Norway has been on my bucket list for years, and I was so excited when my boyfriend Mike, friends Ashley and Nat, and I decided to go there in August 2022! We decided to spend one week in Norway and added a couple days in the beginning of the trip in a city that we could fly directly to from Atlanta with Delta. We ultimately decided on Amsterdam.
Here are the details from our trip to help you plan a similar trip!
Itinerary
Thursday
Fly from your destination to Amsterdam overnight.
Friday
Land in Amsterdam in the morning. Spend the day walking around Amsterdam, doing some shopping, and enjoying dinner along a canal at De Haven Van Texel. Wander through the Red Light District after dark to say you’ve seen it! End your night with dessert from Van Wonderen Stroopwafels.
Read about our full Amsterdam experience here.
Saturday
Start your morning with a Dutch pancake! We ate at the Pancake Bakery. From breakfast, wander through the Jordaan neighborhood on your way to the Anne Frank house. This museum is excellent – I have been twice and will probably go each time I visit Amsterdam! If you are feeling up to it, take an Uber to the Albert Cuyp Market to shop for souvenirs and try a stroopwafel from the original location.
Take a train from Amsterdam to the town of Utrecht, which is about 30 minutes away. The town is adorable and we ate dinner at a fantastic restaurant called PK Bar & Kitchen, right on the canal. Eat outside if you can get a table! After dinner, attend a European football game at the stadium in town. We got great tickets for an affordable price. Take the train back to Amsterdam after the game and call it a night.
Sunday
Get some breakfast at Calf & Bloom on your way to see the floating flower market. After you check out the market, go back to the hotel to get your luggage and then make your way to the airport. We flew from Amsterdam to Oslo and spent the night at an airport hotel that was walkable.
Monday
First thing this morning, fly from Oslo to Evenes. We arrived at 10:15am and started our drive to our Airbnb. If your flying experience is a stressful as ours was, the first stop will be much-needed. Book a 1.5 hour time slot at the Skarungen Spa, where they have a sauna and hot tub with a fantastic view. There’s a spot to jump in to the Arctic Ocean and then you can heat back up in the sauna! Next, keep driving to the Henningsvaer football stadium. This stadium is famous and known to be one of the most beautiful in the world. It is free and open to the public.
Next, make your way to your Airbnb or hotel in Ballstad. We chose to stay in Ballstad because it is centrally located in the Lofoten Islands, and not super far from any of the activities we wanted to do. We picked up groceries for the next few days on our way and made dinner at our Airbnb. It was fun to watch the sunset after 11pm!
Read about our three days in the Lofoten Islands here.
Tuesday
The weather in the Lofoten Islands can be hit or miss. On this day, it wasn’t great for us. If you’re staying in Ballstad like we did, you can hike Nonstinden, where you’ll get views of the town the entire hike. It was beautiful even in the rain! After your hike, check out the Buksnes Church nearby and a beautiful beach called Haukland Beach.
Wednesday
The weather turned cold on us for our last full day here, but fortunately it didn’t rain too much. Start out by exploring the southernmost village of Å. It is very small and won’t take long to explore. From Å, drive back through the larger village of Reine and then get lunch at Anita’s Seafood. This was our favorite meal of the trip!
Spend the rest of the day hiking Ryten, a popular hike. The hike isn’t easy, but the views are awesome and we thought it was very cool. On the drive back to your lodging, stop at Rambergstranda Beach.
Read about our hikes in Lofoten here.
Thursday
Leave your lodging with enough time to make it back to the airport before an early afternoon flight. Fly from Evenes to Bergen and arrive before dinner.
Rent a car at the airport, check into your hotel in town, and grab dinner nearby. Bergen will be your base for the next four nights, where you will be taking a couple of day trips to see the famous Norwegian fjords.
Friday
Your first day trip will be to Sognefjord, the longest and deepest fjord in Norway. It is about three hours from Bergen, so start your day early. Book a boat ahead of time that travels from Flam to Gudvangen, starting at 9:30am. The boat ride takes about 2 hours and is very scenic. Arrive at Gudvangen and take the tour of the Viking Village here. Make sure you allow for about two hours here before returning on the boat or the shuttle back. We opted for the shuttle since it was much quicker.
Have lunch in Flam and then drive up to the Stegastein lookout. Head back to Bergen and get dinner at the fish market.
Read about our day trip to Sognefjord.
Saturday
Spend your next day in the town of Bergen. Start your day by riding the funicular to the top of Fløyen mountain via the Fløibanen Funicular. The views at the top are amazing! We spent most of the rest of the day walking around Bryggen, shopping, and exploring the city center. We had a traditional Norweigian dinner at Pingvinen. Mike got a whale steak and I got plukkfisk (a mixture of cod, mashed potatoes, and bacon).
Read about our time in Bergen.
Sunday
Take one more day trip on your last full day in Norway. You’ll be driving 1.5 hours to another fjord, called Hardangerfjord. This is the second longest fjord in Norway. From the town of Norheimsund, you can take a RIB tour of the fjords and waterfall. We loved this boat tour so much! After the tour you can walk over to Amigos Pizza for lunch. Then, stop by Steinsdalsfossen, a large waterfall you can walk under, on your way out of town.
Read about our day trip to Hardangerfjord.
Monday
Fly back home on your last day.
Driving in Norway
Driving was very easy and similar to driving in the US. They drive on the right side of the road, and the roads were in excellent condition. There are a couple things to note that we discovered while we were there. If you are the driver, make sure you have your driver’s license with you! A foreign license is fine, and you don’t need an international permit. We got pulled over for a roadblock outside of Bergen and were very thankful Mike had his license since he was driving. They asked us a couple questions and we were on our way with no problems.
We also noticed that there are several speeding cameras along the highways in and outside of Bergen. I read that they are very strict with the tickets, so make sure to not go over the speed limit.
There were also several toll roads around Bergen, but our rental car (from Hertz) had a toll tag and Hertz automatically charged us for the tolls after we turned the car in. The tolls didn’t cost much. We did two long day trips from Bergen and only got charged about €18 total for tolls.
Weather
The weather here seems to change every five minutes, especially up in the Lofoten Islands! Being in the Arctic Circle, the weather is very hard to predict and changes often. I suggest packing lots of layers, including a beanie, gloves, and rain jacket, even in the summer! Don’t let a bad weather forecast prevent you from doing outdoor activities. Our entire week was predicted to have rain all day almost every day, but we only really had one rainy day that prevented us from being outside. The temperature was generally pleasant while we were there in August, but we had one very cold day in the Lofoten Islands where I wore every layer I brought, including my hat and gloves.
Airlines
We flew three airlines once we were in Europe. From Amsterdam to the Lofoten Islands, we flew SAS. From Lofoten to Bergen, we flew Widerøe. Then, from Bergen to Amsterdam, we flew KLM. Our experiences with Widerøe and KLM were great. The flights were on time, and I had no complaints. The flight from the Lofoten Islands to Bergen was the most scenic flight I’ve ever been on! However, SAS was awful. We had two canceled flights and one delayed flight. This caused us to miss out on about half a day in the Lofoten Islands when we already had limited time there. To this date, SAS has not yet reimbursed me for our hotel and food we were forced to get due to our flight cancellations (and it’s been about 2.5 months since we traveled!). Note that this travel was during summer of 2022, when there were tons of shortages in airline workers due to covid. SAS may normally be okay, but our experience was terrible.
Costs per Person
This was one of the most expensive trips I’ve ever been on! The flights were so expensive and were roughly 50% of our total trip cost.
Flights & baggage: $2375
Rental cars, gas, & tolls: $300
Other transportation & parking: $105
Lodging: $990
Food: $490
Tours & activities: $245
Travel insurance: $75
Souvenirs: $40
TOTAL: $4620
Overall Thoughts About Our Trip to Norway
We had such an amazing trip to Norway! This country certainly is costly, but if outdoorsy activities and experiencing the magical fjords sounds appealing to you, Norway really can’t be beat.
You may also be interested in:
Two Epic Hikes in the Lofoten Islands
Three Days in the Lofoten Islands
Day Trip to Sognefjord from Bergen
Day Trip to Hardangerfjord from Bergen
How to Spend Three Days in Bergen
28 Photos That Will Make You Want to Visit Norway
