less developed cities of the world, I advise you to rent on the site. Here, in many cases, prices will be lower, especially if these are EU countries, and for 1000 rubles you are already renting not an average hotel, but excellent comfortable housing from a local star, from city residents.

For example, we rented for 1000 rubles. (for two) a magnificent room with access to the garden, with breakfast, in the house near Miss Sri Lanka herself.

Now the service gives all new users a $25 coupon!

Follow the LINK and get your 936 rubles. for your first booking!

The amazing family of Miss Sri Lanka, with whom we lived in Colombo (Sri Lanka)

a room rented by Miss Sri Lanka for 1000 rubles. per day

• You communicate more in English, develop it
• Free guide(accommodating you, the owner of the property), who will tell you what and how best to see in the area
• New friends abroad (if you are a friendly person of course).

Some benefits, believe me! It is checked up on own experience.

Here's an example of a house that I found by adjusting prices in Norway (Oslo) on this site, in 10-15 seconds, it looks great, right?)

For just $50-70 for two, you can find a very comfortable stay in Oslo!

Accommodation in the Fjords area, in the town of Bergen

Hotels in Norway

Results

Thus, you can economically not only get to Oslo (the capital of Norway), but also travel inexpensively through the Fjords, through the most crystal, expensive and beautiful land in Norway!

Summing up, we found out: to get to the capital Oslo, we need from 1500 rubles. from St. Petersburg (~$45) and about 3,000 rubles. (~100 dollars) from Moscow and Kiev and another 888 rubles. with a return to Oslo to see the Fjords by Norwegian bus lavprisekspressen!

Those. we will spend about 5 thousand rubles for all transportation costs. (~$140) with a return to Russia or Ukraine!

September 27th, 2014 , 12:26 am

For the first time going to Norway on your own, it is very important to have as much information as possible about the features of traveling in this country. A trip to the homeland of the Vikings will be beautiful, dizzying and at the same time unlike anything else; Norway at the highest level is adapted specifically for independent travel, surprisingly combining wild, uncultivated nature with a civilized infrastructure. To achieve harmony and complete understanding with this country, you need to be ready for certain moments.

So, not at all briefly, but very detailed, I share the information necessary for everyone who wants to go to Norway outside the restrictions of organized tourism.

Norway is a very long country stretched from south to north. If there are no more than two weeks for the whole trip, I recommend choosing one part: either the north or the south. Saying "southern part", I do not mean the very, very south of the country. This is just a symbol, opposed to the north, roughly speaking, the southern half of the state. The western part of this half is the region of the famous Norwegian fjords. Often, those who travel for the first time start with it.
Part of the fjords covers several regions at once or "fylke" - Rogaland, Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane, Møre og Romsdal.

A significant number of travelers choose the nomadic style of traveling in Norway. This means that every or almost every night they spend in a new place. Thus, in 10-14 days, all of the above regions are covered, but in each of them attention is paid to a very limited number of objects - “we saw what we had time to see”.

While preparing our first trip to Norway, I came to the conclusion that this way of rest is not an option for our family.
Firstly, day after day, collecting and disassembling all your belongings is not at all cool.
Secondly, we are with a child. In this case, the more settled, the less fatigue for everyone.
Thirdly, the weather is always an important factor in Norway. It is completely unpredictable and year after year can be radically different from previous seasons. Rain and low clouds can replace the sun several times a day, or they can drag out the entire sky for several days in advance. Therefore, passing through the designated places, the tourist runs the risk of simply not seeing them, not going to some track - and all because of bad weather. And in the evening you have to be somewhere else!

We are not satisfied with this scheme. If it didn't work today, you can do it tomorrow. Plans are easy to vary on the go, adjust the program for fatigue, mood, weather, desire, well-being. And as much as possible to explore the area in which they found themselves, not at all limited to the hyped, well-known must-see points.

As a result, on trips to Norway, I usually choose three or four habitats, several days each. And we will not explore all 5 regions, but one or two. Do not hesitate - you can spend more than one week in any of them, and everything will not be boring.

Living in one place, every day we make radial trips in different directions. Approximately within 70-100 km from habitation. Seems like very little? Nevermind. Need to know Norwegian roads.

The fact is that the fjord region is almost continuous mountains, serpentines, tunnels. And narrow roads. Sometimes even single-lane, but at the same time double-sided - with widenings for traveling. Therefore, the average speed in mountainous areas is approximately 50 km/h. That is why it takes a lot of time for long-distance travel.

Housing

You can forget about hotels in Norway. Unless you live in a city and have a lot of capital, because Norway is an expensive country. But in the local cities, few people seek to relax, this is not what Norway is famous for. And wealthy travelers often tend to save some money. Therefore, it is better not to stay in Norwegian hotels.

What is widespread there to unprecedented proportions is camping, there are a great many of them. In them you can find accommodation for every taste and budget - from tents (brought with you) to cottages. There are houses with everything you need, but without a bathroom and shower, there are houses with all amenities.

Separately, there is always a building with showers and toilets, most often licked to a shine. Of course, guests are expected to maintain cleanliness and respect for others.
In addition, there is a separate public kitchen with the necessary utensils, as well as a laundry room.
Showers and washing/drying machines are chargeable. Shower on average 10 CZK for 5 minutes. Washer / dryer - 10 kroons per operation. Most often, the crowns need to be exchanged for special tokens at the reception in the campsite.

If you are not traveling with a tent, but staying in a house, then keep in mind the arsenal:
The standard house has a set of dishes for eating and cooking (although there are annoying exceptions), a small stove, a refrigerator. Pillows and blankets.

Almost always bed linen (pillowcases, duvet covers, sheets) are not included in the price. They are not cheap, so it is better to bring your own. Occasionally you also have to pay for pillows and blankets. If the house is booked in advance, it is better to clarify these points.

Final cleaning ("final cleaning") almost 100% is not included in the price. Paying extra for it is significantly expensive, so many clean up on their own. Brushes-buckets-rags are available in every house. The main rule is to leave the house in the condition in which we stopped. But even if you were unlucky, and in front of you was a dishonest family that left dirt, it’s better not to be like them.

When looking for campsites in Norway, I can offer alternatives:

Or in the Google map in the search line, enter the word "camping", a lot of red dots appear on the map - this is it. The points are active, Google will give all the information about them. If the campsite has a website, Google will show the link.

With campsites, you can write off or call up and negotiate a reservation. As a rule, there is no prepayment for the reservation, even credit card details will not be asked from you. Rare campsites still do this. We didn't choose them.

Some travelers do not book anything at all, but each time they look for a campsite on the spot, during the trip. We do not really like to do this, we like the certainty and guarantee of the overnight stay we need in the right place and for the required number of days.

The second way of living in Norway is private cottages. They are both more expensive and cheaper than campsites. Their main feature and often a disadvantage: in the high season (from June to the end of August), almost everyone rents for a full week - from Saturday to Saturday. This is not always convenient when planning a trip. Especially with short holidays. Who are interested in sites for finding cottages - write, I will give links.

Finally, there are campers - motor homes. They are also common. It is very expensive to rent a camper in Norway, but they are often rented in other European countries and rolled to Norway.

Honesty

Much of the Norwegian tourism industry is built on honesty. For example, you come to a campsite, but the owners are not there. Instead, you see an ad, like: “in free houses, the key is in the door. Come and live. We will be in the evening. If you are leaving in our absence, leave the house in a cleaned state, with the key in the door, and put the money “there”. And all things.

Another example of honesty: a berry on the roadside stalls in the summer season. On the counter there is a trough with a berry, and next to it is a small box for money.

However, in such cases it is better to have cash with you, although in 90% of cases you can get by with a credit card.

Traveling by public transport

With this case in Norway is not as comfortable as, for example, in Switzerland. However, this option is also acceptable, especially in the fjord region, in the north the situation is worse.
It is possible to move by trains and more often by buses. Difficulties:

Pleasure is not cheap
- less choice of places to visit
- adjusting to the schedule (and in rural areas, buses, you know, do not run every 15 minutes)
- search for housing in the immediate vicinity of bus stops.

But even with such components, the journey is possible and quite feasible, I know a number of very successful examples. So if you are interested in public transport sites - please contact.

But still, if there is an opportunity, then a strong recommendation is to take a car.

Rent a Car

Like everything else, Norway is not cheap)).
Having a margin of time, you can arrive not in Oslo, but in Stockholm, in Sweden car rental is significantly cheaper, but it takes almost 2 days to get to the fjord region in Norway. Total 4 extra days you need to have in stock for such hauls. We don't have that luxury, so we overpay in Norway. We always conduct an extensive search, on various aggregators, as well as in individual companies.

This year, a Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0 with Europcar mechanics cost us $1,100 in 15 days, without additional insurance.
The husband purchased insurance separately from the company http://www.worldwideinsure.com/, he selected it based on good reviews from the communities.

The cost of gasoline (diesel) = 15 (14) crowns per liter, +/- half a crown in different places.

Cash settlements

The national currency in Norway is the Norwegian krone.

When calculating in 95% of cases, you can get by with a credit card. It is possible and debit, but in some places it does not work, judging by the numerous reviews of people. Most often at some gas stations. Therefore, along with a debit card, it is better to have a spare one - a credit one. And be sure to know the pin code of the card! He is needed everywhere.

Despite the blatant civility, it is better to have a certain amount of cash with you. Where do you need cash?

Berries from private owners
- some toll roads to attractions (each road is about 30-40 CZK)
- in some seedy campsite, where we never stayed, the granny said that payment is only in cash (and this is 500-600 kroons per night)
- payment for a guided musk ox safari tour
- in case of a normal technical malfunction of devices for receiving credit cards or other failures from which no one is insured - this is anywhere.

Usually we get 400-500 crowns, for such all sorts of cases, if anything, you can withdraw it from any ATM in Norway. It is not advised to carry currency and change in exchangers - they remove their draconian commissions. By the way, we just bought crowns in exchange for shekels in Israeli exchangers.

But in general, even a magnet in a souvenir shop can be safely purchased with a credit card. Ferry crossings are the same story.

Nutrition

With catering as with hotels. Expensive, rare and not always good. Expensive fast food, including. Therefore, almost all independent travelers cook for themselves. Occasionally they stop by at some cafe to treat themselves or drink tea with a national dessert - waffles with jam.

For an example of the price of such a tea party in one of the places that we visited:

Waffle with jam - 30 crowns (about $5)
Two teas and coffees together - 70 crowns ($11)

Products for self-sustaining are purchased in supermarkets of various chains. Often, good prices and discounts are found in Coop and Kiwi networks. Their websites are very convenient, you can see which store is located where, find out the opening hours.

A very common way to cook meat and fish while traveling is on a disposable grill. They are sold in supermarkets and gas stations. The price of each is 15 crowns. The coals are already soaked with something, so that they light up almost from one fiery glance. One grill is not enough for too large a portion of meat, so if you are traveling with a large company and want a kebab on such a grill, it is better to buy several.

I'll try to remember the prices of some products ...

Fresh salmon fillet - 4 pieces of 125 grams = 42 kroons, frozen - 38 kroons (by the way, this is cheaper than in Israel).
Grilled pork steaks = from 50 CZK per kg; beef… we don’t take it there, it’s higher than expected))).
Spreads on bread, like processed cheese with flavorings = 18-25 crowns for a small jar.
Bread - the range is from 13 (this time we did not come across) to 32 crowns per loaf, an average of 23 crowns.
Milk = 15 crowns.

Some tourists use gas burners. Most often, these are those who travel with their tents, but even those who stay in houses - sometimes they also prefer to have freedom of action and cook dinner in nature on a burner. Here you need to keep in mind that gas cartridges cannot be transported on airplanes, so they need to be purchased locally.
We didn't have a burner. We had breakfast and dinner in the houses, and for lunch we collected a picnic package: sandwiches or fried fish fingers / meatballs / sausages, bread, spreads, a little vegetables, sweets. Plus a small thermos with boiling water and tea bags. Disposable dinnerware.

Picnics

Since we are talking about it.

In Norway, everything is conducive to a wild, but at the same time civilized holiday. For example, "Christmas trees" for parking and picnics.

Along the highway, you can often see a sign on which a Christmas tree with a table is located. This means that soon there will be a congress on the side of the road to such a resting place, which was nicknamed the "herringbone". There are tables with benches on it, sometimes there is a toilet (very clean, with paper, a sink and soap, moreover, free of charge).

And in places near the fjords you can even find a house with a shower and laundry! You drop coins of 10 crowns and use it.

Often, such Christmas trees are located in picturesque places - overlooking a lake or a fjord. The best place for lunch.

Clothes and additional equipment

Clothing should be different and suitable for the cold, even in August. I'm not talking about down jackets in the summer season, but a normal jacket, better waterproof and windproof, should be. And a jacket. Sometimes you want to pull it all together, and you won’t even feel the heat.

So, it is best to dress for walks according to the principle of cabbage: T-shirt, sweater, jacket. So, to take off and put on each top layer as needed.

Trousers. In any case, it is recommended to take not only pants, but with a change. For May-June, for example, it is better to take some slightly insulated (not ski, but simply on a warm fleece lining), while others are lighter. If a long pastime is expected in the air, they help out a lot in the cold and wind. If you are traveling at the end of July-August, you can do without them.

It is good to have a light waterproof suit - jacket + pants. Something like this:

For tracks - trekking shoes, trekking socks.
Additionally - light sneakers, sports sandals (these are optional), flip flops (very handy in camping).

Ear band (used very often on tracks in the mountains, even in August) or a hat.

Trekking poles are a great help for unloading your knees, a support for your hands and more. Useful thing.

Flashlights (if you are not traveling on white nights) - just in case.

Dryers for shoes - you can, BUT (!!!) it is forbidden to dry trekking shoes with a waterproof layer with thermal devices! Often a similar warning is indicated on the boots. Even if the percentage of waterproofing is low, it will also disappear during thermal drying, subsequently such boots will get wet even from light rain.

For backpacks, it is good to have a waterproof cover. On the tracks you never know if the rain will catch up, what strength and duration it will be.

Wherever we were going during the day, in the trunk we always had a dry set of clothes for everyone: pants, socks, T-shirt, sneakers.

From clothes to weather

The main weather site in Norway: http://www.yr.no/

The weather, as I said, is unpredictable. It can be hot and sunny in May, and in July you can get into the rainy season and freeze, like Mowgli in the cold. With Norway will become! A feature of the northern country is a fairly frequent low cloudiness. Not fog, but cloudy. When thick featherbeds wrap mountains down to the ground. The sight is cool, but if such beauty costs several days, then you won’t see much.
Therefore, you need to be mentally and physically prepared for absolutely any weather. There are no rules here.

Seasons

From weather to seasons! Still, there are certain rules by which the seasons differ from each other. For example, in May and June, insanely beautiful snowy mountains, often striped like zebras, look very elegant. The waterfalls are full-flowing, flowing down from glaciers and snowfields melting on the tops. There are many flowers, nature is waking up, mountain lakes are half covered in ice, and it is truly beautiful! In addition, daylight hours - it is almost around the clock. But: many high-mountain tracks are not accessible, some very spectacular mountain roads are closed in May, there is still little blue color in the glaciers, because. they are still wrapped in snow, it is often cold. Until the end of June, real spring reigns in Norway.

By August, flowering is reduced, the mountains cease to be alluring-snowy, the greenery is not fresh, but already deep and dark like in summer. Actually, according to the beauty of nature, August is not the most beautiful time. But on the other hand, there is a sea of ​​​​berries and mushrooms, the tracks are all accessible, it is warm enough, even if it is rainy.

September often marks the Indian summer, many people successfully fall into good and mild weather, in the north of the country you can even sometimes see the northern lights!

The end of September - the beginning of October - the time of golden autumn, crimson hues - a delight for the eyes and the camera. But the weather is much less stable, rains are frequent, the first snowfalls are possible in the mountains, the day is short.

But in general, any season in Norway is good in its own way, you just need to find the right approach)).