Norway Travel – Two Seasons You’ll Love!

I’ve been lucky enough to see Norway in the dead of winter and in the heat of summer. Both seasons were special in their own way. Which do I prefer?… BOTH and I think you will too!

Norway in Summer!

I spent 11 days exploring the southern part of Norway in early August 2018 with my bestie. As she lives in the U.S., we met up in Oslo before starting our organized tour. We booked our trip through the company Norway Tours. The name of the specific tour was ‘Norway in a Nutshell and Geirangerfjord‘. It had everything we were looking for to see the highlights of the Norwegian Fjords. This map shows the roundtrip route we took from Oslo via train, boat, and bus.

I liked this style of tour because we were basically on our own. Everything was organized and booked for us. We just had to show up at the right spot at the right time.

Norway Tours allowed us to customize the itinerary to include a few more days at the beginning and end of the normal tour. We could choose an option for 3-star or 4-star hotels (we chose the nicer group), and then they selected the specific hotel in each town. I have to say we were happy with all of them and had no complaints!

The two towns I fell in love with were Bergen and Alesund. They are both by the water and small enough to walk around everywhere. There was a fresh fish market in Bergen that we explored. We had lunch in the market area and I got to indulge in my favorite seafood dish, King Crab legs!

While in Bergen, we took the funicular up to Mount Floyen for a birds-eye view of the town and surrounding islands. It was definitely a worthwhile trip to get a nice view of the overall area.

One of the trip’s highlights was our one-day cruise through the UNESCO Geiranger Fjord. Geirangerfjorden is one of Norway’s most popular attractions and is considered one of the most beautiful fjords in the world with waterfalls and steep mountainsides.  We boarded the boat from Alesund in the morning and returned that evening. I’d say we got lucky with the weather too as it was warm and sunny all day. We could wear shorts and sit out on the deck to admire the majestic views.

Our tour company offered ‘free days’ on the itinerary where we could choose our own activities. This could be as simple as shopping and relaxing or booking an excursion. One of the fun activities we chose in Alesund was a ‘wildlife sea safari adventure‘, a 2-hour bumpy zodiac ride (up to 100 km speed!) to the nearby Runde island. Other than the thrill of screaming our lungs off, we were able to see interesting wildlife such as gray seals, puffins, North Atlantic gannet birds, and a white-tailed eagle!

Here I am all geared up standing in front of our zodiac boat.

If you want to see the spectacular beauty of Norway without the cold and snow, the summer season is your ideal choice. I recommend the warmer months of July and August although there may be more tourists at that time. If you want to see more of my pictures and video clips from that trip, check out my Facebook Album.

So, what’s Norway like in Winter?

To be honest, I never thought about visiting Norway in winter, but I came across a tour that I couldn’t refuse for our 2012 year-end holiday. It was a great itinerary with many included activities such as dog sledding, snowmobiling, spending a night on a cruise ship, and sleeping in an ice hotel (for this last one, refer to my post about adventures). It was truly magical.

Like my Norway summer trip, we had a tour where we were on our own and just had to show up at the right place and time to catch the arranged transportation. We started and ended the trip in Oslo. This tour included domestic flights between Oslo-Tromso and Kirkenes-Oslo.

One thing you need to know about Norway in winter… there is not much daylight! We had an average of 3-4 hours each day. This could be a bit depressing, but I didn’t mind it at all given the excursions we had planned each day.

One of the highlights was the dog sledding we did in Tromso. I had never seen and heard so many dogs barking at one time. There were about 100 Alaskan Huskie dogs all lined up and ready to pull our sleds. They were so excited to start running the course. I initially felt bad for them having to pull our heavy bodies through the snow (8 dogs per sled), but the company said that these dogs are bred to do that and love it. It was perfect snowy weather for the whole experience. I loved every minute of this unique activity and would highly recommend it!

Another exhilarating excursion was the chance to do snowmobiling across a frozen fjord (see the below blurry fast-speed shot taken from our snowmobile). While breezing along with the frigid air blowing in our faces, we spotted herds of wild deer on the mountain ridges and saw crab fishing traps. It seemed unreal to be out there in the beautiful vast open space as the sun was setting. The great thing about all these cold-weather activities was that the companies provided us with warm weather gear including boots, which came in very handy!

Another unique experience during this tour was the overnight boat cruise along the northern coast of Norway. It felt like we were on the Titanic! The pool you see in the photo wasn’t open for use, but we did try out the small jacuzzi. What a sensational feeling it was to be outside on a boat deck in the 0 degrees Celcius air with beautiful snowy landscapes all around you!

One more activity worth mentioning and probably the most exciting one was seeing the famous northern lights (also referred to as the Aurora Borealis). We paid extra to go on a 3-hour driving tour with 6 other people to ‘find’ the lights. We started from the Ice Hotel where we were staying in Kirkenes, near Finland and Russian borders.

After driving around for almost 3 hours, we had given up hope to find the lights that night. And then… we saw them! Yay, such excitement! Our driver pulled off the road very quickly, and everyone jumped out of the van to set up their tripods. Well, this girl didn’t have a tripod so, unfortunately, I didn’t get any good photos of the light show but I did witness it. It was a lifetime highlight to see the dancing green lights in the night sky.

I learned my lesson not having a tripod for nighttime photography, so the one I am hoping to get very soon (and has come recommended by my photography teachers) is the Benro Travel Angel 2 Series Carbon Fiber Tripod w/ V1E Ball Head. If you click and buy on this Amazon link, I may get a credit as an Amazon Affiliate.

If you want to see all our pics from this trip, you can check out my Facebook Album.

If you want to read more about other parts of Norway (like the town of Oslo) that I didn’t mention in this blog post, then check out my page dedicated to Norway.

So, after reading about both my SUMMER and WINTER trips to Norway, which one do YOU prefer? Leave a comment below to let us know!