Norway Holidays and Escorted Fjord Tours
Norway is a destination best enjoyed at a relaxed pace, with spectacular fjords, dramatic mountain scenery and scenic rail journeys offering unforgettable views at every turn. With distances between destinations to consider, choosing the right way to travel helps you make the most of your time in this beautiful country.
Our Norwegian holidays offer different ways to explore, including flights to Bergen and sea journeys from the UK. With a choice of itineraries featuring fjord cruises, scenic railways and charming coastal cities, you can discover Norway’s natural beauty and culture at your own pace. Explore our current programme below to find the holiday that suits you best.
Travelling on your own or as a couple?
Alongside our private group tours, we run open tours with set departure dates. You book just the places you need, one or two is fine, and travel with others who chose the same holiday.
Frequently Asked Questions About Our Norway Tours
The aurora season runs from roughly late September to late March, when the nights are long and dark enough. You also need clear skies and a good dose of luck, which is why it is not always possible to guarantee a sighting. Your chances improve the further north you go, above the Arctic Circle in particular. Winter sailings along the Norwegian coast are timed with this in mind; ask us what is currently scheduled.
Bergen's old quarters involve cobbles and some slopes, boats are boarded by gangway, and excursions generally mean being on your feet for an hour or two at a time. The funicular does the climbing on Mount Fløyen. Requirements vary between itineraries, so tell us what you can comfortably manage and we will talk you through the specific departure.
All our tours can be customised to suit you. Our tours frequently include excursions to and from the airport in the UK and when you arrive at your chosen destination.
All excursions, entrances and experiences listed in the suggested itinerary are included in the price, along with selected meals; however, these can be tailored to your preferences and budgets.
The fjords west of Bergen
Sognefjord is the giant among them: more than 200 kilometres inland from the coast and over 1,300 metres deep in places, which makes it the deepest fjord in Norway. Its arms narrow as you go, and the narrowest of them, Nærøyfjord, is barely 250 metres across between cliffs that rise well over a thousand metres on either side.
What surprises most first-time visitors is how inhabited it all is. Small farms sit on ledges halfway up the rock face, reached historically by ladder. Waterfalls come down in ribbons, at their loudest in late spring when the snowmelt is still running off the plateaus above.
Our Bergen Fjords tour includes a cruise on Sognefjord, which is the right way to take the measure of it. Seen from the water, the scale finally makes sense in a way that no photograph manages.
The Flåm Railway to Myrdal
The Flåmsbana climbs from the fjord village of Flåm up to Myrdal on the Bergen line: twenty kilometres of track, a rise of around 865 metres, and one of the steepest standard-gauge railways anywhere without the help of a rack. It took twenty years to build, much of the tunnelling done by hand.
The train works its way up the Flåm valley in a series of tight loops, crossing and recrossing the river, with twenty tunnels along the way. There is a scheduled pause at the Kjosfossen waterfall where passengers step out onto the platform for a few minutes.
The scenic train ride from Flåm to Myrdal is included on our five-day Bergen Fjords tour. Seats are unreserved on board, so it pays to be ready to move from one side of the carriage to the other.
Bergen, Bryggen and Grieg's villa
Bergen was the northern outpost of the Hanseatic League, and the row of leaning wooden warehouses on the harbour, Bryggen, is what survives of that trade. It has burned down and been rebuilt more than once on the same foundations, and has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1979. The fish market sits a few minutes' walk along the quay.
The city is ringed by seven mountains. The Fløibanen funicular takes the effort out of the nearest of them, lifting you to a viewpoint above the rooftops in about six minutes.
Out at Troldhaugen, Edvard Grieg's villa above the lake still holds his Steinway, and the little composing hut he worked in stands down by the water. Our Bergen tour includes Troldhaugen, the funicular, the botanic gardens and a 24-hour Bergen Card.
