7 Day Road Trip In Norway

Day 1 of this itinerary is reserved for arriving in Oslo - explore the city if you arrive early or just rest up for the big travel days ahead! We arrived super late so we just used this day to rest and recharge.

On the first day of the road trip, we opted to drive route E134 to E13, which takes you directly west across Norway. You can also drive south and enjoy the coastal views. We didn’t plan this and it’s very easy to follow Google Maps. 

Tip: We purchased the $100 international data plan with Verizon since we would be utilizing Google Maps frequently. To save data, we turned on Google Maps, entered the address, started the route, and then switched to Airplane mode. It will go for a while as long as you don’t stop, and it doesn’t drain your data!  

Our first stop was in Nesflaten, a small town with a grocery store and quintessential Norwegian view about 5 hours from Oslo. It was quaint and magnificent. Here we visited their little grocery store and grabbed some snacks for the road. We couldn’t help take a ton of pictures and soak up our full first day in Norway. 

Tip: The bathrooms in Norway are immaculate! Even if you are at a gas station or grocery store, they always seemed to be sparkling clean and free!  

Further down the road, we stopped for pictures of Josenfjorden and then continued along to our first ferry experience of the trip from Nesvik to Heljmland.   

Tip: Ferries are pretty easy in Norway! They run about every 20-40 minutes depending on the port. As long as you have an “Autopass”, you just wait in line and then drive right on. Even though the lines sometimes seemed long, we never had trouble getting on one.  

From Hjelmeland we drove to Pulpit Rock or Preikestolen. Preikestolen is a famous granite rock format that juts out overlooking Lysefjord. We began our hike around 6 pm on a weekday and it was perfect timing! Just enough people to snap a photo or two for ourselves but for a while, we were the only ones at the top! The summit took about an hour for us, but we decide to walk fast since it was later in the day. Pulpit Rock may have been the most memorable hike of the whole trip. It is entirely worth it and absolutely breathtaking on the rock.  

Fun fact: Preikestolen was featured in Mission Impossible with Tom Cruise and his energy partaking in an epic battle.  

We arrived in Stavanger around 10:00pm (around 40 minutes from Pulpit Rock) and quickly stopped for food in town. We went to stopped in town at burgers and beers. Absolutely recommend this joint – food was fantastic and staff was so hospitable! Once our waiter learned we were tourists (wasn’t hard), he wrote down all the hot spots in Stavanger we had to try!  

Our AirBnB in Stavanger was a true highlight of our trip. The studio was right on an inlet with gorgeous water views and a close drive to the center of town. You could easily walk too! The host was so friendly, met us even though it was late and offered tips for the area. 

After our long drive from Oslo and hike at Pulplit Rock, we took the day to walk around Stavanger. There are many streets to explore, boutiques to browse, and restaurants to try. We walked to the watch tower, known as Valberg Tarset for a 360 view of Stavanger and explored Gamle, Stavanger's old town with adorable houses, before devouring breakfast pastries at Godt Brod and trying fish soup and a cheese plate at a local restaurant.  

Our eating and drinking didn’t stop there, and our final stop was Lervig Brewery! We were lucky enough to meet the owner who is from Philadelphia!  

That night, we ate at Bellies, a recommendation from Lervig’s owner. While it's not budget friendly, this vegan restaurant, serving 11 small course dishes and a kombucha or wine pairing with each dish did not disappoint our palate! Every plate was perfectly set with beautiful colors and unique flavors. It may be one of the top restaurants I've ever been to!

The 4444 stairs hike in Florli was on our list so we caught the ferry (people only – no cars) first thing in the morning. We booked the ferry the night before but it may be more crowded in high season. The views from the boat were INCREDIBLE! Picture riding through massive mountains, surrounded by waterfalls, greenery, and impressive rock formations.  

Everyone on the boat was basically there to climb the infamous staircase so we ran ahead to be the first ones at the top. The steps are numbered every so often so you can track your progress easily. Around 3,800 snow covered the steps and we could either hike through the slippery snow or walk on the big pipes that parallel the hidden stairs. You likely won’t run into this issue if hiking in the summer. Views at the top were breathtaking – lots of snow and quite cold so come prepared!  

The hike down was longer than we expected but much more scenic than the staircase with rocky switchbacks to start, transitioning to more of a forest trail hike. Waterfalls surrounded us and the trail ends at a farm with lots of sheep. One of the locals opened a shop (the only one in Florli) and we ordered sandwiches which were homemade and delicious!  

Fun fact: The 4444 stairs hike is the longest wooden staircase in the world!   

That night, we drove to Bergen (about 5 hours with a couple of ferries), checked into the hotel at Moxy Bergen, situated right outside of the downtown area on a small inlet in the business center. 

As the second largest city in Norway, Bergen has a more metropolitan feel to it, especially compared to Stavanger and our first few days exploring the countryside. Bergen is home to Bryggen, a UNESCO World Heritage site, located on the harbor at the heart of the city. 

The first item on our itinerary was to check out Bryggen. We strolled along the harbor taking in the beauty of the city and stopping at hidden gems like Kommandantens hage, a tree lined walkway situated among historic stone fortresses and towers and St. John's Church, an iconic monument overlooking the city center.

Lunch was served at the Daily Pot, a healthy, clean-eating type of restaurant, a couple blocks from Bryggen. Everything here was delicious - a must try!

After lunch, we hiked up Mount Floyen. Mount Floyen is a paved trail with different trail options to explore. You can access the summit via foot, bike or tram (also known as the funicular). We opted for foot and reached the summit in about an hour. At the summit, there were a few restaurants, clean bathrooms and sheep to admire. We took a different path on the way down and enjoyed a lusher path down.

At the bottom, we stopped at the Fish Market and purchased some cheese and honey. If you are a cheese lover like me, there are lots of options to try and they can even package them in sealed vacuum bags for easy travel. 

For dinner, we went to Pingvinen for some traditional Norwegian food and craft beer. Food was great, crowd was friendly and service was hospitable. What more could you ask for?

This day was truly Fjord Norway – we visited three fjords: Naeroyfjord, Aurlandfjord, and Sognefjord! Naeroyfjord and Aurlandfjord both flow into Sognefjord, the longest fjord in Norway  We said goodbye to Bergen headed for Vik making many fjord stops along the way. First, we made a pit stop at Viking Valley in Gudvangen. The bathrooms at the nearby Nordic Ventures are open to the public and are super clean. Here the view of the fjord landscape looks like a painting – it’s just majestic!  

From here, we travelled to Aurland, an adorable village on the Aurlandsfjord. We drove up the windy but scenic road to Stegastein viewpoint, an overlook platform made of wood, steel, concrete and glass that juts out from the mountainside. Go slow on the drive as the road has many twists and turns and can barely fit two cars at once. The view from Stegastein was breathtaking and panoramic but we enjoyed the magnificent views of Aurlandsfjord’s and the massive surrounding mountains from a quieter pull-over on the way down. 

It wasn’t open when we were there, but we wanted to go to Ægir Microbrewery. Microbreweries are somewhat new in Norway and this one looked quite established! Although I can’t share an experience, please try it out for me!  

Tip: You have to go to Marianne’s for lunch, a cute cafe on an inlet off Aurlandsfjord.  

After lunch, we went to Flam. Flam is a cruise ship stop so you may encounter lots of cruise-goers here. We hiked Brekkefossen waterfall. This hike is uphill and leads to a gorgeous waterfall flowing overall the lush green hills of Norway. The vantage point at the top also provides a spectacular view of Flam and Aurlandsfjord. 

After a long day of fjording, we headed to Vikøyri, the town where our AirBnB was located. In early May, the town of Vikøyri, a small village on Sognefjord was quite quiet but I imagine it’s bustling during the summer months. On our way to Vikøyri, the landscape changed dramatically and we went from green hills and flowing fjords to a winter wonderland. We ate dinner at the Blix hotel, which seemed to be the only restaurants open in the area. 

Tip: Check out this AirBnB, situated on the mountaintop with views of Vikøyri and Sognefjord   

On our last day in Norway, we explored towns along the Sognefjord starting with Vikoyri. Vikoyri is a small town with a very famous stave church, a medieval wooden church with a unique design that called Hopperstad Stave Church. This medieval church was built around 1140 and there are only 28 historical stave churches left in Norway.  

Next up, we drove to Vangsnes and stopped at the Fridtjovsparken. Here there’s a huge statue of a Viking and panoramic views of Sognefjord. 

On our way back to Oslo, we drove through the Longest Road Tunnel in the world (24.5km) called the Lærdal Tunnel. The engineers built this tunnel with light shows every 5km to keep drivers alert and feel less claustrophobic.  

As we arrived in Oslo, we were super sad to leave this gorgeous, advanced, environmentally conscious, and friendly community but were thankful for our experiences and excited for Part 2 of our honeymoon: Sardinia, Italy.