How to Road Trip in Norway

What we learned during our 10 day summer car camping trip through southern Norway
In some other articles I have highlighted a few of the hikes and other activities we did. This list on the other hand is to share what practical things learned:

1. Options for airports to fly to: If you are looking to travel through the southern half of Norway the most obvious option is to fly to Oslo-Gardermoen. However we found that flights to the smaller airport of Torp are often cheaper and the airport is very small and easy to navigate. The airport of Narvik is a great option if you want to get up North (and to the Lofoten) - however you will not find many direct flights here.

1. What size of car do you need? I would highly recommend something that allows you to sleep in the back of the car if necessary due to the ever changing weather. A hatchback was about 60 Euro a day and we slept a few rainy nights in the car - uncomfortable but at least dry. A van would be even better though.

1. What gear to bring: In terms of clothes, bring everything from shorts and T-shirts to puffy jackets. In the span of a few hours we had 3 degrees C with biting wind and sunny 25 degrees. A tent plus outdoor sleeping gear is also super useful to really make the most of the stunning landscape. Note that we had minus a few degrees celsius even in August at night however! We carried a stove and cooking gear which was both great to save money and have the experience of eating one-pot-curry right under a glacier.

1. You do not need money in cash: Norway is practically cashless. Everything gets paid by credit card and people are slightly irritated if you pull out cash.
2. Where to buy groceries at reasonable prices: This country is expensive. There is no way around it. However the two grocery stores that are fairly on par with places like Germany or France in terms of prices are REMA1000 (very discountery) and KIWI (a bit nicer).

1. The infrastructure is almost perfect: The roads and tunnels are a reason to visit by themselves which makes the driving between things to see and do part of the fun. Especially the roads traversing the Fjells and dipping in and out of the Fjords are just stunning. Additionally the rest areas are almost always perfectly clean and there are quite a few of them.

1. Make use of the right to roam: One of the greatest things here (and in Sweden) is the very broad right to roam. In practice this means you can camp almost anywhere in nature and can explore to your heart's content: Pick berries, pitch your tent by a creek, get off path!

1. There are many tourists and it can get busy: Be prepared to see caravans everywhere in the summer. There are so many on the roads and out on the Fjells that it gets a bit annoying sometimes (Think seven meter white caravan blocking all the parking at a viewpoint). Another reason to pack a tent: You can just walk out a few hundred meters into the landscape and are on your own.
2. Be ready to change your plans: Luckily we did not have a fixed agenda during our trip because the weather just does what it does. If you are ready and geared to be flexible however you can always just adjust your plans. For reference of the things we marked as „must do“ we had to skip just two. On the other hand we discovered a few treasures that we had not noticed in our research.

We hope this helps a bit and above all have fun out there!

Adventurers: Brigitte and Bengt