All Things Norway Series

by Karen Davies | Nov 20, 2019 | Featured Post, Norway

Norway – a land of dreams

After an epic seven weeks in Norway and a total of five months in Scandinavia during the summer of 2019, we have gathered a whole heap of information and experience. Whilst by no means a ‘completed journey’ as Norway is huge, for sure our massive journey has given us an incredible perspective of this country. From Tromso in the north, through the Lofoten Isles and across 8 of the 18 Most Scenic Routes in Norway like the Trollstigen and Geiranger Passes you will have your senses exercised with a daily workout.

And if Norway is on your Bucket List, then there is some planning to do beforehand. We are not great planners these days. We love to just wing it a lot of the time, although Norway is one country we needed to do a lot of thinking about, preparation and planning. And because of this we felt drawn to write a series of comprehensive blogs that detail our experiences. So many people are worried about the cost, the mileage and what they can do in the short time available. Well we have addressed all of these issues and pulled together the facts, the all-important websites you need and free to download Shopping Lists that will help you stock up on the right items before you come.

So look no further; All you need to get your Norway trip kick started is here. Check out these 3 Comprehensive Guides for:

Travel routes to Norway
Information on how to make the ferries cheaper
Toll Road essentials
How to camp when you get there
The essentials for driving around Norway
How to shop savvy for food, diesel and alcohol
A fully interactive map of our route, overnight stop co-ordinates
A list of our Wow moments and Trip Highlights

With these Guides, you will be informed, prepared and mindful – each with a host of practical tips and direct links to websites for further information relative to your trip parameters. Now your Norway Road Trip can go from dream to reality. Click on the three images below to get access to each of these comprehensive guides. For any more information, do drop us an email by clicking here.

All Things Travel focuses on everything you need to do BEFORE you leave home. Preparation is the Mother of Skill as they say, and this is so true for a trip to Norway. From planning your route, buying food essentials and Ferry and Toll planning, this blog has essential information for both getting there and getting around with ease on your tyres and on your pocket.

All Things Shopping helps to manage your budget whilst travelling in Norway. For sure it lives up to its reputation on expensive, just read about our ‘beer purchase experience’. Although there are ways to manage on a budget. We have included a FREE to download Pre-departure Shopping List so you load up with only the right essentials and share our Shopping Savvy tips once you are there.

All Things Wow shares our Top 10 sights included in our 2019 tour of Norway. It really does seem crazy to think that there are only 10, although seriously, every day there is a wow to be had, so these our our MEGA wow’s that need to be built into your itinerary if you can. We have our fully interactive route map included in this blog, which gives you every twist and turn in our route as well as the co-ordinates for our ‘homes’ along the way.

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Norway – All Things Shopping

by Karen Davies | Sep 22, 2019 | Norway, Travel Blog

Norway – It’s so expensive!

So many people tell us that they are worried about travelling to Norway because of the prices; of food, tolls, ferries, alcohol – the list goes on. And then there’s the journey to consider and the miles you need to travel to get there and getting around this vast country. In our All Things Norway blog trilogy, we hope to allay some of those fears and share how we managed to tour Norway for 7 weeks effortlessly, finding ways to manage our budget, shop savvy and not blow the bank!

Our first in the series All Things Norway, we focused on the travel elements of getting to and moving around Norway with ease using their ferries, tolls and motorway network. In this second blog we provide you with a guide on all things shopping; offering practical advice on Stocking Up strategies, Top tips on How to shop Savvy and offer you a downloadable PDF document of all the food we bought whilst we were in Norway so you have a clear idea on our costs… and much much more. For simplicity, we have built a Table of Contents so you can skip around the blog at your leisure and all links are highlighted in red. So let’s get into the nitty gritty.

Currency

The first few things to say about your shopping experience in Norway is to be prepared for a cashless society. In fact Scandinavia as a whole prefer payment by cards than cash. So we don’t recommend you bring much with you. Obviously it depends on the length of time you are here, although we had £100 worth of Norwegian Krone (NOK) and rarely had the need to dip into our stash.

The only time we required some loose change was for washing machines and a couple of Marina style Aires where you place your money in an honesty box. Otherwise we used our card everywhere, even for the smallest amount.

We used a free to download app from xe.com to do our Norway Krone conversion, although we got used to doing the sums in our head once we had the formula. Obviously the rate may differ when you go, although we worked on the basis of moving the decimal place one point to the left and shaving a bit off. Not very sophisticated although it gave us a good enough picture.

Shopping for Food

Of course, for most of us, thinking about this Norwegian beauty, food is high on the agenda, as reports come back about the extortionate cost of living. And it is undoubtedly more costly, although not quite as bad as we thought. We were glad to have done some stocking up, although it wasn’t quite as necessary as we feared. Here’s our Shopping for Food experiences – with no holds barred.

Stocking up before you arrive

Everyone does it. Everyone recommends you do it! We’ve read reports from others about how they carried huge amounts of tins and stock items to make sure they didn’t go hungry. And of course, without the benefit of hindsight – we too did the same.

Whilst back in UK for our MOT I felt like a woman possessed; writing lists of what to buy and what I could cook without having to go near a Norwegian supermarket. It must have looked as if I was planning an expedition to the North Pole. Every time I visited Tescos (other supermarkets are available) I would stock up on just a few more things. And if we’re honest our shopping frenzy began when we left Spain in March as we grabbed the all essential boxes of wine and bottles of Soberano.

With a box, no wait – it was more like a crate of goodies in the garage, our cupboards bulging and the freezer rammed, and I really do mean rammed, we can honestly look back and giggle at our shopping exploits. And perish the thought that we should touch that precious frozen treasure before we reached Norway. Bless him, Myles didn’t even have room for ice! I even decided to master bread baking; coming prepared with yeast, bread flour and a great home-made recipe. What was I thinking! I even remember saying on the last packet of divine Cheesy Doodles from Sweden, ‘That’s it, no more snacks until we leave Norway.’ Our Norwegian philosophy was, we’ll dry out and loose weight because our eating and drinking habits would surely have to change!

There seemed to be a never ending ‘just one last shop’ as we passed Intermarché in France, Lidl in Germany and even Rema 1000 in Kiruna, northern Sweden. I’m sure if someone was looking down us they must have thought us mad! Although in our defence – the prices man! Surely they were going to break us.

Well I am pleased to say that we neither lost weight nor dried out because it wasn’t anywhere near as costly as we thought it would be. Our End of the World stock piling was not necessary. Norway can be mastered, enjoyed and survived without the need to buy up supermarket shelves of supplies. I say this out of experience and the examination of all the food we had left over. There’s at least five main meals I had planned for, that are, as we sit in Czechia, still lurking in my cupboards. And whilst we can use these items up another time as they’re not perishable, my Stocking Up Strategy was way off course!

So here are my Top 20 essentials to buy before you leave home either because they are hard to get or because they are expensive. Of course the caveat here is that these are food items that we used a lot in our cooking so they may not appeal to your tastes and of course it also depends how long you are visiting for. For recipes for cooking whilst on the road check out our free to download Camping Cuisine Cookbook. Our larder items listed in here are the basis for my pre-Norway stock-piling!

Top 20 List of Pre-Norway Food Essentials

Your favourite herbs – just because of the translation.
Salad cream – difficult to find this.
Wine, beer and Sprits.
Meats if you are a meat lover – we brought lamb mince as this is notoriously hard to get throughout Europe. We also brought chicken livers for pâté and risotto, and chicken breasts as they are VERY expensive in Norway. Also we piled up on bacon and sausages.
Pistachios (they’re hard to get in Norway).
Honey and sugar – this they are a lot more expensive.
Butter – definitely cheaper at home.
Coffee and tea bags.
Cartons of legumes & pulses (they are light and easy to store) and bulk out meals nicely.
Tomato/Brown sauce and Mayonnaise.
Dried sachets of coconut milk (easier to store)
Tubes of pureed condiments such as ginger, lemongrass, chilli
Tuna/pilchards/sardines – make great lunches.
Emergency, long-life milk.
Condiments such as Balsamic Vinegar, Olive Oil, Soy Sauce, Sweet Chilli Sauce and Hoi Sin.
Tins of vegetables as emergencies because fresh veg are more expensive.
Flour/Cornflour.
Risotto rice/Basmati.
English Mustard/Worcester sauce/Bovril/Marmite – definitely couldn’t find Bovril anywhere!
Cheese. Hard cheese is particularly difficult to get, although you can buy grated packets.

The bottom line is though, don’t panic – you don’t need to bring as much as you think. Norway’s supermarkets are without doubt more expensive, although think Waitrose rather than Lidl prices. We were pleasantly surprised about how shopping in Norway did not break the bank and we had loads of supplies left over. So don’t weight down your van with unnecessaries. To give you more confidence, read on as I give you a summary of our shopping list sharing all the things we actually bought whilst we were there, so you can see for yourself.

Supermarkets in Norway

So after my obsessive stock piling behaviour, our first flirtation with Norway’s supermarkets was in a small village on Norway’s second largest island, Senja. We came out armed with 6 items £30 lighter, still in shock at the experience we’d just had. Blimey that was a sting in our pocket. So glad I stocked up!

And yet, of course prices are always going to be more expensive in off-the-beaten-track places. It’s no different in UK or, come to think of it, the rest of Europe. So this was pretty much a one-off experience – thank goodness – until Myles bought beer. I’ll tell you about that cock up in a bit.

Another Norway surprise was the range of items that you could buy from their supermarkets. Norway’s shops have an outstanding range of foods, unlike many of its European cousins. Chinese, Indian, Mexican – you name it, they had it. So this is why we recommend not bringing too much with you.

Here’s a list of the shops we found most often and our experiences when shopping here. Bear in mind there is no Lidl or Aldi here.

Rema 1000 – is classed as a discount store, although we found it much more expensive in comparison to others. They have a Discount Scheme which you can apply for via an app. You then show a code from your phone when you shop there. The man on the kiosk did, however, scan a card for me so that the discount could apply. And after finding EuroSpar, we didn’t ever return to Rema.

EuroSpar – Totally my favourite shop. My favourite because it had plenty of discounts, every week and a brand called First Price – more on that in a moment. This was bar far our most cost-effective shopping experience.

Kiwi – we had been told that this was the best and cheapest supermarket to visit, although testing the theory out, we have to say that it was no cheaper, in our opinion than Eurospar.

Joker – this is a small convenience store that you would visit if you were desperate for something and miles away from a big town. Which can often happen as you are travelling through Norway’s fjords. We didn’t go in one, so can’t comment on their prices.

BunnPris – this was a medium priced store as is Coop Prix.

Shopping Savvy

On a day to day basis Norway’s shops have everything you need. Whilst Norway is a Waitrose-type of shopping experience, there are deals to be had. I became really good at hunting out good prices and saving some serious pennies. These are my Top 10 Tips.

Top Top 10 Tips for being a Savvy Shopping

EuroSpar is our top supermarket recommendation for all round value for money and super discounts.

Look out for the phrase TILBUD, which means offers. We found lots of offers on meat. So we were able to buy chicken mince and thighs for £2.99. Also vegetables were often on special deals. We bought cauliflower and broccoli for £1 during the entire length of our stay.

When you see meat discounts, bulk buy and freeze if you are able to. Although this does come with a warning. In Sweden mostly, although we also had the problem in Norway, chicken does seem to go off very quickly, even when frozen and well within date. So be mindful of this.

Always look for the FIRST PRICE brand. EuroSpar was excellent at stocking these although many of the Coop and Kiwi stores had them too. First Price is the equivalent of Tescos Value and offer food at low prices and have loads of £1 deals. I managed to buy chocolate (which is also generally expensive) on a special deal of £1.

Fish was surprisingly good value, relatively speaking. I bought Mackerel fillets for £1 every time I shopped. I added mayonnaise or creme fraiche with horseradish for a really quick smoked mackerel pate. Also a tub of prawns, if they are your thing, were no more expensive than the UK at £4.99, so they were a bit of a treat.

Bread is expensive and white particularly difficult to buy for some reason. Although if you shop early, First Price did a whole, uncut white loaf for 80p. You then use the automated slicing machine and hey presto you have yourself some white bread.

Cornflakes are only £1 if you get the First Price brand. Milk isn’t overly expensive, so breakfasts are covered. Make sure you buy MELK – it comes in a pink carton – be careful you don’t end up with fermented yoghurt instead.

Vegetables and fruit are definitely more expensive, although when there’s a fruit or veg in season, they offer it at a special price. So I was regularly able to get a punnet of nectarines for £2.99, cauliflower and broccoli for £1. So that pleased the nutritionalist in me. Otherwise when vegetables were scarce, then I used my selection of tinned veg. Not as good of course although my philosophy is ‘Better than…’ Also after arriving in Norway, we were finally able to start eating our frozen supplies which made room to buy frozen peas.

If you, like me, need a herbal remedy or organic shop then, although not cheap, you can find Health Food Shops in the Shopping Malls in larger towns.

If you choose to shop in Rema 1000, then download their app for discounts when in store.

The Motoroamers’ Food Shopping Prices

We took the opportunity to record our shopping lists and expenses so you can see a real time summary of certain foods that we purchased during our 7 weeks and how much each item cost us. We have created this as a PDF document that you can download as your personal copy. Click the button below.

Click here for your personal copy

Going Out

You can safely assume that given the general cost of living in Norway that eating out brings the same price tag. And it is true for us across Scandinavia as a whole, that whilst we may well have been able to shop savvy, going out for meals meant there was no avoiding the cost. And as a result we didn’t do it often. In fact during the whole four months we had four ‘out’ moments. A couple were just simple lunches, a round of beers in Tromsø and a very super Fish and Chip meal from Kristiansund for £24.

Otherwise we decided that to eat out, on what would be likely London prices, was beyond our budget. We enjoy cooking our own food, so going out didn’t really feel necessary. If you do enter into restaurants, check your prices before you go using an app like xe.com, avoid cities where prices are always inflated or simply keep it to a lunch. This way you avoid breaking the bank and getting stung with high prices.

Norway’s Alcohol

Let’s get down to the nuts and bolts. Norway’s booze is outrageously expensive. And whilst supermarkets will stock low percent beers – spirits and strong beers above 4.75% can only be purchased in separate Government run stores called Vinmonopolet. You can buy these low percentage supermarket beers until 8pm on weekdays and 6pm on Saturday.

And let me tell you, we talk from experience. I made the mistake of letting Myles come in shopping with me, because he wanted some beers. To quote Julia Roberts from the film Pretty Woman “Big mistake. Big. Huge.”

Unlike me, who takes time to look at prices and buy good value, Myles was just focused on ‘I want beer!’ And he got it – for the princely sum of £60! Perhaps that doesn’t sound too bad – although when I then add that this was only for 16 cans of sub-standard strength larger, then you’ll understand my shock. Needless to say, he never came shopping with me again!

Alcohol is heavily taxed and is part of Norway’s attempt to curb a drinking culture and alcoholism, although according to locals, it’s not working. A contentious subject obviously.

So if you like a drink, then you need to bring supplies with you. Although as a word of caution, if you sail into Norway in your motorhome from Denmark, then we hear it on good authority that Customs are hot on searching. It has been described to me as ‘strip-searching’ motorhomes, looking for excessive stores of booze that exceed the Duty Free allowance. So be warned.

We entered in the north of the country where there were no border checks. Although I suspect with a large majority of visitors entering into Kristiansand, Bergen, Larvik and Stavanger, they concentrate their efforts here.

Buying Diesel/LPG

As we mentioned in the first of our All Things Norway series, there is a definite strategy when it comes to diesel buying. Interestingly we found the cost cheaper than in Sweden, which really surprised us.

Our Top Tips for Diesel buying are:

Shop on a Sunday when prices are much cheaper.
Buy when you see diesel cheap (anything below 14.00NOK), as within an hour it can rise in price.
Don’t be alarmed if you see a greater price on your credit card bill than your receipt. This is a holding amount taken by most stations in Scandinavia, which once the amount is no longer pending, a refund of the remaining amount is given to you.
Most stations are self-service
LPG is not sold in garages. They are at separate units in industrial areas of large towns. Use mylpg.eu to check locations.
Buy LPG before you need it as although there are frequent stations, the miles to travel to them are often deceptively long.

Entrance Frees and Attractions

So much of what makes Norway unique is the ‘outdoors’ and is therefore free. So going into museums, unless this is, of course your thing, isn’t totally necessary to your cultural experience. I recognise that I offer this statement as non-museum fans although we have been known to nip into the odd one along the way if it is value for money.

Although one of the great things about Norway is that most of the car parks were free. So visiting the sights, for example on the Trollstiegen Pass and Geiranger were all free. Visiting the outdoor WW2 museum at Bud on the west coast, free. Driving the 18 Scenic roads, free bar one – The Atlantic Coastal Way has a toll fee payable.

That said there are some activities that are worthy of your pennies, depending on what you love. For me I love wildlife so I did indulge in one Sea Safari, which was a real highlight for me. Here’s a list of other things we did.

Sea Safaris to see Puffins, Whales and Sea Eagles is a popular trip from many spots around the northern coast particularly. We had a Rib trip for an evening of puffin watching on the island of Andoya. It is the biggest colony of puffins in the whole of Europe and it was worth every single penny of our 495NOK per person. It was a bucket list for me so up there in terms of value. For more information, you can click here.

Svartisen Glacier Hikes. Along the Scenic Route Fv17 is Norway’s second largest glacier, Svartisan. An arm of this magnificent glacier is Engabreen and of Norway’s 2,500 glaciers, is one of the most accessible. It can also be seen from the road and is one of the best examples of a glacier almost reaching the sea in northern Europe. There are a couple of hiking options all of which requires a short ferry boat across Holandsfjorden. This cost us 200NOK per person return for the 15 minute journey. You can hire bicycles for 80NOK for 3 hours or take your own on the ferry for no additional cost. You can access the glacier from end of May to end of September.

Hiking Norway’s largest glacier Jostedal – You can hike up close to the glacier directly from the campsite, which costs 250NOK per night. Alternatively you can take the tourist train up the mountain, which costs 115NOK one way and 230NOK return per adult.

So as you can see by their absence, entrance fees do not need to be a major spending concern because so much of your Norwegian experience will be enjoying the outdoors and this is totally free to man and beast.

Campsites and Services

With Norway’s Freedom to Roam policy camping in the most magnificent of places is just so easy. Waking to the sound of the fjord lapping against the shore and pods of dolphins gently gliding through the water. It’s quite a magical experience.

Although not everyone likes wild camping, as they prefer the security and facilities that campsites offer. We didn’t use many campsites in our 7 weeks, in fact just three. Partly to do washing and meet up with some friends. Although in terms of costs, we travelled in July and August and given it was high season, we spent an average of 250NOK per night excluding electricity, which we didn’t think was too bad. Our campsite in Tromsø was 400NOK including electricity, so a bit more like the prices of other UK and European sites at this time of year, although we stayed out of necessity rather than choice.

We didn’t find that many campsites along our journey so I think some planning and plotting might be appropriate. Especially on the Lofoten Islands we found ‘sites’ really needed to be put in inverted commas. They tended to be parcels of land that some entrepreneur had decided to open up to campervans and tents and charge 250NOK for the privilege with portaloo facilities. If you would like more information on the Lofoten Islands for free, click here.

DIY Emergencies

Whilst we hope it doesn’t happen, life on the road can mean technical issues. So rest assured if you have the need for anything for your vehicle, then help is at hand with BILTEMA. This is a fabulous DIY shop that sells everything that you can imagine. Everything household, vehicle and bicycle – you name it, they will have it! Oh except Bicycle Rack covers. Ours is still hanging on by a thread.

Total Costs

So to be complete, it feels important to share our total spend during our 7 weeks in Norway. So combining all our expenses here are our figures, based on an exchange rate of £1 = 11.34NOK.

Spending	Price in £	Comments
Food	£620	This doesn’t include items from my ‘stock piling’, purchased during regular weekly shops. Gestimate an additional £200.
Diesel	£518	This is based on covering approximately 3,000 miles from our entry at Abisko to our exit at Seläter.
LPG	£82
Ferries	£409	Based on 8 ferries taken, 6 of which were discounted by 50% with our Autopass Discount Card.
Tolls	£88	We have yet to receive any bills from EPC, so this is based on my own notes
Campsites and laundry	£140	5 nights at £26
Activities/Entertainment	£94.00	Puffin Safari, car parks and entrance fees
Eating Out/Beers	£35.00	Fish and Chips and Beers in Tromso
*Total Spend £1,984*

Conclusions

So ladies and gents – there we have it. All things Shopping. We hope that this transparent review of the money we spent and, more importantly, how we managed to shop savvy will help you manage your trip to Norway

We were pleasantly surprised by Norway’s cost of living and whilst it was definitely one of the more expensive countries we’ve visited, in retrospect I think France, Switzerland and Italy are nipping at Norway’s heels. We wouldn’t hesitate returning knowing how manageable spending can be.

If this blog raises any unanswered questions on the spending front, then do get in touch. For example all things ferries, tolls and routes are presented in our All things Travel blog, which you can read here. Our next blog in the series is focused on our highlights, our route map and things to see whilst travelling this extraordinary country.

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Other posts from the All Things Norway series

Norway – All things Travel

by Karen Davies | Sep 6, 2019 | Destinations, Norway, Travel Blog

Norway – the geological genius that mesmerises

you around every corner

Travelling Norway in a motorhome is a dream come true for so many. I can imagine that Norway has always been on your list and stories of the awe-inspiring scenery has you reaching for your map. And then the enormity of this Nordic northern land hits you firmly between the eyes, as you see its scope on the atlas in front of you. Now questions tumble through your mind about the journey to reach this iconic destination and how to get around this land of deep fjords and 3D mountains. Uncertainty and doubt may cloud your enthusiasm as the shadow of fear creeps across your excitement. What if there was a place where you could get all the knowledge you needed for travelling to Norway in a motorhome, helping you feel informed and confident about your adventures north?

Look no further – this series of blogs aims to demystify the plethora of information ‘out there’ in Google-land about getting to and moving around Norway. So sit back and feel the relaxation wash over you as you find your confidence for your impending trip. Our passion is helping you make that Norway trip a reality.

In this blog, we focus on how to specifically travel to Norway in a motorhome and cover All things Travel. We start with all the things you need to do before you leave home. Then factoring in things to do en route to Norway. And finally how to enjoy navigating around Norway using its ferry system, the road network, tunnels and tolls and overnight parking. For ease of planning, we have included relevant and helpful links in the text, which are highlighted in red and underlined. If you click on these, they will take you straight to that link in a new page where you can save it as part of your research.

As this is such a mega blog with a stack of information, we have popped a Table of Contents below so you can jump around the post with ease. We hope this might help you navigate through the information. So if you’re ready – here we go.

Part 1 – Before leaving home! Your checklist

Assess the time you have available for your trip
Plan your entry into Norway accordingly
Register for your Autopass Ferry Discount Card
Sort out your EPC registration – Euro Parking Collection
Think about your Currency and Prepaid Cash Cards
What to do if your vehicle is over 3.5T

Assess the time you have available for your trip

We support the notion that you must, ‘Travel when you can, as far as you can and for as long as you can’. Not everyone has the luxury, as we do of being full-time – we acknowledge that. Although having had 7 weeks touring Norway, we have come to respect its vastness. Whilst it may seem like a great idea to pop to Norway for a couple of weeks, if you are coming from the UK, then it is worth just doing a reality check.

You need to allow between four-five days to get to Norway, with your starting point at Calais; and that’s driving at least four hours per day, without any sightseeing.

Norway is long and thin. Whilst there is the E6, which is the main arterial route that goes from Trelleborg in the south of Sweden all the way to Kirkenes on the Russian border in the north, it’s a whopping 1,950 miles (3,140km). And it takes 40-50 hours to drive. That will give you a sense of Norway’s enormity. And when you deviate off piste to where, let’s face it all the best scenery hides, then you need to build in fjords, mountain passes, windy roads and ferries. There is no going anywhere fast in Norway because why do Norway fast when there is so much beauty to breath in?

We do implore you to be wise with your time and plan realistically for your trip. Take into account travel time to and from Norway. And then look sensibly and what you can achieve with the remaining time you have. Don’t overstretch yourselves and, if necessary stay south. Travelling is tiring and say that from experience. Whilst four hours on the road may sound achievable, when translated into travelling in Norway, you can expect 4 hours to be more like 6. Add the concentration factor required for mountain driving and it makes for a completely different travel strategy.

We say this, not out of any sense of fear. We just want to help you plan realistically so that you get the best out of your Scandinavian experience.

Plan your entry into Norway accordingly

We will, for the purposes of this blog, assume that you are travelling to Norway in your camper or motorhome. From this point we can now look at the main entry points into Norway. This will allow you to judge the best route given the available time.

There are four main entry points;

– Via ferry from Denmark to south Norway or Sweden
– Via ferry from northern Germany to Denmark/Sweden
– Via road, crossing Denmark’s Øresund Bridge into Sweden, entering Norway just north of Strömstad
– (And for completeness we need to mention the route through the north of Finland and Sweden)

Denmark options

1. Hirtshals is the most popular route for easy and direct access into Norway. Served by 10 daily sailings to a range of destinations that include Bergen, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Langesund & Larvik. The ferry durations range from 2.5hrs for Kristiansand to 16hrs to Bergen. Prices will obviously depend upon the season you travel and the length of your vehicle. For more information check here.

The advantage of the Hirtshals route is that it gives you direct access to southern Norway and the option of entering at one port and returning from another to give you a circular route. You also have the opportunity of seeing Denmark, which is well worth exploring, if you can build in the time. For more information on Denmark check our blog here.

2. There are other routes to Sweden you could consider, which include Frederickshavn to Gothenburg, Grenaa to Varberg or Helsingør to Helsingborg. The latter is the quickest way to cross the water, taking just 20 minutes. For information on this route check here.

Germany option

Again assuming we’re focusing on a UK starting point; then you could sail from Travemund to Malmö or Trelleborg in Sweden. Or from Rostock to either Trelleborg or Gedser in Denmark. The latter means you avoid one of the two Danish bridges (Storbælt). Although you will still need to cross the Øresund Bridge to get into Sweden. Rostock offers up to 18 daily sailings with durations from 1.45hrs – Gedser to 6hrs – Trelleborg. For more information check here.

Øresund Bridge route

If ferries aren’t your thing and you would prefer to drive and take in the sights of Sweden’s west coast, then crossing the Øresund Bridge is your option. From mainland Denmark, you travel to Odense via Middelfart. I mention this partly because I just like saying the word, (with a childish titter) and also because it has one of Denmark’s only LPG stations. (55.492748 9.759738). It’s like gold-dust, so get some!

Considerations when taking this route is that there are two bridges to cross. The Storebælt and the Øresund, both of which are chargeable. The Storebælt is a beautiful 11 mile (18km) structure that is payable at a Toll Booth. You can pay by cash, Euros, Krone or credit card. Prices are based on the length and height of your vehicle. Based on 2019 prices for a camper/motorhome over 6m long and max 3.5T it will cost €52; €85 if you are under 10m and over 3.5T. Make sure you take your registration paperwork in case of any dispute about charges based on your length. (Remember you must include any trailers or bicycle racks in your total length).

The Øresund Bridge is a magnificent piece of engineering and it was on Myles’ Wish List after seeing it from a plane many years ago. It’s a road and rail route to Sweden and is just under 10 miles (16km) long including the tunnel. It’s quite a sight. This is another toll bridge and if you plan on returning from your Norway trip this way, then it is worth buying a Bropas. It’s an annual pass that costs around £37 to register, although it will save you 50% on each of your crossings. Given the fee to cross is €124 (summer price – out of season is slightly cheaper) then if you come back this way, the Bropas is worth having. If you are unsure about your route home, then we would recommend simply paying the one-way fee although if you do it ON-LINE at least one hour before you cross, this will save you 10%. Here’s the link. The purchase is valid for up to 30 days should your plans change.

Once in Sweden then it is very easy to pick up the E6 from Malmö and blast up to the Norway border just north of Strömstad. This will take you a minimum of 5 hours from tip to toe. So if you can, we would highly recommend taking the scenic route and extend your stay by 2-3 days. Experiencing the beautiful west coast of Sweden is a must in our book. The Bohulsän region is incredible with archipelago stretching from Gothenburg to the Kosterhavnet National Park on the Norwegian border. We adored our time here and the ferries are FREE. Wild camping in Sweden is so easy and although there are some restrictions in this National Park area, we found places to stop without any issues.

Register for your Autopass Ferry Discount Card

This is a critical action point to tick off your list before you leave home. This is a new scheme for 2019, so this is brand new information that will save you HUGE pennies on your Nordic budget. And I mean HUGE – up to 50% discount.

Norway’s lifeline is its ferries. Without them life would become very congested and difficult. So using the ferry system will be very much part of your Norway travel strategy. So here are some important steps that we highly recommend to getting registered with your Discount Card.

The essence of this card is that you;

Log on to the Autopass website and register with your home address and vehicle licence plate. Autopass then send you a confirmation email within a couple of days giving you an IBAN and Swift number. This is for you to send a deposit amount to your account to pay for the ferries.
Then you arrange an international transfer of 3,500NOK (£325.00) to your Autopass account. We did this through our online banking with Barclays. There will be a small cost to do this based on your bank’s International Transfer arrangement. Within 3-4 working days you are then able to access your Autopass account and see your deposit funds. They will take 27NOK for the printing and sending of the plastic card.
Once funds have been received they then send your card to your home address within 7-10 days. This little golden nugget then needs to be shown when you arrive at the ferry ports in Norway. The ticket man swipes your card and payment is taken like a credit card. No cash is needed. It’s as simple as that. You can check your accounts for the bills that appear within a week or so of your first ferry.
At the end of your trip, you simply log into your account and terminate the card and all money remaining is refunded back to your nominated bank account within 30 days. Ours was returned well within this period.

It’s worth mentioning that we did come across one problem where our card wasn’t recognised and we had to pay by credit card. We advised Autopass of this and they asked for a photo of the receipt and they agreed to refund us the 50% discount we should have received. We were very impressed with this system and the savings were well worth the effort.

Sort out your EPC Toll Account – Euro Parking Collection

Another cost to plan for, before you leave home, is Norway’s tolls. Roads, some tunnels and a few bridges have automated tolls and whilst they’re not expensive you are required to pay them as a visiting foreign vehicle.

Every toll, bar one is operated by Vehicle License Recognition. So cameras pick up your licence and EPC, on behalf of Norway’s road system, will invoice you through information registered with the DVLA. Whilst registration with EPC isn’t obligatory, it’s worth doing so that you can access your accounts and manage the bills. You can also assign a credit card to your account so that automatic payment is taken. Otherwise invoices will be sent to either your home address or you can nominate an email address to get them sent directly to you.

A word of caution. It takes forever for the bills to come through. It took over three months for our invoices to come through. And because of the duration, we suggest you write down your tolls so you can check them off when they come through – the costs are clearly indicated on the road signs.

You can find out more and arrange registration with EPC by clicking this link Euro Parking Collection. It’s worth doing so that your passage through Norway is automated and simple.

The only toll that you pay at a Toll Booth is on entering the Atlantic Highway Route 64 at Kristiansund on the west coast.

Think about your Currency and Pre-paid Cash Card

Norway, and in fact Denmark and Sweden all have their own currency. Whilst there are some places that accept Euros, these are generally few and far between – and only in very touristy areas. So make sure you arm yourselves with some NOK – Norwegian Krone. Whilst most of Scandinavia is a cash-less society, there are times when having a bit of cash is appropriate. For example some Marina Aires have an honesty-box payment system where you pop your money into an envelope and some campsite washing machines require coin operation. Everything else is card!

The amount of cash you take really depends on your length of stay and what your preferred style of overnight stops is. If you prefer wild camping then you’ll need no more than an equivalent of £20 of Krone per month, that will give you around 220NOK (@8/2019).

If you would rather stay on Marina Aires then you may need significantly more. The few Aires we stayed on were between 150-200NOK per night so that will give you a feel for what you might need to take with you. For all other payments we used our pre-paid cash card from Caxton – others are of course available.

A point to make with regards to paying for Diesel at Petrol Stations with your pre-paid cash card. For every fill up we had a deposit amount taken from our account and your statement will show up as PENDING. This is a security deposit and is returned to your account as soon as payment has been received by the supplier. So don’t be anxious if you see a larger amount appearing on your statement than your receipt shows. It will be refunded within 5 working days, often it is a lot quicker than this.

What to do if your vehicle is over 3.5T

Norway’s Roads and Ferries are all about length. Charges are made based on length categories. So generally speaking you would see <6m, 6.1-7.00m, 7.01-8.00m, 8.01-9m and >10m. So given the size of your vehicle you may need to think about an electronic TAG device.

Given our vehicle is 3.5T we have no direct experience to share with you. Other than talking to friends who have just travelled to Norway with their 9m truck plus motorbike trailer. So at the very least we wanted to pass on this information to you. We hope it helps.

Norway’s motorway sensors for the tolls system are all about the size of your vehicle. This means that you need some form of electronic device if you are over 3.5T to ensure that you receive the M1 category for motorhomes which are being used for leisure vehicles and not business.

A Tag system is the best option and there are a number of companies who supply this physical device. Our friends chose EasyGo+ Brobizz as it can be used in both Scandinavia and Austria. You make your application online from their website, sending them a copy of your V5 and your emissions category, if this is not listed on your V5. They then set up a contract for you and a Tag device is sent to you within 10 days of your application. The beauty of this system is that you can use this device for your tolls (for which you also get a discount), ferries and across the bridges in Denmark. So it does have some advantages and of course is a necessity if your vehicle is over 3.5T. Our friends said it was very efficient, with bills coming through within 48hrs of their crossing through a toll.

Part 2 – We’re on the Road to Norway

Make it about the journey

The best bit about travelling is that it is as much about the journey as the destination. It might sound a bit of a cliché, although it’s so true. We all fall foul of the, ‘get there quick and then we can rest’ approach. Although as we have already said, travelling through Norway’s vastness is tiring. So en route why not check out Bruges or Ghent in Belgium. Or perhaps Zeeland or Giethoorn in The Netherlands appeals as you break up your journey.

Either way, as Norway beckons, you have to navigate the river Elbe in northern Germany. One option is to go around Hamburg’s autobahns. This is our idea of hell. So after a bit of research I found an alternative route across the river at Wischhafen. There are 3 Aires not more than 5 minutes from the ferry and with regular sailing times, getting on quickly is never a problem. The journey takes 30 minutes and costs in the region of £20 (based on 7.5m plus two adults.) It puts you in at Glückstadt, which is just 2.5hrs to the Danish border. There’s also a Lidl nearby for stocking up on supplies and plenty of cheap Petrol Stations and LPG filling opportunities. It’s worth filling up with both before you cross into Scandinavia. Check out our Wischhafen Ferry video here. It was a great find.

Stocking up – a word of caution

Norway is notorious for its high cost of living especially the alcohol. So advice is to always fill up before you cross the border. Although a word of caution. Depending upon where you cross into Norway, there are credible reports from both locals and travellers that Customs Officers are a bit frisky with searching vans for excess supplies. Especially, we hear, off the Hirtshals’ ferries. So be mindful of this.

One report was that the vans were being strip-searched at their arrival in Norway. The country is not part of the EU, so they have Duty Free limits. So this might influence your route into Norway based on your love for booze. We crossed in the north of the country where there were no Customs checks so had no issues. Also as we crossed back from Norway into Sweden south of Oslo on the E6, we didn’t see any hard-border checks there either. So it does appear only to be off the Denmark ferry routes.

Part 3 – Travelling around Norway

Velkommen til Norge

So after all those months of planning, you have finally arrived at your dream destination. Norway yeah! Here are a few essentials about getting around Norway safely.

The road system, tunnels and bridges
Filling up with Diesel and LPG
The ferries
Camping overnight
Travelling with dogs

The Road System, Tunnels and Bridges

Norway’s roads are pretty good and I say this having driven through Bulgaria, UK and Italy. Whilst they are not the standard of southern Sweden or Spain, they are of a reasonable quality. The key thing to remember about Norway’s roads is that there is always some sort of repairs happening. Given that the conditions are so bad from November to March, they use the summer months to repair and strengthen their roads. So be prepared for long stretches of road-works and delays. We got caught up on a road where they were shoring up the side of a mountain and they required 2 hour periods to do their work. So watch your SatNav and the road signs. We also experienced 40 miles of intermittent road resurfacing on the arterial E6, which made it a horrible journey south and we had to pay for the privilege of it too.

Otherwise the main roads we found decent enough. If, like us you enjoy getting off the beaten track then the road quality does become markedly differently and they tend to be more narrow. Passable, although narrow. So driving with caution and slowly are the name of the game. This is why you don’t get anywhere quickly in Norway.

One thing we came to value perversely, on all roads in Scandinavia, are the rumble strips you get on the white lines in the middle and at the right-hand edge. We all have momentary lapses in concentration and a slight wander left or right happens to us all, let’s face it. Especially with all these magnificent views. Although you are soon corrected and accidents by wandering vehicles are prevented by these rumble strips. A sensory warning to adjust your road position! They send vibrations right up your bottom!

A word on Norway’s motorways! They’re not really motorways as we know them. The main E roads, such as E6 are just single lane roads for much of the time. There are occasions when they are two or three lanes, especially around cities, although never for long.

There are oodles of tunnels and bridges linking this geological masterpiece together. Tunnel lengths vary from just a few metres to our longest one, which was 8 miles! Friends travelled through the Gudvanden tunnel on the E16, in west Norway (60.888023 6.863913) and in August 2019 reported that the road surface was broken up for about 2.5 miles in the middle of the 7 mile length. So this might be one to check out prior to travelling.

In the north we found the tunnels were less… what shall we say… refined as their southern comrades. The walls were not coated and smooth, they were quite literally a hole through the mountain sides. So a little courage and a bit of praying that nothing was coming the other way, was needed at times. Certainly the longer tunnels in the south were of a much better quality we found, with good lighting and plenty of information about your position in the tunnel. If you are in the north around Tromso, enjoy the delights of having a roundabout in a tunnel. Yes you heard right – a roundabout. What a bizarre experience that was.

The bridges in Norway are a piece of art in themselves. With arches, curves and suspensions you will ‘wow’ just over the bridges. They are an experience and always a positive one, in our opinion. The only issue I can think of is the weather conditions. If there is a nifty wind then you may need to proceed with caution although generally you are informed of the windspeed if there is an issue on a particular bridge.

The speed limits in Norway are clearly marked although as a rule, in built up areas it is 30mph (50km) and on the main roads between 40-50mph (70-80km). Some sections of the E6 you could do 55mph (90km) although not very often. There are cameras so do keep to the speeds.

In terms of the season you visit, just be mindful of the risk of snow. Whilst from May to September there is low to no risk, the further north you go the more unpredictable the weather. So if you intend to come early spring or in autumn, as a precaution pack snow-tyres or at the very least snow-socks. They could be vital in getting you out of a freaky weather system.

For all up to date information on driving in Norway, check out this website.

Filling up with Petrol and LPG

Norway has plenty of Petrol Stations even throughout the fjords. Although our advice is always fill up when you can so that if suddenly resources become scarce you don’t have a problem. Interestingly LPG stations are less frequent although sufficient we found, for our needs. Travelling to Norway in the summer means generally no heating will be required so our two 11kg tanks lasted us 4-5 weeks, roughly. If you come during the autumn then you may need to be more mindful of where your LPG stations are, given that the weather is more unpredictable and snow can come early to this Nordic northland. We use the App LPG.eu and Maps.me to check where the nearest stations are.

LPG stations are not housed within Petrol Stations. They are separate entities, usually found in Industrial zones on the outskirts of towns.

We were interested to watch the prices of diesel over our 7 weeks. The first observation was that the price of diesel is actually cheaper in Norway than Sweden. We averaged between 13.39 and 16.05NOK (£1.22 – £1.46). All stations were self-service and a majority of them payable at the pump rather than in a kiosk.

One thing to remind you about is that in Denmark, Norway and Sweden a deposit is taken from your card of roughly 800 Krone, irrespective of what you spend. This is then refunded to your card within 2-5 working days. So don’t be shocked at the amounts on your statement. We suggest keeping hold of your receipts until the held amount is refunded in case of dispute. Although we always had ours refunded.

The second observation is that the price can change within an hour – so if you see it cheap buy it – even if you don’t have an empty tank. And that change could be up to 1NOK so it makes a difference to your pocket.

And finally, Sunday was always a cheap petrol day – we’re not sure if this was just coincidence although we often saw prices change come Monday morning. So worth watching out for. There doesn’t seem to be any one petrol station cheaper than another, so just go for the cheap prices when you see them, is our advice.

Navigating the Ferries

As we have already discussed, the ferries in Norway are a necessary part of their lifestyle and very much part of their culture. Hopefully by now you will have been persuaded to get a Ferry Discount Card. This section is more about the practicalities of ferry travel once you are here. There are a few pointers we have to ease your journey.

The 8 ferries we experienced on the west coast, mid-coast and the Troms region in the north were very efficient, and frequent. You never seem to be waiting long, especially once you are south of Bodø where their schedules are incredibly regular. I guess because the ferries are shipping cargo lorries as well as leisure vehicles, you can see why their frequency is important.
For 5 out of our 8 ferries, we were able to use our Discount Card. Our last ferry, for some reason wouldn’t accept our card, so we have informed Autopass of this malfunction and they will be issuing us with a refund.
There is a lane queuing system for each ferry and depending upon your position in the queue you will either get on the current ferry or automatically be first on the next scheduled sailing.
In terms of payment, generally a ticket collector would come to you whilst you are waiting in the queue and take your card. On the odd occasion you would pay the ticket collector on board the ferry.
Embarkation and disembarkation were swift, painless and given most ferry’s capacity was about 50 vehicles you could generally assess whether you would make it on. There are toilets and some refreshment facilities depending on the length of the journey and you are allowed to get out of your vehicle, including your pets.
You are required to turn off your gas for each journey.
For the Troms ferries in the north, they have their own system and the Ferry Discount Card does not apply. We suggest that you download the Troms Mobillett App which entitles you to a 25% saving on all ferries in the region. It is also a facility you can use for taking the bus whilst visiting Tromsø. So it is a good resource to have. One HUGE tip though. DO NOT buy your ticket through the app UNTIL you know you are on board. There is a time limit to your ticket purchase and it is important to only press the BUY button once you are securely parked on the boat. Otherwise your payment will run out before the ferry arrives. For the Troms’ ferries you need to present your ticket onboard at the ticket desk inside the boat. You simply show your confirmation from the app and that’s it!
And last and by no means least, the ferry to Senja from Brensholmen is the smallest ferry we travelled on with only room for 21 vehicles. So we strongly recommend that you check the schedule. This was our first ferry and we were lucky that we happened to be vehicle 11. We had no idea how large the ferry capacity was and there were only a couple of ferries a day. So you could end up waiting a long time if you get your timing wrong.

Overnight Stops

With all this travelling, you will want somewhere to rest your heads. And one thing that Norway does incredibly well is wild camping. We had some amazing spots alongside fjords with dolphins. It’s what wild camping dreams are made of.

Although if you prefer campsites then there are enough of those to go around too, although you may need to plot your journey a little more carefully on a day to day basis. I say this only because they are not on every street corner and so you may find yourself driving a long way to get to a site that is either booked or a longer journey than you had intended. Although in the three campsites that we stayed at during our 7 weeks in Norway, they were not fully booked, which did surprise me. They were busy although not a Spain-type of busy. That said, I would still do a bit more planning if campsites are your preference so you can judge your driving time right. For campsites, check out Search for Sites or Park 4 Night.

For wild camping lovers, we used Park4Night much of the time and we also found our own spots along the way too. Honestly finding places to park up is not difficult. You can often be guided by the trail of other motorhomes. You find yourself commenting ‘Oh well done, nice spot’. Or if you are tired and grumpy, ‘Oh damn that would have been perfect!’ Either way a place to call home is never a hardship in Norway. With their Allemannsretten – Every man’s right to roam, you can pretty much park overnight anywhere. As long as it is 150m away from any house and not on private land. You are generally allowed to stay for one night, although there are some mountain places where you can certainly stay longer.

The obvious next question is what about services? Well there are plenty of options we found. Some garages have free services, there are regular places in towns that offer facilities too and of course there are campsite options if you wanted. The only place we really struggled was on the Lofoten Islands. Otherwise even on Senja in the north, getting your van serviced was a complete breeze. We never worried about getting water or emptying our black waste. We do have the luxury of two cassettes, which does make a difference, although still we didn’t find any issues. Norway (and Sweden) seriously know how to cater for the motorhome community. In fact as you drive around the country, you will see how many houses have a motorhome in their driveways. They are into motorhoming in a big way and with winters as harsh as theirs, you can understand why.

Check out our gallery below sharing just some of our wild camping spots and campsites.

Scoobie Skrolsvik Senja wild spot, Senja, Norway

Scoobie Flakstad beach rest area lofoten , Norway

Travelling with dogs

Even though we don’t have a dog, I think it’s important to mention the regulations that you will need to consider for Norway. The following official website from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority gives you all the information you need to make sure your pooch (and cats or ferrets) can travel with you. In essence their checklist states four obligatory requirements. For more information if this is relevant for you, click the above link.

The animal must be ID-marked
The animal must have a valid anti-rabies vaccination
The animal must have received an anti-echinococcus treatment (dogs only)
The animal must have a pet passport

Conclusion

So Norway – a dream destination for nature lovers, motorhome travellers, hikers and photographers. It has so much to offer and is well worth the planning, preparation and journey to get there. We are pleased with the research we did, plans we put in place and the whole experience of Norway. So much so, that it contributes to Scandinavia being a serious highlight of our nomadic journey since March 2016. Whilst it took us a while to get here, it has really been worth the wait.

We hope that with these links, guidelines and pointers that you too will put Norway – and indeed the whole of Scandinavia on your list. This is just one in a series of blogs and free resources that we will be sharing with you to inspire you to travel to Norway and make your journey easy, cost effective and memorable.

We invite you to come back here for updates and visit our FB page for more information. There will be a free eBook coming soon and if you sign up to our monthly newsletter you will be sure not to miss a thing.

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Check out our All Things Norway Series

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