Travelling in Norway on a budget?

Hello,

my girlfriend and I are going to visit Norway in mid-April. We are
hoping this is a good time to see the largest waterfalls as the snow
will be melting, isn't it?

We would appreciate any tips on avoiding excessive spending:
1. is traveling in central Norway possible by bus or would it be
cheaper to rent a car?
2. what are the cheapest hotels/motels in the triangle of Oslo-
Sognefjord-Geiranger?

Thank you!

"Fiance" wrote in message
ps.com...
Hello,


I see that you've got no answers yet. That's not a suprise,
Norway and budget don't go too well together.

Suprisingly the cheapest time to visit Norway is July/August.

my girlfriend and I are going to visit Norway in mid-April. We are
hoping this is a good time to see the largest waterfalls as the snow
will be melting, isn't it?

The year that I went the roads were still impassable until mid
May. I've no idea if that is normal or not.

There were also no useful buses in many areas until the
summer season, which stated about the same date.

TBH, April is really much too early in the year to visit
Norway.

We would appreciate any tips on avoiding excessive spending:
1. is traveling in central Norway possible by bus or would it be
cheaper to rent a car?
2. what are the cheapest hotels/motels in the triangle of Oslo-
Sognefjord-Geiranger?

take a look at this:

http://www.fjord-pass.com/default.asp

It may make you decide on an alternative date

tim

"tim....." kirjoitti
...


The year that I went the roads were still impassable until mid
May. I've no idea if that is normal or not.

Snowploughs are in use in Norway too..........

I see that you've got no answers yet. That's not a suprise,
Norway and budget don't go too well together.

Suprisingly the cheapest time to visit Norway is July/August.

Thanks for your reply!
What I meant by the misleading "budget" was in fact "no extravagance",
as we are coming to see the nature, not to care about how good room
service is etc.
I saw at fjord-pass.com, that you have kindly indicated, that "Cabins
and apartments are available at NOK 435 per 2 persons per night",
which is what - $70? I couldn't locate any cabins/apartments via the
website, though. There should be some other way to search for
affordable lodging in Norway.

If April is too early, when the spring arrives at Norway then? We
would like to see the waterfalls in full force

How come July/August is the cheapest time, doesn't Norway tourism
business follow the rules of supply-demand?

Perhaps locals could tell a bit about rain in Norway - during which
month the chance of rain/overcast is the lowest? It would be a pity to
arrive for several days and have rain all over :P

Fiance wrote:

I see that you've got no answers yet. That's not a suprise,
Norway and budget don't go too well together.

Suprisingly the cheapest time to visit Norway is July/August.

Thanks for your reply!
What I meant by the misleading "budget" was in fact "no extravagance",
as we are coming to see the nature, not to care about how good room
service is etc.
I saw at fjord-pass.com, that you have kindly indicated, that "Cabins
and apartments are available at NOK 435 per 2 persons per night",
which is what - $70? I couldn't locate any cabins/apartments via the
website, though. There should be some other way to search for
affordable lodging in Norway.

If April is too early, when the spring arrives at Norway then? We
would like to see the waterfalls in full force

How come July/August is the cheapest time, doesn't Norway tourism
business follow the rules of supply-demand?

Perhaps locals could tell a bit about rain in Norway - during which
month the chance of rain/overcast is the lowest? It would be a pity to
arrive for several days and have rain all over :P

I'm not a local (though I'm half-norwegian and my brother lives there)
but you have no guarantee of that. July and August are the best times to
go, as others have said. I'm not sure what the statistics will say. I've
been there in July/August and had a week of cloudless skies and high
temperatures, and other times where it rained the whole week. It's hard
to predict, I'm afraid. I was there last at the end of September 2006
for a long weekend, and it was warm and sunny!

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
(don't email yahoo address) usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

minipris train travel is the biggest bargain in Norway. Check the NSB
website for bookings.

"Markku Grönroos" wrote in message
i...

"tim....." kirjoitti
...


The year that I went the roads were still impassable until mid
May. I've no idea if that is normal or not.

Snowploughs are in use in Norway too..........

At that time of year the problem is the thaw.

There was so much snow ploughed into a pile at the side of
the road it was 8-9 feet high. As it thawed, large lumps about
half the size of a car fell into the road blocking it.

The coach that I was in tried, and failed, to push it aside.
Unbelievably, not one of the cars in the queue waiting with
us had (or if they did, they didn't offer) a spade to break it
up with.

tim

"Fiance" wrote in message
oups.com...
I see that you've got no answers yet. That's not a suprise,
Norway and budget don't go too well together.

Suprisingly the cheapest time to visit Norway is July/August.

Thanks for your reply!
What I meant by the misleading "budget" was in fact "no extravagance",
as we are coming to see the nature, not to care about how good room
service is etc.
I saw at fjord-pass.com, that you have kindly indicated, that "Cabins
and apartments are available at NOK 435 per 2 persons per night",
which is what - $70? I couldn't locate any cabins/apartments via the
website, though. There should be some other way to search for
affordable lodging in Norway.

If April is too early, when the spring arrives at Norway then? We
would like to see the waterfalls in full force

How come July/August is the cheapest time, doesn't Norway tourism
business follow the rules of supply-demand?

In short, NO.

The Scandinavian model for hotel pricing is very high weekday
rates and low(er) weekend rates for most of the year with the
lower rate being charged all week during the summer school
shutdown (mid june to mid august).

Scandinavians take long summer holidays, with businesses
virtually closing during this period and thus business travel
then is non-existent.

So, this model makes sense in town/cities which have a
reasonable amount of business travellers.

However, the same price model is used in many tourist
towns. IME hotels in these towns are virtually empty during
the months when they charge full price and completely full
when they charge the lower summer price.

This made no sense to me at all. It was almost like they
did this for the altruistic reason of charging less to 'locals'
on their summer holiday and charged more the rest of the
year to catch out the foreigners who didn't realise that it's
stupid to holiday out of season in Scandinavia (a mistake I
won't be volunteering for again)

tim

Fiance wrote:

Hello,

my girlfriend and I are going to visit Norway in mid-April. We are
hoping this is a good time to see the largest waterfalls as the snow
will be melting, isn't it?

We would appreciate any tips on avoiding excessive spending:
1. is traveling in central Norway possible by bus or would it be
cheaper to rent a car?
2. what are the cheapest hotels/motels in the triangle of Oslo-
Sognefjord-Geiranger?

Thank you!


The year that we visited the snow had just started melting in late May
in Bergen & north.