Your Instagram feed may be full of the picturesque fjords and fishing villages that dot Norway's coast, but Norway is probably still not on the top of your bucket list. It should be. While Norway is one of the pricier European destinations, its offerings are well worth the price tag. And with new nonstop routes from the East Coast of the U.S. to Oslo, Norway is becoming more accessible than ever.
If you're looking to plan an upcoming European vacation with the family for either the summer or winter, it's time to consider Norway. And if you're traveling solo, the fjord route has great tour options and a friendly backpacker community as well. Here are some more reasons to make Norway your next European destination.
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Accessibility
While it's not as easy to reach as London or Dublin, Oslo is becoming easier to get to from the US. Low-cost transatlantic airline Norwegian Air now offers direct flights from Boston, Ft. Lauderdale, Oakland, Los Angeles, Puerto Rico, Orlando, and New York JFK, with a direct Las Vegas route starting in November.
With its LowFare options, these flights are extremely affordable. I found multiple direct, round-trip fares for summer travel from Los Angeles under $900; from Boston, New York, and Oakland under $700; and from Ft. Lauderdale under $600.
Oslo is just a two-hour flight from London, too, and less than three hours from Reykjavik, both large hubs for cheap transatlantic airlines.
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Fjords
Norway's fjords drive the country's tourism. While Oslo has its own fjords, it's really the Western part of the country that's most famous for these waterways. Bergen, known as the gateway to the fjords, is only a 45-minute flight from Oslo, or six to seven hours by train. Bergen itself is an incredible city to explore, but it's from here where you can really explore the other fjords.
There are four main fjord areas: Rogland, Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane, and More og Romsdal. Overall all there are 22 fjords you can visit, each offering incredible road trip routes, hiking, biking, cruises, diving, canoeing, kayaking, and rafting. Check out Fjord Norway's website to help plan your itinerary.
Climate
Even though Norway is in Scandinavia, it's a great year-round destination. In spring, fall, and summer you can easily drive any of the National Tourist routes along the fjords and enjoy the extra hours of sunlight hiking and exploring (the sun sets at 10:00 p.m. and rises around 4:00 a.m. in the summer). You can even ski year-round at most mountains, and come winter the fjord region gets the most snow in Northern Europe. Summer is the most popular time to visit, but both spring and fall boast mild temperatures (due to the Gulf Stream) that make it a pleasant time to visit as well.
Norway also has one of the brightest and most frequent sightings of the Northern Lights in the world, with popular sighting spots close to the Artic Circle in Northern Norway in the Lofoten Islands, Trondelag, Alta, Svalbard, and Finnmark. Sightings are most frequent between late September and March, when it's dark between 6:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m.
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