The Oslo-Bergen crossing is one of the world's great train journeys, and the classic move is to break it in the middle and thread through the fjords: mainline train over the Hardangervidda plateau, the little Flåm railway plunging to sea level, a ferry up the Nærøyfjord, and a bus and train into Bergen. Tour companies package this and charge accordingly; booked piece by piece yourself, it costs a fraction and works exactly the same. Norway will still empty your wallet — the trick is knowing where the money actually buys something.
Oslo without going broke
Two nights in Oslo is plenty. The best of the city is either free or nearly so: walking up and over the sloping marble roof of the Opera House, the Vigeland sculpture park with its hundreds of writhing granite figures, and swimming off the sauna rafts in the harbour if you're feeling Nordic (public saunas run $15-25 a session). The Munch Museum ($16) earns its fee. Sleep in a hostel dorm for $40-55, buy your food in supermarkets — the words to know are 'First Price' and matpakke, the packed lunch every Norwegian carries — and treat a $12 gas-station hot dog as eating out.
The Bergen Railway
Book the Oslo-Bergen train (Vy) as early as you can: minipris tickets released in advance cost $30-50, against $100+ on the day. The line takes about seven hours end to end, but you're getting off partway, at Myrdal. The ride itself is the attraction — the train climbs out of the forest, past Geilo's ski slopes, and onto the Hardangervidda, Europe's highest mountain plateau, cresting at Finse (1,222 m) where polar expeditions trained and the snow lies beside the track well into summer. Sit on the left side heading west, and don't board without snacks; the onboard café charges like a nightclub.
Myrdal to Flåm: 866 metres down
At Myrdal — a station with no road to it — change to the Flåmsbana, the branch line that drops 866 vertical metres in twenty kilometres, one of the steepest standard-gauge railways anywhere. It costs a stiff $55-65 for under an hour, and it's worth it once: the train eases past waterfalls threading down the valley walls and pauses at Kjosfossen, where everyone piles out onto a platform in the spray. Hardy budgeteers skip the ticket and hike or rent a bike in Flåm to do the valley road uphill-lite instead — the path follows the old construction road and takes 4-5 hours down on foot.
Flåm village itself is small and cruise-shiny; stay the night at the hostel or campground cabins ($40-60 per person) and walk twenty minutes out of the centre to have the fjord to yourself in the evening light.
The Nærøyfjord ferry
The next morning, take the ferry from Flåm to Gudvangen (about 2 hours, $45-55, book ahead in summer). This is the stretch that justifies the whole trip: the boat turns out of the Aurlandsfjord into the Nærøyfjord, a UNESCO-listed arm so narrow the 1,400-metre walls seem to close overhead, with farms clinging to ledges that appear reachable only by ladder. Waterfalls come down in dozens. Stand at the bow, wear everything you own, and let your camera give up on capturing the scale.
Over the hills to Bergen
From Gudvangen, buses run to Voss ($8-10, 40 minutes, partly through the vertiginous Stalheim valley); Voss is Norway's adventure-sports capital if you want to add a day of rafting or paragliding. Otherwise, hop straight onto the frequent Voss-Bergen train ($15-20, just over an hour).
Bergen deserves two nights: the crooked wooden warehouses of Bryggen, the fish market (browse, but eat your splurge meal elsewhere), and the Fløibanen funicular ($15 return) — or the free 45-minute walk — up Mount Fløyen for the view over seven mountains and the sea. Rain is a near-certainty; Bergen gets over 230 wet days a year, and the city looks better glistening anyway.
Go May-September for ferry schedules and long daylight. Budget $90-120 a day with dorms and supermarket discipline. Expensive, yes — and worth every krone once.
