Viking Flam Railway Excursion

[OneSixtyToOne]

A Panoramic Half-Day Railway Journey
 

1) It’s offered in the morning and afternoon. Is one time preferable to another?

 

2) Which side of the train offers better views?

 

3) I thought I read on this forum that the trip is one way and you are bussed for part of the trip. Anyone know if this is true?

[Mike07]

1. All dependent on weather.

2. Assuming you're American or America's hat, passenger side of the train going up, drivers side going down. It's all open seating. But, being on the "wrong side" won't be a show stopper.

3. So, some cruise operators bus people up and down the mountain to increase throughput of passengers on the rail line.

 

You can buy tickets ahead of time and forego use of the cruise line. I'll be straight, the way HAL handled this tour is what led me to never sail on that line again.

[Kountess]

These are the tips that I copied from I don't remember where!  We traveled from Myrdal to Flåm since we wanted to ride down the mountain, so keep that (and the tips) in mind.

 

• For the best experience on the Flåm Railway part of the trip, you’re going to want to get tactical.
• Get to the station early
  • There are no reserved seats on the Flåm Railway, so getting to the station early is absolutely key. At the station in Flåm there were two queues – one for independent travellers (this includes Norway in a Nutshell travellers), and another for passengers from the two cruise ships moored in the fjord. Each group queues up, and 10 or so minutes before the train is due to leave, the guards lower the barriers and let you onto assigned carriages – one set of carriages for the cruise ship passengers/tour groups and another for the independent travellers.
    • Once those barriers go down, it’s a mad dash for seats on the train. If you want a good seat (or even to be sat with your travelling companions) then you need to be near the front of the queue.

• Try to sit on the right-hand side of the train from Flåm to Myrdal
  • The ideal seat on the Flåm Railway from Flåm to Myrdal is on the right-hand side of the train, by a window which opens. The seats are in sets of three on one side of the train and two on the other; you want to be near the window on the three-seater side of the train for the best views.   [The most important thing is to get a window that opens.]
  • If you are on the other side of the train, all is not lost. You’ll be on the best side to see the mighty Kjossfossen waterfall, and there’s still plenty to see for the rest of the journey.
• Don’t bother getting off at Kjossfossen
  • The train stops at the Kjossfossen waterfall for a few minutes – just long enough for a mountain nymph to emerge and tempt unwary travellers away from their tightly-planned itineraries with a mysterious dance set to very loud piped music. The magnificent Kjossfossen is the single most impressive sight on the Flåm Railway. Most people on the train dash for the platform at this point, but if you stay on the train you can see the whole show and take photos of the waterfall over everyone else’s head.  [I did get off the train.]

 

We did the ride on our own as part of a Norway in a Nutshell day trip from Bergen, and it was fabulous.  Here's my post on the Flåm Railway portion of the day.

 

https://stramblingchronicles.blogspot.com/2022/06/norway-in-nutshell-part-ii.html 

[Mike07]

2 minutes ago, Kountess said:

T

• Don’t bother getting off at Kjossfossen
  • The train stops at the Kjossfossen waterfall for a few minutes – just long enough for a mountain nymph to emerge and tempt unwary travellers away from their tightly-planned itineraries with a mysterious dance set to very loud piped music. The magnificent Kjossfossen is the single most impressive sight on the Flåm Railway. Most people on the train dash for the platform at this point, but if you stay on the train you can see the whole show and take photos of the waterfall over everyone else’s head.  [I did get off the train.]

 

We did the ride on our own as part of a Norway in a Nutshell day trip from Bergen, and it was fabulous.  Here's my post on the Flåm Railway portion of the day.

 

https://stramblingchronicles.blogspot.com/2022/06/norway-in-nutshell-part-ii.html 

 

 

TBH -- that nymph performance is incredibly hokey. I'd still get off, but if they did away with it altogether, I think it'd be for the better.

[zalusky]

Any thoughts on time of year for the train ride?  Spring vs summer vs fall vs winter.

[Mike07]

6 minutes ago, zalusky said:

Any thoughts on time of year for the train ride?  Spring vs summer vs fall vs winter.

 

 

The Norway cruise season is not that long (from memory) and if you buy a self-excursion ticket from the rail station, it's 100% worth the price any time of year. There is a hotel or two down at the Flam port. There is also a free Flam railway museum.

 

I did a b2b and was in Flam twice. Both days actually had really good weather as when you're in Norway, it can be anything. The first time I did the railroad, the second time, I rented an ebike and road up along the road the Flam railway took.

[Peregrina651]

Other informative threads. I knew when I started a list of threads 2 years ago that it would come in handy eventually:

 

Flam railway excursion availability

8 Tips for the Bergen to Oslo Train Trip

The Scenic Flåm Railway

Things I wished I had packed for Norway

 

[janetcbl]

17 hours ago, zalusky said:

Any thoughts on time of year for the train ride?  Spring vs summer vs fall vs winter.

I have done it in all four seasons.Big crowds in the summer, smaller in the fall and winter. I was there in February, only 2 other people in Flam, one large store open, no cruise to Gudvagen. The scenery was even more spectacular, although it was only light for a couple hours, due to mountains and winter. Go any season, all have their special charm.

[Selion]

Haven't been on the Flam Railway yet, but will be on it in 2.5 weeks.  We are doing it on our own.  The train station is right next to the cruise dock, and I booked the roundtrip train tickets on www.norwaysbest.com.  Here's the link to Flam Railways: https://www.norwaysbest.com/the-flam-railway/round-trip-with-the-flam-railway/

 

Flam City Map: https://www.norwaysbest.com/globalassets/kart/2020_nb_welcome-to-flam_web.pdf 

 

Flam Railway Time table: https://www.norwaysbest.com/globalassets/pdf/rutetider/rutetider-2024/flamsbana_timetable_2024.pdf

 

They also have a combo ticket for the train (roundtrip) and fjord cruise to/from Gudvangen.  https://www.norwaysbest.com/packages/flam-railway--fjord-cruise-naroyfjord/

Edited April 14 by Selion

[WanderingBrit]

We did the Flam Railway excursion last year in August, with the plan being to ride bicycles down from Myrdal - but the rain was so torrential that we just rode the train back rather than riding bikes. This excursion was one of the things I was most looking forward to, so you can imagine both the disappointment and how bad the weather was to cause us to skip the bike ride. When we got back onboard phones were going off all around the ship as we received emergency alerts for flash flooding.

 

As Viking guests we had priority boarding and our own carriage, which made it easier to move from side to side for photographs. In spite of the rain everywhere was very busy.