Advice sought on booking engine Oslo to Bergen via train (rail ninja or vy.no)

[claranda]

Closed permanently as far as I can see - environmental reasons.

[mhb1757]

On 1/17/2023 at 10:42 AM, Clay Clayton said:

Thanks for the info!  A couple more questions if you don’t mind.

How much was the fare and how did you pay? Credit card? cash? If cash did you need exact change?

How comfortable was the bus?  I’m six foot seven inches tall and therefore don’t fit in most bus seats-I usually sit on the benches that face into the aisle rather than in a seat that faces forward.  Did you bus offer such a seat?

 

TIA!

I don’t remember the exact fare but it was quite reasonable. It was less than the train fare from Voss to Bergen was going to be. I want to say it was about 300 kroner for the 2 of us (so roughly $18 per person). We paid the driver in cash, DH said he had exact change because it was an even hundred. But he can’t remember the exact amount either. 
 

DH is 6’3” and said the bus was very comfortable. It was more like a standard tour bus configuration than a city bus with center facing seats. But there weren’t more than 6 or 8 people on the bus either time so room to spread out. 

[mhb1757]

On 1/15/2023 at 6:42 PM, Snowcat1 said:

Does anyone know how long the bus ride would be if you took the bus all the way to Bergen?

I’m not sure if you meant riding the bus from Oslo to Bergen or from the ferry at Gundvagen to Bergen. If you wanted to know the latter I think it was about 2 1/2 hours and a very beautiful ride. 

[Snowcat1]

Thanks, MHB1757 that was the info I was looking for.

[Clay Clayton]

3 hours ago, mhb1757 said:

I don’t remember the exact fare but it was quite reasonable. It was less than the train fare from Voss to Bergen was going to be. I want to say it was about 300 kroner for the 2 of us (so roughly $18 per person). We paid the driver in cash, DH said he had exact change because it was an even hundred. But he can’t remember the exact amount either. 
 

DH is 6’3” and said the bus was very comfortable. It was more like a standard tour bus configuration than a city bus with center facing seats. But there weren’t more than 6 or 8 people on the bus either time so room to spread out. 

Thank you!

[Busy Mum]

Good afternoon. This discussion is helping me immensely for the planning stages of our Norwegian Fjords cruise. We are yet to book it but hope to very soon. Hubby & I definitely would love to do the train from Bergen to Oslo, but I’m a little confused with the website vy.no as it only appears in Norwegian! I’m I doing something wrong, please help! 🥴🥴 Vicki. 

[Busy Mum]

16 minutes ago, Busy Mum said:

Good afternoon. This discussion is helping me immensely for the planning stages of our Norwegian Fjords cruise. We are yet to book it but hope to very soon. Hubby & I definitely would love to do the train from Bergen to Oslo, but I’m a little confused with the website vy.no as it only appears in Norwegian! I’m I doing something wrong, please help! 🥴🥴 Vicki. 

All good - found it in English! 😂

[claranda]

On 1/17/2023 at 9:45 AM, claranda said:

Hi all. We’re doing the NIN independently in May. Just a couple of  comments from my experience of booking so far. It seems things may have changed a bit for this year from what has been reported above.

 

Firstly, if you are traveling Independently you have to be careful which ferry you take from Flam to Gudvangen (talking about the electric ‘Best of Norway’ ferry here). There are only TWO buses meeting ferries. The 09.30 ferry from Flam is met by the VY450 bus at Gudvangen (stop E16 about 7 minutes walk from the ferry) at 11.50,  arriving Voss at 12.35 in time  to catch the 12.56 train to Bergen arriving 14.14 (seems tight, so we’re not booking the train in advance, just in case we have to take the next one at 13.51, arriving Bergen 15.00. May actually book this later one and have a bite at the station cafe). No bus meets the ferry that leaves Flam at 11.30. The one leaving Flam at 15.00 is met by a bus at 17.25 arriving Voss at 18.20. I have double checked this by ‘chatting’ with Best of Norway. I don’t know what the situation is with the conventional ferries. Anyway, I’ve gone ahead and booked the 9.30 ferry.

 

The only bus I can find running between Gudvangen and Bergen is an express that leaves Gudvangen at 19.05, arriving Bergen 21.35. This would match up nicely with the 16.35 ferry that arrives Gudvangen at 18.35. See https://www.nor-way.no/en/

 

Finally, note that the hairy, vertiginous Stalheim road is closed until further notice, although I think the bus to Voss may possibly stop at the Stalheim Hotel so we can run through to see the view! Just noticed that Viking offers a tour including this road….hmm.

Further to this earlier post of mine, please note that we are travelling on a Sunday, so timings can be different on weekdays. For example, the nor-way express bus from Gudvangen to Bergen leaves Gudvangen at 15.15 on weekdays.

[Snowcat1]

Thanks Claranda, for that information. We are also doing this trip on our own on Sunday, May 28th so this is very helpful info.

[claranda]

9 hours ago, Snowcat1 said:

Thanks Claranda, for that information. We are also doing this trip on our own on Sunday, May 28th so this is very helpful info.

We’ll be a week ahead of you. If we hit any snags  I’ll post here!