Rounding up a 4.5* experience :)
Norway
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Aug 15 - Sep 3, 2023
Anna did a great job planning a 17 day trip for our first time in Norway. She was responsive and easy to communicate with, and was on top of (most) everything. Overall we give her 4.5*’s and are very happy, but will list a few of the things we wish had been different just to help others with their trip planning. We loved the Flor and Fjaere gardens and dinner, and the fjord-side floating sauna, and the unique accommodations at Aurland and Fjaerland. Anna kindly called and changed our rental car pickup time for us when we determined we’d need to leave earlier due to ferry schedules, and helped us change hotel nights a couple of times when our plans changed and upgrade hotel rooms once requested. 90% of the stops, hotels and activities were spot on. We could have used a bit more guidance on the rental car situation in Stavanger with our early start needed on a Monday morning due to ferry times (should have rented from downtown instead of the airport at the least or asked if they could deliver the car, which our hotel concierge checked on once we arrived, due to needing to leave early and rental agency being closed on Sunday). Also, our train from Dombas to Trondheim had been replaced by a bus – not at the last minute it appears – and this journey then took 3 hours longer than expected, which it would have been good to know about in advance so we could adjust our dinner reservation. Scheduling a kayak excursion on the morning of a departure isn’t recommended… we were already checked out and would have been wet and salty with no way to take a shower before getting on the road. Given that we wanted to hike, it would have been nice to have Anna mention some of the more famous and/or better hikes (like Trolltunga and Aurlandsdalen) so that we could stay at a place more convenient and/or schedule those hikes (we had a 5am wakeup call for Trolltunga, AND the reserved parking was gone by the time we checked this, plus The Rosendal hotel is tired and the meal there was the worst of our trip, and our day in Aurland had a much milder hike/bike tour scheduled that was too easy for us, though meeting our guide Anders was great). We would have changed the stay in Alesund to Geiranger so that we could do a proper hike and get away from the hordes of cruise ship crowds both in Alesund and Geiranger. The train ride from Andalsnes to Dombas is one the prettiest we’ve ever been on; we would come back to explore this area and hike there. Norway gets a 5+ and KimKim/Anna a 4.5 – very happy with our trip. Thank you!
Hotel Reviews
Really really fantastic staff, so solicitous and helpful with recommendations and arrangements.
Great location, great room service for the night we stayed in, surprised there was no luggage assistance for this level of hotel.
This is a tired hotel and the restaurant meal was really mediocre (actually the steak was inedible, but the sauteed veggies were yummy). They did make us a nice packed lunch and had it ready for our very early hiking start.
we had a nice room here and it's a very good central location, but there's no parking, even to unload your bags, and as i was sick, my husband left the car for 10 minutes to take the bags up before going to the parking garage, and got a ticket. Hotel staff should make more of an effort to facilitate this process for guests.
Love this family-owned and run sustainable property. Just know you're getting a place with character which isn't always convenient or the most comfortable... low ceilings, small, leaning stairway, small room and bathroom. But.. everything else about the property makes it worth staying at.
This is historic and charming hotel with a lovely 'story' behind keeping this small town alive, but you have to know that the comfort suffers a bit. The highlights here are the staff (especially Inna and the chef), the food and, of course, the spectacular location with a gorgeous sun room to relax looking out onto the fjord. Fjaerland Guiding, just two docks down on the fjord, has a spectacular floating sauna experience that we loved, and a darling local young woman who hiked with us one (rainy) day. The breakfast was fantastic. The rooms are small and cramped with leaky shower/tub, and the beds/mattresses need to be upgraded. Glad we came, but wouldn't need to come back.
Activity Reviews
One of our favorite activities in Norway!!!! so gorgeous and extensive and exotic and well done, and the meal was really good; tour and service were outstanding. Best fish soup we had (and that's a high mark) on our entire trip. Highly recommend.
Sooooo crowded... but so worth it.. given that it was our first spectacular iconic Norwegian 'top of the mountain' view. Knowing what we know now, we'd find an alternate, harder to get to/harder to hike, hike, so there wouldn't be so many people. but glad we did it at the time.
One of our favorite things - sauna/jump in freezing fjord... repeat several times. Love!
The only thing that could have made this better would have been to stay in Geiranger instead of Alesund so we could aovid the cruise crowds and go do a longer hike in this stunning area. Geiranger is a must-see in Norway
it was rainy the day we were scheduled for this, so we didn't do the bike ride and didn't do much hiking at all. BUT, our guide Anders was really really great and we learned a lot and would hike with him again in better circumstances.
Our guide, (Sigrid?) was adorable and did a good job. We got some rain off/on and only a few minutes of seeing the view with the clouds moving in/out at the top, but it was still gorgeous. The down however was extremely treacherous, very steep and slippery, and wouldn't be recommended for most on a wet day.
Hi Shauna and Mark!
I really appreciate you taking the time to write a review and thank you so much for all the kind words! I am so happy you had a good time and made some great new memories. Sorry not all of the individual parts were not spot-on for you, but glad it for the most part was to your liking!
Best wishes,
Anna