DIY Norway In A Nutshell (Part 1)

Norway In A Nutshell (NIN) is not a guide tour but is a ticket package including bus, train and ferry to fjord. You may start the trip at Oslo or Bergen. If you buy the package from website, you can take train, bus and ferry as the ticket provided. As there is no a guide, you must check the time on your ticket and not be late. Buying the package from website is convenient but higher cost. I chose DIY NIN because the schedule is flexible and cost is cheaper. I will compare both options and provide the detail for who wants to arrange schedule by yourself and require cost saving.

The first part describes the general information about purchasing the ticket and summarize the cost.

There are 1 day / 2 day trip, one way trip / round trip. I started the trip and end at Bergen. Here is the map for this trip. I will summarize total cost later.

Norway in a nutshell Website
https://www.norwaynutshell.com/

My Itinerary (1 Day, Round Trip)
Bergen -> Voss -> Gudvangen -> Flåm -> Myrdal -> Bergen

Map: Norway in a nutshell website

Alternative Itinerary

The below cost is for how buy NIN package 1 day.

Starts at Bergen

One way trip
Bergen - Voss - Gudvangen - Flåm - Myrdal - Oslo (Adult 2,250 NOK, Child 1,150 NOK)

Round Trip
Bergen - Myrdal - Flåm - Gudvangen - Voss - Bergen (premium fjord cruise)
(Adult 1,750 NOK, Child 890 NOK)

Bergen - Myrdal - Flåm - Gudvangen - Voss - Bergen (classic fjord cruise)
(Adult 1,600 NOK, Child 810 NOK)

Starts at Oslo

One way trip

Oslo - Myrdal - Flåm - Gudvangen - Voss - Bergen (premium fjord cruise boat)
(Adult 2,250 NOK, Child 1,150 NOK)

Oslo - Myrdal - Flåm - Gudvangen - Voss - Bergen (classic fjord cruise boat)
(Adult 2,080 NOK, Child 1,060 NOK)

Round Trip (May require the use of night train)

Oslo - Myrdal - Flåm - Gudvangen - Voss - Bergen - Oslo (classic fjord cruise boat)

(Adult 3,020 NOK, Child 1,520 NOK)

Oslo - Myrdal - Flåm - Gudvangen - Voss - Bergen - Oslo (premium fjord cruise boat)

(Adult 3,190 NOK, Child 1,620 NOK)

Before starts the trip, please purchase online ticket.

1. NSB Train nsb.no/en/frontpage

There are standard price and mini price price. Mini price is the cheap price ticket. Some trains do not have mini price ticket. Mostly, the cheap ticket is for early bird and night train. You can also add option for drinks and snack by adding NOK.

1.1 Bergen -> Voss (Standard price 210 NOK) duration: 1 hour 9 mins.

Timetable: NSB Website

After bought the ticket, the ticket was sent to my email. It is in pdf file so I printed it and showed ticket collector.

There are standard seat, NSB Familie, NSB Comfort

1. Standard Seat: no additional cost, some train can reserve seat.

2. NSB Familie:
- A coach with a separate children’s play area
- Included in the price of your ticket

- Dedicated space for prams/pushchairs booked on nsb.no

3. NSB Comfort (+100 NOK per person)

- Standard two-pin power outlets
- Access to newspapers

- Complimentary coffee and tea

1.2 Flåm -> Bergen (708 NOK, duration 3 hour 7 minutes.)

When go back to Bergen, take train from Flåm to Myrdal and interchange at Myrdal to Bergen but no need to interchange at Voss so take that train from Myrdal to Bergen. I bought ticket from website. This was local train so after buying the ticket, the reference code was sent to my email. This ticket still could not be used. I must go to the NSB ticket machine or use NSB application to get the paper ticket. I will describe later.

2. Bus Ticket

Bus fare from Voss to Gudvangen is 118 NOK per person, duration 1 hour and 10 minute. Bus no. 950. You can check bus timetable on website https://www.skyss.no/en/

Voss stasjon (Voss) -> Gudvangen kai (Aurland)

No need to buy the ticket online. Just pay the cash when on board. The driver will give you the receipt.

3. Ferry

Gudvangen to Flåm

There are classic and premium boat. In Winter only winter cruises are available (no need to choose). Price starts from 335 NOK per person. Winter cruise runs only 1st October to 30th April.

Fjord Cruise website https://booking.visitflam.com/en/to-do/a1064754/fjordcruise-n/showdetails

After you select the time and number of people, you can add some option as security in case of cancellation or refund. You can cancel up to midnight (24:00) on the day before the package starts. In that case, the entire amount of the booking will be refunded. This case has additional charge. For me, I did not add this option because of high cost so I bought the ticket 3 days before departure date. In summer, you should buy the ticket early because it is high season. If you buy NIN, no need to do anything, just go onboard.

You can print the ticket which will be sent to your email and show it to staff.

Here is the cost summary compare between NIN and DIY NIN.

From	To	Transport	Fare (NOK)	Duration
Bergen	Voss	NSB Train	210	1h 9 m
Voss	Gudvangen	Bus	118	1h 10 m
Gudvangen	Flåm	Cruise (Winter)	445	2h
Flåm	Bergen	NSB Train	708	3h 7 m