Summer holidays, for me, are pretty much always all about bikinis, a huge load of sunscreen, and lots and lots of sun. Not necessarily lying on the beach for an entire week, but at least, well, the chance of plenty of sun and warm temperatures. This year, 2025, we're driving to Norway. Way outside my comfort zone, because Norway isn't exactly the place to go for sun, sea and bikinis. It is, however, the place to go for mountains, hiking and experiencing natural beauty. So, brace yourself, this is going to be an active holiday where I only need to bring, at most, 2 bikinis. Bad? No! But definitely exciting.
Forging plans for Norway
Our previous trip to Scandinavia (Lapland) we booked through Nordic. That worked out really well for us, so I figured I'd take a look at what Nordic offers for Norway. They had various trips on offer there. In the end, to be fair, I basically took the highlights they consider must-sees in Norway and ran with them. I started researching those highlights online. Based on those spots, we put together our own itinerary. We landed on wanting to travel to: Hardangervidda, around Sognefjord, the Geirangerfjord and Rondane National Park for this trip. Because of that, we also decided we wanted to do this by car. Renting a car and flying turned out to be pretty pricey. So, in the end, we decided to drive our own car through Germany to Denmark, and take the ferry across to Norway from there.
First stop in Norway; Geilo
Our first official stop in Norway will be Geilo. Geilo lies just north of Hardangervidda National Park. Why did we pick Geilo? It's one of the most visited ski areas in Norway. Because of that it's also a fairly well-developed town, with plenty of shops, restaurants, etc. to comfortably ease into the trip. On top of that it's the perfect base to discover Hardangervidda National Park. It's Norway's largest national park, has a unique beauty thanks to its high plateau, has the lowest population density per square metre, and is home to the largest reindeer herd. So you could say there's plenty of natural beauty to admire there. We're planning to do a lot of hiking there first! Of course we also want to visit the Vøringfossen waterfall.
From Geilo you can also go to Finse, where scenes were filmed for Star Wars; The Empire Strikes Back, on the ice planet Hoth. We're staying in a beautiful apartment and staying there for four nights.
The first fjord; Lustrafjord
When you go to Norway, what are you really going for? Fjords. Well, that's what I think anyway. Our second stop is therefore on the Lustrafjord, which is an extension of the (rather large) Sognefjord. To be precise, we're staying in Marifjøra, where we've rented a cottage with a gorgeous location right on the water. This was honestly the hardest area to find a good place to stay. You want to be somewhere you can easily do day trips from, on foot or by car.
Nothing's set in stone yet, but from Marifjøra we should at least be well placed to explore the 203 km long Sognefjord. There's no fully avoiding having to hop on the ferry occasionally to cross to the other shore. There are loads of stave churches to check out, and of course it's also beautiful for walking there. I think we'll definitely be visiting Jostedalsbreen National Park, which sits above Marifjøra and is fairly easy to reach by car. From there you can walk gorgeous routes along the glacier, and also do excursions out onto the glacier itself.
The second fjord and third stop; Geirangerfjord
If you've ever seen a picture of a fjord, chances are it was the Geirangerfjord. It's one of the most popular spots in Norway, and cruise ships dock there as a matter of course. We're staying in the town of Geiranger and have rented a cottage at a campsite. A perfect base for exploring Geiranger and all the hiking options nearby. We're also going to see if there's a nice way to admire the fjord from the water. I don't expect us to visit a whole lot of other spots beyond the immediate area. I've already looked up a few hiking routes online that should keep us busy.
Lastly; Rondane National Park
After Geiranger we drop back down a bit and head further east. We're staying in the small town of Vågåmo, which we'll use as our base to explore Rondane. It's a gorgeous national park with jagged mountains and far fewer tourists than, say, Jotunheimen. What else can I tell you? Besides that you can (once again) go hiking, cycling and kayaking here beautifully. In Vågåmo, our cottage is waiting for us, hopefully with a gorgeous view, and it's also close to the water. Jesse's hoping to cast his fishing rod out here a lot, to catch us some fresh fish.
Excited for Norway? So, so excited. So I honestly can't wait until I get to share with you all how the trip actually went.
