Svolvaer to Trondheim, southbound

[Bella0714]

My wife and I have already booked Hurtigruten from Bergen to Kirkenes on Nordnorge, departing September 19. Then we'll take the southbound leg to Svolvaer, arriving Sept. 27, and stay eight nights so we can explore the Lofoten Islands and maybe parts of Vesteralen, too.

 

The original plan was to fly from Svolvaer to Stockholm on the morning of Saturday, October 5 and spend the last few nights in Oslo prior to our late-afternoon departure on the 7th. But now I'm wondering if we should get back on Hurtigruten in Svolvaer on October 4 or 5 and sail southbound to Trondheim (arriving at 6:30 a.m.) to spend a half day or so there before flying to Oslo. Compared to the rest of the journey, how scenic is that leg between Svolvaer and Trondheim (I know we'll only get part of it in daylight)? Or would we be better off just flying from Svolvaer to Oslo (we've never been there)?

 

Thanks for your input.

[SarniaLo]

It's quite a scenic cruising. You get one more opportunity for Northern Lights as you cross the Vestfjord to Bodo, and then the next day is very nice. It's the day of Norwegian folk tales. You sail past the Horseman island in the morning while crossing the Polar Circle (there is a ceremony in that direction as well), then along the Seven Sisters mountains after the stop in Sandnessjoen, and lastly the pierce rock of Torghatten in the evening. All these tie together very nicely in one story which you can learn on board. There should be enough light to enjoy them all, provided of course the weather is cooperating.

Here are some pictures of this day at a very similar date a few years back : http://voyageterremer.blogspot.com/2014/10/un-jour-de-legendes.html (text is in French and English).

I also quite enjoy the stop in Bronnoysund late afternoon.

I think it's quite worth it (but would it cut short some of your time in Oslo?).

[Bella0714]

Thank you. Those are beautiful pictures. As for Oslo, we’d lose a day unless we spend six days in Lofoten instead of seven, which I’m not sure we want to do. But we were thinking of flying to Bodo from Svolvaer, anyway, and using the long layover to go to Saltstraumen (the current is strong during the layover), so under that plan, we wouldn’t have arrived in Oslo until late Saturday night anyway. If we sail from Svolvaer to Trondheim instead, we can still get to Oslo Sunday morning (our flight is late Monday afternoon).

 

The purpose of this trip always was to see beautiful scenery and, hopefully, the lights, not big cities.

[Bella0714]

I just had a look at the next day of your journey and am now thinking we should take the train from Trondheim to Oslo. Considering airport travel time and wait time at the airport, it’s only a few hours longer. This would be our only train trip of our journey, and I like trains. The scenery looks really nice.

[SarniaLo]

I think the train ride is also worth it. I usually take the morning train (so no time in Trondheim, which I enjoy on the Northbound stop with Hurtigruten). I agree that it does not take  much more time than flying, and I find it a lot more convenient (and often cheaper if you book in advance) and more scenic. It does not compare to the Oslo-Bergen line but I think the landscapes are still quite nice. You could maybe take a later train if you want more time in Trondheim. Personnaly I would choose more time in Oslo rather than in Trondheim, but that is very much down to personal preferences.

[hallasm]

1 hour ago, SarniaLo said:

Personnaly I would choose more time in Oslo rather than in Trondheim, but that is very much down to personal preferences.

Spend the time in Trondheim at the northbound journey and take an early train to Oslo. Train is 6h45m - departure 08:18, cost NOK 409 pp - tickets can be purchased 90 days in advance at nsb.no.

[grayjay]

If you book in advance and directly you also get senior discounts , of course only if you are a senior...😉

I didn't know this and booked the train journey through Hurtigruten (from Oslo to Bergen) and could have saved more than 50% by booking early and using the senior reduction.

[SarniaLo]

True grayjay, and if you buy the train ticket soon enough (the tickets go on sale 90 days in advance) you can get Minipris tickets which are often very cheap (even cheaper than senior discount, and work even if you are not a senior 😉). Note that these tickets are not refundable.

As a general rule, it is vastly cheaper to book everything on your own and not through Hurtigruten (except the ship's journey of course). And it's not complicated to do bookings on your own in Norway. The website for buying train tickets is https://www.nsb.no/en/

[Bella0714]

We've decided to do Svolvaer to Trondheim southbound on Hurtigruten. We like the idea of spending more time on the ship, SarniaLo's photos of that stretch are beautiful (now we need the weather to cooperate!) and we also like the idea of the train ride from Trondheim to Oslo, especially with possible fall foliage. We're going to book the 8:10 a.m. train on Sunday, Oct. 6 when it goes on sale to get the low price and hope Hurtigruten isn't late arriving in Trondheim; if it is, we'll just have to eat that ticket and take a later train. And if we get the earlier train, we'll have the rest of the afternoon, that night and the following morning in Oslo (our flight is at 5 p.m. on Oct. 7).

 

For those who have done port-to-port, is there much risk in waiting until 30 days out to book the port-to-port at that time of year. The Hurtigruten.no site claims they reduce prices by 40% for port-to-port travel less than 30 days out.

 

Thanks to all! 

[SarniaLo]

3 hours ago, Bella0714 said:

For those who have done port-to-port, is there much risk in waiting until 30 days out to book the port-to-port at that time of year. The Hurtigruten.no site claims they reduce prices by 40% for port-to-port travel less than 30 days out.

 

That's quite an interesting discount! At this season I think you should be OK with booking 30 days out (is that just for Svolvaer-Trondheim, or for Kirkenes-Svolvaer as well? I'm not clear as to whether you are on the same ship Bergen-Kirkenes-Svolvaer or if you stay in Kirkenes and take the next ship).

Only possible exception would be if the ship on your date of interest is MS Lofoten, because she is smaller and has a lot of afficionados so she can book up early.

I'm glad my experience inspired you, indeed fingers crossed for good weather when you are there!

[Bella0714]

We're staying on the Nordnorge in Kirkenes and going port-to-port to Svolvaer; for the northbound, we booked an Arctic Superior cabin because the UK site was running a very good sale and we got the Arctic Superior for the same price as an inside guarantee would have been without the sale. Didn't see any point in staying in Kirkenes in late September since there won't be any snow. Thought about taking the bus to Murmansk and spending a day there, but it would've taken away from Lofoten (unless we fly from Kirkenes to Tromso then got back on the ship in Tromso; still a thought, but we'd miss Kirkenes to Tromso).

 

Finnmarken from Svolvaer to Trondheim.

 

SarniaLo, your blog has inspired us to go to Norway and Antarctica!

[SarniaLo]

13 hours ago, Bella0714 said:

SarniaLo, your blog has inspired us to go to Norway and Antarctica!

Im really touched by this and this encourages me to continue (I enjoy doing the blog, but I am now 4 trips behind and feel a bit overwhelmed! 😁 ).

 

I think you are going to have an awesome trip. I would love to know how it went when you come back.