Fjord Tours

Trip of a lifetime!
There are several options you can choose for your tour. We studied the website and contemplated several different variations before choosing to start in Oslo.
I know that some people do this as a round trip in one day, and more power to them, but there is no way on earth I would ever do that (nor would I recommend it for anyone like me who finds long days of sitting on a train/​boat/​bus to be torturous). I had read several places that you could do this from Oslo to Bergen in about 12 hours but hot damn that would have really been too much sitting around and looking out windows for me, at least. Doing a round-​trip to/​from Oslo involves taking the night train back and slightly less than 24 hours of constant travel. Godspeed to anyone who wants to try that.
As it were, we decided on a one way from Oslo to Bergen over the course of 3 days. We left from Oslo in the morning and took the train to Myrdal on day 1. This train ride was pretty interesting. You can really see the change in scenery as you go from city to county to high in the mountains.
You get off the main rail in Myrdal (which is basically just a train station and nothing else) and board the next train down to Flåm. We did stop at the waterfall on the way down, however, as we were visiting in early April, it was frozen solid. Which was interesting. And I understand that during the high tourist season, there’s a cheesy water dance by some woman in a costume. Can’t say I was disappointed to miss that.
The Flåm train was very old timey and interesting. I don’t think the workers on this leg of the journey were as happy about their jobs. Since I assume they deal exclusively with tourists, they get a pass on that.
We decided to spend two nights in Flåm which was phenomenal. I can certainly see how Flåm may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was a perfect vacation within a vacation for us. It was off-​season, very quiet and quaint, very peaceful and totally relaxing.
On Day 3, we resumed the Nutshell tour and hopped on the fjord cruise to Gudvangen. The cruise is outstanding. You can choose indoor or outdoor seating and if the weather is even slightly decent I would highly recommend (literally) grabbing a chair to sit outside. Eventually I had to move indoors because it just got too cold, but the glass enclosure on deck was perfect because you still had decent views.
When you get to Gundvagen, your bus is waiting and you head to Voss. The bus ride was somewhat underwhelming to me. Maybe because I was tired or maybe because it was such early spring that it wasn’t exactly OMG SCENERY! (A lot of snow and ice). The bus arrived in Voss and we had to board a train to Bergen. By this point it was getting dark outside and therefore, wasn’t a whole lot of interesting things to see during the final train ride. Still, the train was comfy and nice. (The Bergen train station was kind of horrifying though, compared to Oslo).
Overall, this was one of the best parts of our trip. A few final tidbits:
We carried our luggage with us and I was initially worried about that — there is plenty of room on each leg of the trip so as long as you are a fairly light/​moderate packer, you won’t have a problem.
Make sure you really consider the amount of travel you will have to do in one day if you decide to do a round trip. For me, 12+ hrs of train/​bus/​boat/​train sitting would have been unbearable. If you don’t mind a long day of constant travel/​transferring, then you should be alright. I loved this trip because it didn’t feel like a marathon since we stopped midway to both explore a bit and relax.
You will need to inform the tour company if you do plan to stop when you book online. (I found much cheaper hotel prices on Orbitz as opposed to the «deals» on the Nutshell website for what that’s worth). They will book your transfers accordingly.
If you don’t have your tickets mailed to you, you will have to physically go pick them up before you depart on your tour. They will send you the pick-​up info when they confirm your reservation.
Wear layers and dress warmly. You will be miserable if you are underdressed and cold.
Enjoy!

The fjord tours were pretty incredible. A lot of it was the natural beauty of the fjords (Californians — think Yosemite Valley, but… larger and with water in the middle, and more of it and holy crap it’s beautiful), but it was also just a generally easy and pleasant experience.
The route we took was Bergen — Voss — Gudvangen — Flåm — Myrdal — Bergen.
1) Train from Bergen to Voss. Very pretty, but not ridiculously spectacular. Try to sit on the left side of the train to see the most of the fjords.
2) Bus from Voss to Gudvangen. Really nice bus ride. You go down a super windy road and see a ton of waterfalls. You also drive by a pretty remote hotel that’s frequented by Norwegian royalty. Neat.
3) Ferry from Gudvangen to Flåm. Easily the best part of the tour. The ferry was fairly large and pretty comfy. If you’re not sensitive to the cold, get on the boat as soon as you can, grab a plastic chair, and set it on the deck by the railing. You’ll be able to get a seat later when everyone gets restless and starts to move around, but the beginning was (IMHO) my favorite part. The food inside wasn’t that bad. Decent hot dog, like some other dude said in his review.
4) Train from Flåm to Myrdal. Really neat old, super steep tram. Sit on the right. Some really nice waterfalls and old farm houses and such. Really awesome waterfall that you stop at halfway up.
5) Train from Myrdal to Bergen. Mostly the same train ride as the one from Bergen to Voss. Most of the time I was just sitting there thinking about how much I loved the fjords.
Easily worth the money. I also highly suggest not having to take luggage with you (i.e. not doing the tour that starts in Bergen and ends in Oslo). There would be a lot of lugging it around.

I bought tickets beforehand from the tourist office in Bergen, as for some reason the day we wanted to go was blocked out on the Fjord Tours website. The first leg of the trip was the train ride from the Bergen train station to Myrdal. Myrdal has a little shop and café there, but the train was already waiting, so we went right on. This is the train that heads to Flam, and makes the stop at the waterfall. The waterfall is incredibly impressive up close, and you are at the perfect distance from it on the platform to take it all in up close, but yet also have it all fit in one picture.
We were in Flam for three hours until the boat left. This would maybe be a bit long to be in Flam, but we enjoyed just sitting on a bench at the end of the dock, looking out onto the fjord while we snacked on the sausage and bread we brought with us. If you don’t bring your own food, there are places to eat here, and also a grocery store and reasonably priced (for Norway) souvenir shop. The view is so good that we didn’t mind the wait.
After this came the boat ride itself. Try to get on the boat early enough to stake out a good seat on the top deck. Even with this, you will wind up getting annoyed with your fellow tourists jostling around to get the best views. Thankfully, for whatever reason, one side was less crowded and we went over there and weren’t as disturbed. You can get sausages on the middle deck if you get hungry.
The town at this end of the fjords is tiny, and we just went right onto the waiting buses. It heads up a series of very tight hairpin turns that give great views over the valley. Unfortunately, this bus didn’t stop to let us out to take pictures like a previous reviewer got to do.
The bus lets you off in Voss, where we had about fifty minutes for the train. There is a small town here with a cute church and views over the water, although not much else. We were hungry, so we stopped at an open pizza/​kebab place — BIG mistake. The calzone we got was awful. Just wait until you get back to Bergen to eat.
The weather was pleasant, cloudier than ideal but we didn’t have any rain. There were a few times that the sun peeked through the clouds. Even with the clouds you will still have great visibility.
This was definitely the most expensive day of vacation that I have ever had, but a great experience.

If you are visiting Bergen and DON’T tour the fjords…
it’s a fantastic tour, a good deal for Norway, and not touristy at all. It’s also a great way to see Voss and Bryggen from the water. also really loved the Flam Railway and Myrdal. If the weather is nice and you are here in the summer, I have been told you should try to book early.

This was a fantastic tour and I’m so glad that I went. I was looking for pretty much any alternative for a fjord tour while based in Bergen because the cost of this one is insane… but given the generally high costs in Bergen and how this is very much a once-​in-​a-​lifetime experience that you have to do if you go to Norway, I can justify the prices.
I did the Sognejfjord in a Nutshell tour and departed from Bryggen at 8am by expressboat to Flam. The expressboat took five hours and made a number of other stops on the way, but it takes you right down the Sognefjord. Our captain was also nice enough to take us down one of the smaller fjords so we could get a view a beautiful waterfall. Can’t remember what it was called, but it was great. The expressboat is also one extremely fancy boat. The boat is fully equipped with a restaurant and the seats are super high quality. You can easily move around the boat and have access to an upper and lower deck on both sides so you can take all the pictures that you want. The views are AMAZING. I can’t rave about them enough and I’m so glad that I ended up doing it.
After you get into Flam, it’s pretty much a one-​hour lunch break before taking the Flam Railway to Myrdal and heading back to Bergen. The Flam railway is beautiful. I’d recommend you sit on the right side of the train (if you’re headed from Flam to Myrdal) because that’s where all the good views are. They stop at a waterfall so you can get some pictures, but otherwise I definitely feel like I missed out a bit by sitting on the left side. Anyways, I’d highly recommend this tour to anyone though. It’s a good day to spend a day while you’re in Bergen and the views in the Sognefjord are breathtaking and something you’ll never be able to see anywhere else.
tldr; touristy? yes. expensive? yes. but I promise you, it’s absolutely worth it. I hgihly recommend the Sognefjord in a nutshell tour.

After partially rejecting it because it would be to touristy, I decided to go ahead and book a Norway in a Nutshell tour offered by Fjord Tours for one of the days I was in Bergen, and I’m really happy that I did.
You have a lot of flexibility with this particular tour — it’s basically a half circle with Voss and Myrdal as the end points, both of which are stops on the Bergen railway between Oslo and Bergen. So do you want to do it as part of a trip between Oslo and Bergen, or as a round trip from either of Oslo or Bergen? Do you want to stay the night in any of the small towns the tour visits? Like I said, lots of choice. I did mine as a round trip from Bergen, even though only a couple days later I was taking the train from Bergen to Oslo. This is partially poor planning on my part, booking the Bergen to Oslo train before I even thought about this tour. But I’m almost happy it worked out that way. Doing it as part of my Bergen to Oslo journey would have meant I’d have had my large luggage and business laptop bag with me on the bus, boat, and train that comprise the loop between Voss and Myrdal. I’m glad I didn’t need to struggle with that.
So — a train overland from Bergen to Voss. Nice and scenic, running along some rivers and lakes — hint, sit on the left hand side in the direction of travel, there’s a bit more to see. Then you take a bus from Voss to Gudvangen, which takes you past Oppheimsvatnet, with (at least when I went) a glassy calm surface. The bus also takes you by the hotel at Stalheim. The view down the Nærøydalen is incredible, and it’s right there, right behind the hotel! Some busses might stop and let you out for a bit, but mine did not. The visual you get, even from a moving vehicle, is truly spectacular. It would be worth stopping and staying at the hotel, just to sit out and enjoy this view.
Next, an amazing boat trip from Gudvangen to Flåm. This boat ride, especially on a sunny day, is spellbinding. Also be aware that at first, it’ll seem as though someone is selling tickets on the last helicopter out of Vietnam, and they’re doing so right beyond the railing. Tourists will push and fight for a spot on the rail, and they’re not afraid to push you out of the way. It’s really obnoxious, and everyone forgets how to act in a crowd and watch out for other people. But wait them out — the boat ride is a couple hours long, and eventually, they all get tired, which is when you can kind of move in to a convenient spot and snap some key photos. I should also mention that the most cost effective lunch I’ve hat in Scandinavia is on this boat — just under 100 NOK for a soda, a hot dog wrapped in bacon, and some chips.
Once off the boat in Flåm, you take the Flåmsbana up to Myrdal. My tour had an inexplicable 2 hour break in Flåm. Which is too much time to spend in Flåm, as where the boats dock is really just a spot where three or four identical tourist shops have set up, as well as a very large hotel. Kill time by going in to the TI and getting a map of the local hikes — you probably have time to do the shortest one, which just gets you up a bit from the shore and lets you see the area a bit better.
The train ride up to Myrdal is again, quite visually nice, along sheer cliff faces protected by snow tunnels. The train does stop to let you out at Kjosfossen, which has its own little platform in the middle of nowhere. There’s no souvenir sales, no nothing. Just a place to watch the waterfall. Unfortunately, someone has cheesed it up by putting women in red dresses near the falls, dancing to bad dramatic music, to re-​enact the legend of the waterfall. Apparently, there used to be creatures hidded behind the mist, luring men in like some kind of Scandinavian Siren. But this bit of tourist pandering just makes it harder to take a picture without some crazy lady in the frame.
Wrap it all up by taking the train back to Bergen from Myrdal (or on to Oslo if you have so chosen). It’s worth noting that Fjord Tours doesn’t provide any of this transportation, but they do coordinate it closely amongst NSB, Skyss-​bus, and Fjord1 for all the transport. Everything is clearly marked, and I think connections may even be held (or at least re-​booked) if things get jumbled or delayed along the way, since during the Nutshell, a significant portion of the ridership are tour members. My ticket (s) had to be picked up from a rail station — the NSB office printed it out and stapled it all inside a «Norway in a Nutshell /​Fjord Tours» branded folio and handed me other branded literature, so they’re obviously working in concert with Fjord Tours here. But the process was incredibly easy. They didn’t confirm my booking until a couple days after I made it — because they are probably working with the various agencies to ensure room for you.
In summary? Hope for good weather (although it would be a good expeirnece I think even if it wasn’t the best weather) and deal with all the other tourists. It’s well worth it.