Traveling Car-free in Norway

I guess that the presumption of private vehicles is due to so many of Norway’s attractions being rural. I can see how hikers would need a car to get to trailheads. But I don’t get the appeal of driving to enjoy the scenery. When I drive, I keep my eyes on the road. The landscape might fly by on a train, but at least I can give it my full attention. Anyway, I’m visiting Norway in April when lots of roads are closed. I’m not planning to ski (although ski vacations are an option in April in Norway) so I’m happy to stick to major cities for most of my trip. [itinerary link]

Public Transport in Norway

As an American, I’m lucky. There are few places in the world that I could visit and not be impressed by the public transportation system. Oslo appears to be well served by buses and trams. Although expensive, taxis are available in a pinch. Bergen has busses and light rail, but seems small enough to walk. Almost everything we want to see in Lillehammer is within sight of the train station. That only leaves intercity transport to worry about.

Planes in Norway

For such an expensive country, domestic flights are really affordable. When I was still trying to cram a trip North into my itinerary, I found two one-way tickets from Bergen to Trondheim for $102. I could fly from Trondheim back to Oslo for roughly the same price. That is also not much different from the cost of a train ticket. In the end, even though the flights were only 1-3 hours, I decided the time I would lose at airports and traveling between airports and cities was too much. Better to narrow my range and see more of the landscape from a train.

If I had known before I booked my flight to Oslo about Wideroe’s Explore Norway Pass that is only available in the summer, I might have done everything very differently.

Trains in Norway

The Norwegian State Railways NSB operates most passenger train services in Norway. The public rail network reaches from Kristiansand in the south to Bodø above the Arctic Circle. Getting among the relatively central cities of Oslo, Bergen, and Lillehammer is basically a cinch.

Because the distances are large, train trips take a long time, and you lose nearly a day between most cities (Oslo and Lillehammer are only 2 hours apart). But if you drove you might take even longer, especially in spring when weather and road conditions could be pretty scary for a city driver.

The NSB website is available in English and super easy to use. I spent a whole weekend checking the schedules for every possible combination of routes among the places I wanted to visit.  

Rail Prices

Train tickets are not cheap. Under some circumstances, flying makes better financial sense. When you search the train schedules, you see two prices. One is the full ticket price, and the other is “minipris.” These advance purchase discount tickets can save you a bundle – up to half the regular price. They are must be purchased at least one day in advance (although I’ve read that they often sell out before that). They can be bought online (although I’ve read that you can’t purchase online with a foreign credit card) and from ticket machines. Once purchased, Minipris tickets are neither exchangeable nor refundable.

Eurail

The reason I don’t know if foreigners can buy minipris tickets online is because I ended buying a Eurail Norway pass. Once I figured out all the trains that I would probably take, I added up the minipris tickets and compared them to Eurail. Eurail came out about $100 cheaper for my planned itinerary. I got the 4-day pass, which allows unlimited rail travel on NSB during any 4 days in a one-month period.

The Norway rail pass is only good in second class, and a child under 12 travels free with a paying adult. So for me and my 10-year-old to travel four 4 days, the cost was $242, which I paid for with points on my travel rewards card. The pass gives a flexibility that minipris tickets do not, but it does not guarantee you a seat on any particular train. During the summer that might be a significant risk, but Eurail pass holders can reserve spots on specific trains for an 8 Euro fee through the Eurail website. I figured that reservations were cheaper than minipris tickets and it wouldn’t matter if we changed our plans and lost a few Euros.

Reservations

I had read varying reports on how important reservations were for the Bergen-Oslo line, with some websites claiming they were required. Nervous about that leg of the trip, I tried to book a reservation. Fees piled on fees until it was going to cost $25 extra for the two of us to guarantee a spot on the 8:30 am Oslo-Myrdal train. I’m not sure how many of those fees would have applied to each additional leg we reserved, or if most of them only applied to the total transaction. But I started imagining reservation fees adding up to more than the Eurail pass itself and decided we could always take the noon train if the first one is full. So although I have my reservations, I’ve made no reservations. I’m betting that we won’t have trouble in mid-April.

This time next week I’ll find out, and I’ll let you know when I get back.