Norway - Shore excursions or DIY?

[wcudmore]

Itinerary:

Stavanger,

Flaam,

Geiranger,

Helleslyt,

Bergen.

 

There's a 6.5 hr Flaam rail/bus/hike excursion that looks pretty interesting.

For Stavanger and Bergen, I think it might be best to wander the cities by ourselves.

 

What about Geiranger and Helleslyt? Are these DIY locations or are the shore excursions a better option.

 

I'm open to any suggestions. Although, we're not particularly interested in shopping trips.

[LHT28]

I think Geiranger and Helleslyt might be worth doing a ship'd tour

It depends on if they just pick -up in Helleslyt or if you can go ashore

Our last cruise there they did not allow people off just picked up passenger from the shore excursion that left from Geiranger earlier in the morning

 

Bergen you can DIY

http://www.bergensexpressen.no/english.php

http://www.floibanen.com/visartikkel.asp?art=107

[wcudmore]

I think Geiranger and Helleslyt might be worth doing a ship'd tour

It depends on if they just pick -up in Helleslyt or if you can go ashore

Our last cruise there they did not allow people off just picked up passenger from the shore excursion that left from Geiranger earlier in the morning

 

Bergen you can DIY

http://www.bergensexpressen.no/english.php

http://www.floibanen.com/visartikkel.asp?art=107

 

 

We land in Helleslyt at 8:00 AM, and sail at 10:00 AM, so I guess it's just for the over-nighters.

 

That Bergensexpressen looks like a nice quick way to get a feel for the city, and then I could wander around aimlessly looking for Aquavit and Lukfisk.

[LHT28]

We land in Helleslyt at 8:00 AM, and sail at 10:00 AM, so I guess it's just for the over-nighters.

 

Do you do Geiranger after Helleslyt?

[Globaliser]

What about Geiranger and Helleslyt?

One fun thing in Geiranger, if you're up for it: kayaking in the fjord. A much better way of seeing the scenery than being ashore. But you will probably have to book this through the ship.

[wcudmore]

Do you do Geiranger after Helleslyt?

 

Jun 10 2009 HELLESYLT (CRUISING), NORWAY 08:00AM 10:00AM PAX DEBARK FOR SHORE EX

Jun 10 2009 GEIRANGER, NORWAY 12:00PM 06:00PM TENDER REQUIRED

 

Heh. The Travel agent had Geiranger - Helleslyt with overnight, but the Cunard Lines has Helleslyt - Geiranger on the same day.

 

I'm going with Cunard's itinerary.

 

I was looking at this: http://www.geiranger.no/map_of_walks_with_descriptions.html

and thought the #5 walk looked interesting, but I can't figure out how far it is from the pier to the the trailhead. Also, I think the google satellite photo was taken during the midnight sun, as I really can't see anything!

[RachelG]

We are going on a Norway cruise this summer, and I had done a bunch of research as we generally DIY. However, Regent then made most shore excursions included, so we are going to do several ship excursions. We are doing the Flamm train/hike--that would be pretty hard to do on your own. We also are getting off in Hellesylt and hiking to Geiranger on a ship's tour--impossible to do on your own.

Bergen is a good DIY pllace. Very walkable and most stuff is close together.

[LHT28]

Jun 10 2009 HELLESYLT (CRUISING), NORWAY 08:00AM 10:00AM PAX DEBARK FOR SHORE EX

Jun 10 2009 GEIRANGER, NORWAY 12:00PM 06:00PM TENDER REQUIRED

 

Heh. The Travel agent had Geiranger - Helleslyt with overnight, but the Cunard Lines has Helleslyt - Geiranger on the same day.

 

I'm going with Cunard's itinerary.

 

 

a lot of ships just let PAX off there for the shore EX than sail on to the next port & pick them up.

That is what we did

Also on the Flam port stop PAX were picked up later in the day at another port.

 

enjoy the trip

 

Lyn

[2serendip]

We've been to Hellesylt and Geiranger twice, and I absolutely recommend taking an excursion as the two towns are quite small, and the countryside beyond them is really breathtaking. On our first visit we took a tour that involved a lovely, non-strenuous hike to a glacier followed by lunch and a tour to a gorgeous lake and a nature center. The climax was a spectacular drive up the back of Mt. Dalsnibba to its snow-covered peak with a view overlooking the fjord where our ship was anchored and then back down to Geiranger and "all too soon" tendering back to the ship. We took a similar trip last year. It would be a shame to miss such an experience while you're in Norway. You'll have a beautiful sail-away exiting the fjord as the ship leaves so plan a nice viewing place for that. I don't see how you could possibly do all that on your own. Enjoy!

[2serendip]

Just a follow-up -- Hellesylt is basically just a drop-off spot for people taking excursions like the one I described above. It's not an overnight at all. The ship will drop off the pax who want to get on the buses, then the ship continues with everyone else into that glorious fjord with Geiranger at its end. You'll be able to see the fjord as you sail away in the evening.

[tony@stanton19.freeserve.]

We did this trip with NCL last year, there are lots of pictures in my signature.

The scenery was breathtaking

[kaisatsu]

We did a similar Cunard sailing last year, and I posted a review of our port days along with links to some of the resources I found:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=837924

We didn't visit Flåm on that trip, but we've done it on an overland weekend from Oslo.

 

In all of those ports, we chose to DIY, rather than doing Cunard's excursions. We were seriously considering the overland hike from Hellesylt to Geiranger, but it turned out that our sailing (first 2 weeks of June) was too early, and that excursion was actually scrapped.

 

In Stavanger, the ship docks right downtown, so it's easy to stroll around and see the old city, the cathedral, Petroleum Museum, etc. The only thing I'd suggest an excursion for here is if you want to do a cruise of Lysefjord, though you may be able to book it yourself in town.

 

In Flåm, you can do a roundtrip on the Flåmsbana railway on your own. You can also get off before the last stop on the return trip to walk a bit through/around the town. If you want to visit Nærøyfjord (a narrow fjord arm off Songefjord, and the other UNESCO-listed fjord besides Geirangerfjord), you may want to take a tour, since the public transit is a bit infrequent.

 

In Geiranger, be sure to catch either the sail-in or the sail-out for the stretch of the fjord between Hellesylt and Geiranger. Since your sailing doesn't look to be visiting any of the ports closer to Jostedalsbreen Glacier, if that's something you really want to visit on this trip, you would need to book an overland excursion between the two ports to do it. We chose not to book a shore excursion up to Mt. Dalsnibba, since the visibility is usually quite poor. A lot of people get lucky with the weather, but our cruise didn't, and I think all of the tours that included Mt. Dalsnibba ended up visiting a different overlook instead.

 

I was very glad in Geiranger to get up into the hills for the classic views down on the fjord, since the scenery seems so much different looking down, compared to lookin up from the water. I don't know much about walk 5 on the map itself, but it says that it leaves from the Union Hotel. The hotel is about 15-20 minutes' walk up the road from the tender pier. Most of the people I've seen on the board (including ourselves) did the walk up to Vesterås Farm, which is an easy uphill hike and has some nice views from the farm (which also has a small cafe). We continued on to the Løsta overlook, which had some beautiful views. If you haven't seen it, this trail map is a little easier to read, though I'm not sure which letter corresponds to walk 5 on the first map. (The trail A to Vesterås starts at a marked point just beyond the Union Hotel.)

 

As for Bergen, it's another place that's easy to explore on foot. The historic Bryggen waterfront is worth at least a brief look, and the nearby Fløibanen funicular is popular. The only Bergen attractions that might warrant a ship's excursion are the more distant sights like Edvar Grieg's estate Troldhaugen or Ole Bull's villa on Lysøen. For the more adventurous, Troldhaugen (and possibly Lysøen) can be reached by public transit (the Lonely Planet Norway guide has excellent info for this), but if this is your first visit to Bergen, I would recommend exploring the city itself.

[KCcruisin07]

Different itinerary, but I agree with the others. Take the shore ex to Geiranger, and do Bergen DIY, but early. We took the very first shuttle and went to the Floibanen funicular, and by the time we came back down there was a one hour wait including some of our friends on the ship's excursion. Also saw the shops by the waterfront and the Hanseatic Museum, which was very interesting.

[HeinBloed]

Here are some impressions with English text now:

 

http://heinbloed-cruiseguides.blogspot.com/2009/08/bergen-norway-norway-in-nutshell.html

 

The Flam visit was one of our nicest we ever did.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed