BEST OF NORWAY

• Prepare for a spellbinding encounter with nature – an untamed landscape of fjords, lakes and dense forests that begins in the understated capital of Oslo, set within beautiful natural surrounds.
• On arrival, transfer to your hotel with its unique personality and steps from some of Oslo’s main sights.
• Spend the day exploring the city’s interesting architecture and exquisite open spaces, before joining your Travel Director and fellow travellers at 17:30 for a light supper to kick-start your journey.

Arrival Transfer: Depart the airport at 09:30, 12:00, 14:30

• We journey along the shores of the Tyrifjord to the ski resort of Geilo with its scenic location at the foot of Hallingskarvet, before continuing across the Hardanger Plateau to Voringfoss, a cascade of water that plunges impressively into the Måbødalen Canyon below.
• We continue to Hardangerfjord – its title as the ‘Queen of the Fjords’ is well deserved and you’ll have an opportunity to admire its deep blue waters as you travel along part of its shoreline to your hotel in Norheimsund where you will dine tonight.

Included Experience: View Geilo and its Ski Resort and See Voringfoss

• We’ll head out along the fjord to visit the home of famous composer Edvard Grieg, where you’ll enjoy a guided tour of the villa – the inspiration for many of his masterworks.
• You will also see stunning views of the city of Bergen on a trip up the hillside by funicular railway.

Included Experience: Dine with the Øvre-Eide family on their Working Farm in Norway or Bergen Orientation

Optional Experience: Grieg and Bergen Insights

• Delving straight back into Norway’s inspiring natural landscapes, we continue to the ‘King of Fjords’, travelling via Voss, the country’s adventure capital.
• There’s some free time to embark on an Optional Experience on the Flåm Railway, one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world.
• Tonight, we overnight at Sognefjord Hotel located on a peninsula stretching out into the Sognefjord.
• Step straight from your hotel into the breath-taking fjord and mountain surroundings.

Included Experience: Stays with Stories

Optional Experience: Flåm Railway Journey / Fjords and Mountains

• Journey from Sognefjord, Norway’s longest and deepest fjord, to Geiranger.
• See the impressive Bøyabreen glacier, part of Jostedalsbreen, continental Europe’s largest glacier.
• Your day is filled with pinch-me moments as you skirt past three different fjords.
• Tonight, we stay on the shores of the fjord at Hotel Havila Geiranger.

Included Experience: Scenic Drive to Geiranger

Optional Experience: Fjordland Farm Cultural Experience

• The Geirangerfjord takes centre stage today, and you’ll get to explore it your way.
• You’ll certainly want to take a scenic cruise past its tumbling waterfalls and snow-capped peaks.
• Enjoy soaking up your epic surrounds, or venture further afield by joining an Optional Experience to drive Norway’s most famous road, Trollstigen, with its eleven hairpin bends and jaw-dropping mountain scenery.

Optional Experience: Trollstigen Explored / Dalsnibba and the Majestic Geirangerfjord

• We enjoy a scenic drive to Lom, the gateway to the Jotunheimen Mountains.
• Here, we will Dive Into Culture and visit a 12th-century stave church, adorned with runic inscriptions, paintings and carved dragon figures that are said to protect it against evil.
• We continue through the Gudbrandsdal Valley before arriving in Lillehammer, the proud host of the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Included Experience: Discover the stave churches of Norway and Scenic Drive through Gudbrandsdalen

Optional Experience: Treasures of Lillehammer

• We return to Oslo where we spend the day exploring several of the city’s highlights with a Local Specialist, including views of the medieval fortress of Akershus, overlooking Oslo’s beautiful harbour, the Opera and the 19th-century Royal Palace.
• We finish our tour with a visit to the fascinating Vigeland Sculpture Park, proudly displaying the life’s work of Gustav Vigeland.
• After a magnificent encounter with Norway’s epic natural landscapes, we enjoy our last evening together at a Farewell Dinner, toasting to a memorable trip.

Included Experience: Oslo City Tour

Optional Experience: Norwegian Maritime Explorers

• Our journey through the fjords, falls and forests of Norway has come to an end.
• We bid our newfound friends a fond farewell and prepare to return home.

Departure Transfer: Arrive at the airport at 07:15, 10:15