6-Day Guide to Norway: Oslo, Bergen, Fjords & Lofoten

When in Oslo, I highly recommend renting scooters or an ebike. They are laid all throughout the city and are easy to use, all you have to do is download the app. Use them to see all of the beautiful parks. I love to eat my way through a city so here is a list of all the places I have personally visited:

Piren: A little spot on the dock that serves drink and appetizers.

Cafe Skansen: The beef and fish soup are delicious!

Evita Espressobar: For a midday pick me up.

Kulterhusset: Casual, a really unique combination of lounge areas and bar.

KRÖK: Great drinks with a view of youngstorget plaza.

Himkok: Beautifully curated cocktails - ranked no. 43 in 50 best bars in the world 2022.

Festningen: Great view of the pier and the most delicious mussels!

Kranen: Rooftop bar that has an incredible view of the city, especially at night with all the lights!

The best way to get from place to place in Norway is flying, considering it is a very long country and driving from place to place can eat up a lot of your time. I chose to fly from Oslo to Alesund. I stayed in a town called Sytle at the Hotel Valldal FjordHotel. From here, I drove one hour to Geiranger and went kayaking with Geiranger Kayak Centre. You can rent a kayak and explore Geirangerfjord for yourself. If kayaking isn't for you, I'd recommend booking a tour on RIB Geiranger, another option that really gets you up and close and personal to the waterfalls of Geirangerfjord.

Afterwards, grab lunch at Brasserie Posten - the beef with potatoes is excellent! Then you can stop at Geiranger Brygge and try some local beer.

The next day you can drive one hour to Rampestreken, located in a town called Åndalsnes. However, there are a couple of spots you have to check out on your way there. The first being: Gudbrandsjuvet. It is a beautiful waterfall with a coffee shop right next to it. The next viewpoint is Trollstigen road, and honestly, the pictures you may have seen of this famous road don't do it justice. It is even more legendary in person. I spent about an hour here just taking in all the different viewpoints in the area and of course, taking lots of pictures! What's even better if you have to drive the Trollstigen road to get to the town Åndalsnes.

Once you get into Åndalsnes, make sure you hit up Sodahlhuset before starting your hike. It's a small little cafe but the food is so fresh and delicious. The soup, open-face sandwich and cinnamon roll that I had were all so good, I couldn't help but eat it all!

The Rampestreken hike itself is a little challenging - it's an incline the whole way up, and takes about two hours to hike up a total of 400 meters. However, the view up top is one thousand percent worth it, and to top it off there is a restaurant called Eggen on the mountain. I would recommend making a reservation if you plan to eat here, I didn't but I had arrived at the top around 4:30 so I was lucky to sneak in and grab a table before the dinner rush. The fish mosaic dish was absolutely divine.

If hiking does not appeal to you, there is a gondola that you can take up, down - or both! I chose to ride the gondola down since I indulged in a couple glasses of wine with dinner. It is a bit pricey but the views from the gondola make up for it.

After a couple days of outdoor activities I would recommend visiting Meretes Garden, a yoga, spa and retreat center. She has a few glamping tents if you'd like to stay on the premises but I just came for the spa experience.

There is a sauna and a bathing area with a beautiful porcelain tub that looks out into the mountains. There is a beautiful greenhouse with a garden that you can walk through, and you will most likely be greeted by the neighborhood cat named Lotus (the most friendly cat I've ever met!) I spent all day here, I did a private yoga class with the owner, enjoyed the sauna and had a massage. It was an incredible day. End it with late lunch at Khaya Barista Bar. The amadombolo dish is the way to go.

Next stop: Bergen! Highly recommend the hike up to Floyen. It takes at most an hour to walk up to the top and you can look over the entire city of Bergen. Not to mention, there is a whole little village at the top, too. There is a restaurant, a cafe serving ice cream, a playground for kids and a lake that you can walk around called Skomakerdiket.

If you're hungry for some lunch after walking up to the top I'd recommend getting the poke bowl with salmon at the Floien Restaurant, so light and refreshing.

As far as restaurants go - my top picks would be Nama and Fjellskal. Nama had some of the best salmon sashimi I've ever had and the beef tataki appetizer was another must-try! Fjellskal has a beautiful view of the pier and and the greatest scallops on Earth.

From Bergen, you can fly to the Lofoten Islands - a must see if you're in Norway. You can drive the entire length of the Lofoten Islands, so it's a matter of personal preference as far as what area you'd like to stay in. I stayed at the Thon Hotel Lofoten in Svolvaer on the pier. The location was great, you can walk to a lot of nearby restaurants and it was a 5-minute drive to one of the most well-known hikes: Floyen and Djevelporten. While the view at the top of Floyen are some of the most breathtaking I've seen, I will warn you, it is not a hike for the faint hearted. It is very challenging with a lotof sherpa stone steps. If you plan on doing this hike, I would plan to take it easy the rest of the day.

I recharged with lunch at Bacalao, and surprise, surprise, the bacalao was pretty damn good.

End the evening with a spa reservation at Skårungen AS. It is a 15 minute drive from the town of Svolvaer. Once I arrived at Skårungen, I wouldn't have minded booking a room there either. They have cabins and glamping tents depending on what suits your fancy. The whole facility just wowed me. I would have loved to stay there.

The Skarungen Spa includes a hot tub, outdoor shower with heated water, a sauna and a hammock. There is even a small walking ramp into the glacier water if you're feeling brave! You can reserve the area for you and whoever you are traveling with and enjoy a private experience for 1.5 hours. The spa area is on its own dock and overlooks the mountain, a very relaxing way to end the evening. Travel Hack: I brought my robe from the hotel and it made all the difference when transferring from the hot tub to the sauna.

Another must hike is Reinenbringen, which is not as challenging as the Floyen hike, but it is still all steps the whole way up. The views at the top made me feel like I was Wendy seeing Never Never Land for the first time. It's that good. After the hike I recharged at Gadus Restaurant. It is a small place, so again, reservations are never a bad idea, but I was able to sneak in before the dinner rush right when they opened at 6pm. The whale carpaccio was great here!

Along the pier in Svolvaer they also have a few tour companies that you can book with such as XXLofoten AS, Lofoten Explorer AS, World Sea Explorers and Pukka Travels.