Norway in A Nutshell: Review

For a region that came up with Ikea (yes I know that's Sweden, not Norway), planning a trip in Norway is a bit of a hassle. One popular and relatively convenient option is the  Norway In A Nutshell tour. It's basically a build-your-own planning tool for visitors. 

The Norway in a Nutshell website is relatively easy to use but you need to research all your options before you go to purchase the tour route that you prefer. I would recommend that you take a day or two to look through all the stops that they have and narrow it down to your preferred route as once you start to purchase your ticket, it can be hard to go back and forth to the content pages.

Extras

Asma and I chose to start the roundtrip to Oslo option. Our first stop was Tromso, where we chased the Northern Lights (read more about it here) and went dog-sledding for the first time (I will be posting about this soon). Both activities were booked through Norway in a Nutshell and were really organized with appropriate clothing included in the price.

Hotels

For our 2 nights in Tromso, we opted to book our hotel through the tour site as it was cheaper than the prices we found on regular sites but overall, we found that we could stay at the same hotels they were advertising for cheaper if we booked separately. That said, most of the stops on this tour have Thon hotels or similar which are advertised as 4 star but I would consider 3 star hotels, you would be hard-pressed to find a 5-star hotel in most of this smaller cities/towns. Luckily, the rooms were not expensive and you get a full breakfast with the room and if you're doing it right, you won't really spend much time in the room.

Transportation

The most convenient part about this tour is that they will handle all travel reservations for you. This is especially important as there are planes and trains and buses and trying to figure it all out on your own can be a nightmare. 

After Tromso, we flew to Bergen where we spent the night at the Magic Hotel- let me tell you, there is not much that is magical about this hotel. We picked it as it was unique theme which looked fun online- in person the color and style it is almost nauseating. We only stayed there one night and that is more than enough. If the fact that the hotel is poorly designed isn't off-putting enough, it is randomly located in a suburb far from Bryggen (the beautiful UNESCO-preserved part of Bergen) and just about anything else worth doing. I would recommend that you stay at the better-located Radisson Blu which is better rated, and only slightly more expensive.

One major upset of the route from Tromso to Bergen and onto Voss (the Bergen Railway) is that you arrive to Bergen pretty late and you leave quite early. I would suggest staying 2 nights if you have the time to properly experience the town. However, if I had to choose between Tromso and Bergen, I would choose Tromso as there are more fun things to do.

Railways and trains and buses and planes (and a fjord cruise too)

Once you get on The Bergen Railway you're basically committing to a full day of getting on and off various forms of transportation. Is every leg of this trip beautiful and wonderful? Yes. Is it annoying to carry your luggage around for more than half a day? Yes! If you can stop in Flam, for the night, I think that it would be a cute place to stay and relax but I personally would rather power through and get to Oslo. The worst part of the trip is the 5-hour regular modern train trip to Oslo.

During the Flam railway (the scenic part of the trip) you have the opportunity to take an earlier train 

We stayed in Oslo 2 nights at a beautiful hotel (I'll be posting about Oslo soon separately). 

You can find Asma Al Jailani on, Instagram, twitter and on her book reviewing website, she also occasionally writes for The National.