Bergen, Norway Adventures
I began searching for flights on www.google.com/flights and www.skyscanner.com. I enjoy these sites because they have been (in my experience) the cheapest place to find flights, and the easiest to find cheap travel days.
One of the best secrets I learned for traveling cheap is, DON'T HAVE A PRE PLANNED DATE!
Just type in the location you want to go, and then allow the sites to show you prices per day for each month up to a year!
I began my search in Jan 2018, and booked 2 round trip flights from Orlando, Florida to Bergen, Norway for under $400 each for April! 2018!
The longest stretch of the flight was 8 hours...and my son Ayden, slept through almost the whole thing! Such a good little travel buggie! When he wasn't sleeping, he was playing with his dinosaur puppet or watched a movie on the screen in front of his seat, or eating the kids meal that KLM Airlines provided.
By the time we landed, the flight had lost my luggage, but quickly found it and returned it to us at our airbnb location the following morning. This was also my chance to use this experience for a free flight, because of "my troubles".
Our airbnb was quaint, and I had booked it with a code to save $40 (CODE HERE). I was easily able to find places for under $75 a night (washer and dryer included). I personally prefer to rent out the "entire place" on airbnb, but if you want to "share a room" you can find places for even cheaper!
A friend also joined me, and half way through the trip, we split the airbnb cost. She used the same code to save $40 at Airbnb.
Our airbnb was a short bus ride away from the center of Bergen. At first...being from the USA...I was a little nervous to use the bus, but was reassured by locals that it was not what I was used to seeing in the USA...and they were right! The very effective Skyss Bus system ran on time, to many many locations. The buses were clean and filled with business people, beautiful families, and students. It felt very safe and friendly. A single day, adult bus ticket ran about 37 NOK = under $5 USD. Or you could buy a weekly bus ticket for 255 NOK = $30 USD. It IS totally worth it to buy the weekly pass, as you will use it!!!! If you live in the USA...download the SKYSS app BEFORE entering into Norway. We had issues with our phone carriers once we arrived into Norway, and were not able to download the app...which would have been helpful.
The Arrival Into Bergen
Our flight landed late morning, and after checking into our Airbnb, we had plenty of time to explore the town center.
I don't remember the exact temperature, but it was perfect "sweater weather". If you stood still for too long, it was cold, but walking around was perfect and too much excursion made you warm!
The streets were lined with many restaurants, cafes, and shops. Any type of food you wanted, was within a 2 minute walk of the town center, and from further investigation, it was ALL amazing!
We spent about 3 hours walking through the town, taking our time and enjoying the light bustle of people, the song of MANY languages being spoke around us. It made me think of the joke;
*What is it called when someone speaks 3 languages? - Trilingual
*What is it called when someone speaks 2 languages? - Bilingual
*What is it called when someone speaks 1 language? - American
By the time we were all getting hungry, we stopped in to "Peppe's Pizza", right in the center of Bergen. It was warm inside with a happy family vibe to it. We were seated and handed menus, filled with amazing pizza options and even GF pizza options! The pizza was smaller than American sizes (no surprise) but perfect for our bellies, and costing roughly 130 KRO = $15 USD.
One thing I did not account for, was how expensive the food was going to be....everywhere. So plan to pay more for food, than you are used to if you live in the USA. That being said...everything tasted fresh and REAL and was absolutely amazing and delicious!
If you wish to save money during your travels...go food shopping and make your meals, snacks, and packed foods for trips, at your hotel or airbnb.
We soon learned that Norway was more than just Vikings....Norway had Trolls! Trolls EVERYWHERE!
We learned of a close mountain that we could hike and play at. Mt Floyen...which quickly became one of our favorite spots and we would continue to visit 4 times during our 10 day trip!
We hopped on the little Floyen Cable Car, which cost 95 NOK = $12 USD to get to the top (playground, restaurant, and hiking trails) and return back to the bottom.
My travel biggie loved the two different playgrounds on Mt. Floyen....the one at "base" and the one "hidden" in the woods, called the Troll Playground. There were many different trails to hike, from all different levels of difficulty.
There was also.....SNOW! Ayden's first time ever, seeing real snow! He plopped right down and made his first snow angel, we had a snowball fight, and enjoyed hiking in the crunch of snow beneath our feet. By our 4th trip up to Mt Floyen, the snow was mostly gone, so it was a perfect time to see the mountain in 2 different seasonal ways!
It was easy to spend the entire day up there, and we would pack a lunch and water bottles and enjoy time to play and fresh air hikes, ending each experience with the sunset over Bergen.
Gudvangen and the Fjords
Finally, the Viking call was pulling us in even further and we excited boarded the boat for a day of ancient exploration into the Fjords and all the way to "Viking Valley" Gudvangen.
We took a boat from Bryggen (by the famous fish market), for a 5 hour, amazing cruise through the Sognefjord to Flam. The boat was heated, and had a "kids room" full of toys to play with, and a small kitchen that served hot coffee and snacks (pay extra). The cruise cost is 865 NOK = $103 USD per adult and the travel buggie got in for free.
We passed many islands, and a beautiful fjord before arriving in Flam. Flam was a tiny area, with not much to do or see in the cold. We sat down for a quick lunch before catching our next boat ride from Flam to Gudvangen through the Nærøyfjord, 335 NOK = $40 USD.
The boat was beautiful, however we were unlucky enough to catch a boat that had a part of like 100 tourists from one group. It was loud and the people were highly rude, making it hard to enjoy the fjords to the fullest. In the future, it would be worth booking a private boat instead.
However, when we were able to push our way through the crowd, the scenery literally made everything else drown out around you. Suddenly the endless, loud chatter of foreign language was silenced by the echos of ancient tales and secrets within the walls of the fjords.
Nothing else mattered when you were going through here...the view was enchanting and filled you with a sense of nothing I have ever felt before...something ancient...truly ancient, filling your every senses and drowning out any noise around you with it's thick silence.
When we arrived to Gudvangen, everything was closed for the season, but in the right time, you can go for their Viking Festival, and it will be busting with life and roll play of the Viking days, games, and foods! But for the time being, the ride through the fjords was worth every penny and more!
From Gudvangen, we took the bus to Voss (cost of a single bus pass) and then the Bergen Train, back to Bergan 210 NOK = $25 USD, and retired back into our warm beds for the night.
Bergen Norway was a breathtaking place with so much to do. Because of the cold (that we were not used to), we chose to savor a few good things to do, and spend lots of time in Bergen and Bryggen walking around as well. It was a trip well spent and one already planned again for October 2019, during the Viking Festival in Gudvangen!
Flights - $360 x2
Bus Pass - $30 + $12 from Gudvangen to Voss
Mt Floyen - $12 (we went 4x)
Airbnb - $650
Cruise from Bergen to Flam - $103
Cruise from Flam to Gudvangen - $40
Train - $25
Food - $300
Total Trip Cost - $1,880
Want to join us in Bergen in 2019? Join the retreat! See all this and MORE!
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