Tied with New Zealand, this is the most beautiful place we’ve ever been!
I’ll try and give a high level itinerary of the 10 day/9 night trip we did with my family. My parents took all 6 of us (myself, Matt, my brother, and his wife) to Norway. There are so many highlights, it’s going to be difficult to wrap up into one post.
We flew into Oslo and stayed at the Comfort Hotel Karl Johan in Oslo.
We then did the “Sognefjord in a Nutshell Tour” which takes you on the Bergen Railway from Oslo to Myrdal, then the Flam Railway from Myrdal to Flam, and finally on a boat from Flam to Balestrand. This is an all day excursion but such an incredible way to see the beautiful fjords of Norway. This night we stayed at Midtnes Hotel in Balestrand.
The next day, we took another boat on a 4 hour trip through Sognefjord from Balestrand to Bergen and stayed at Thon Hotel Rosenkrantz Bergen.
Following our visit here, we traveled via bus from Bergen to Stavanger and stayed 3 nights at a town house in Stavanger. My parents used to live and work here so we were fortunate to spend some time with their old friends and they showed us they house they once lived in! It is really a beautiful and charming town. I had visited once before with my family, prior to this trip, but it was even more exciting getting to go back with our significant others and hear about some of my parents fondest memories.
A major highlight of our trip was hiking Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock). It is known to be one of the world’s most scenic hikes! As with any hiking, make sure you bring a backpack filled with several water bottles and some snacks to have while you take a break at the top and enjoy the view. 🙂
We flew from Stavanger to Tromso, the northernmost city in the world! It is often called “The Gateway to the Arctic” because the city gets more Northern Lights than anywhere else in the world. We stayed at the Clarion Collection Hotel for 2 nights and 1 of those nights we went on a Chasing Lights tour! Many of the locals told us we probably wouldn’t see the Lights, that it was early in the year and they likely would not be visible until a few weeks later. To our surprise, we actually got to see the Northern Lights and it was the most spectacular experience of my life. It is truly unexplainable and felt so surreal that all 6 of us were able to witness it together. To further solidify our faith, when the Lights became really radiant and we were all standing together looking at the sky, they formed the shape of a “W”. My maiden name is Walker so as you can imagine, this was really special and chilling for my family. A moment I am confident we will all remember for the rest of our lives.
After that ‘once in a lifetime’ experience, we flew back to Oslo the next day, stayed the night at a Comfort Hotel near the airport and flew back home to Texas the following day. We are so thankful my parents brought us along on such an unforgettable trip!
Cheers!
M&M
