Borgund Stave Church from Oslo

We are booked on a Norway cruise which departs and returns from Copenhagen but we'd like to see a few things in Norway that aren't on the cruise itinerary, namely the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo and the Borgund Stave church. Our plan is to fly into Oslo, see the museum that day, and devote the next day to seeing the Borgund Stave church. It's approximately 4 hours each way from Oslo. I'd rather not drive but I'm unable to find any tours that run from Oslo to Borgund Stave church. I contacted Norway in a Nutshell and while they said that we could do an overnight stay in Flam and drive from there on our own, they didn't have schedules for June 2015 yet so details are vague at this point. Does anyone know of a tour company that goes to Borgund Stave Church from Oslo? We don't have our airfare yet so we could either return to Oslo that day or continue to Bergen or Alesund and fly to Copenhagen from there (as long as our luggage can travel on the tour

with us).

I'm not aware of any tours from Oslo, but you might try contacting the church's visitor center directly: borgund@stavechurch.com

They also have a Facebook page, which shows there are some daytrips from Flåm:

https://www.facebook.com/borgundstavechurch

Daytrips from Oslo seem quite unlikely, since most Norwegians work a very fixed 7.5-hour day. Moreover, the driving estimate on Google Maps is around 4 hours each way, and Google Maps usually underestimates the driving times by around 25%, since most highways outside the city are one lane each direction with quite a few turns. I would plan for closer to 5 hours' driving.

As for making the trip from Flåm...

You can definitely travel with luggage on the Nutshell tour, though you'll need to be able to move it on/off the train/ferry/buses yourself. If you don't want to do the complete Nutshell tour, you can easily buy the train ticket to Flåm yourself on the rail website (http://www.nsb.no) closer to the date (tickets go on sale around 4 months before, I think), and if you book early, you can usually get discounted tickets.

Thanks, those are some good things to consider.

We are booked on a Norway cruise which departs and returns from Copenhagen but we'd like to see a few things in Norway that aren't on the cruise itinerary, namely the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo and the Borgund Stave church. Our plan is to fly into Oslo, see the museum that day, and devote the next day to seeing the Borgund Stave church. It's approximately 4 hours each way from Oslo. I'd rather not drive but I'm unable to find any tours that run from Oslo to Borgund Stave church. I contacted Norway in a Nutshell and while they said that we could do an overnight stay in Flam and drive from there on our own, they didn't have schedules for June 2015 yet so details are vague at this point. Does anyone know of a tour company that goes to Borgund Stave Church from Oslo? We don't have our airfare yet so we could either return to Oslo that day or continue to Bergen or Alesund and fly to Copenhagen from there (as long as our luggage can travel on the tour

with us).

Hi IMBELLE!

Your post is exactly what we are trying to do!

Are you by any chance on the NCL Star June 5th Sailing?

The plan now is to fly from NY to Oslo...visit Oslo for a couple days....take the nutshell tour to Bergen (via Flam)...stay overnight in Bergen.....fly from Bergen to Copenhagen a couple days before the cruise to look around there.

Fortunately, as a last resort for us Stave Church seekers, there is one right in Oslo at the Folk Museum, so we'll be sure to see that!

Haven't booked flights or hotel yet, as we have another cruise coming up in a couple weeks we are preparing for.

REALLY looking forward to our first visit to Norway and Copenhagen though! :)

Hi New 2 Cruisin, we're on the 6-6-15 Disney Norway cruise. Your plan sounds just like what I want to do, but I'm limited on how much time my boss will let me take off at once..ugh!

Does it have to be the Borgund stave church? The one in Oslo at the folk museum is well worth seeing and is very near the Viking ship museum. Good luck.

I was going to say the same... there is a stave church at the open air museum. 4 hours seems a very long effort to see a church, although I don't know the particulars of this one you mention.

Thanks for the advice. I would like to try to see the Gol Stave church in Oslo as well if time permits. It is a long drive to see the Borgund stave church but as kind of an art history nut, I'd hate to go all the way to Norway and miss seeing it.