North from Kristiansand

[Mart75]

Taking ferry from Hirtshals to Kristiansand for a trip to Norway in July. Any thoughts on the most fun / beautiful road north - whether to head around the coast and up toward Bergen or whether to take a more inland route like the RV 9?

Thanks

 

[Bob Jeffries]

Head up to Lysebotn, stay in a cabin at the bottom. Book the ferry down the fiord to Preikestolen early, its small and gets booked up quickly. Don't bother with the Atlantic Road, in reality it's disappointing.

 

[Mart75]

Head up to Lysebotn, stay in a cabin at the bottom. Book the ferry down the fiord to Preikestolen early, its small and gets booked up quickly. Don't bother with the Atlantic Road, in reality it's disappointing.

Interesting - the Atlantic Road is the thing everyone seems to head to.

 

[Bob Jeffries]

It's only an ok(ish) road, not worth going out of your way for. All the spectacular photos are either taken by drones or in wild weather. The reality is that is just a series of bridges with one that's a bit of a "hump" in the middle. There are many, many better roads in Norway.

 

[Sven-E]

I enjoyed the coast route between Kristiansand and Stavanger. That Atlantic road is spectacular. Lots of ferries. Take the inland route if you are in a hurry, but then why are you going to Norway?

 

[Bem]

Don't bother with the Atlantic Road, in reality it's disappointing.

Thank heavens, I thought it was only me that thought it was a bit of a letdown.
But I did enjoy turning up at small ports and finding ferries that ran like clockwork!

 

[Mzokk]

Taking ferry from Hirtshals to Kristiansand for a trip to Norway in July. Any thoughts on the most fun / beautiful road north - whether to head around the coast and up toward Bergen or whether to take a more inland route like the RV 9?

Thanks

Hi I did these routes from Kristiansand in 2005 very scenic



I took in, off the top of my head
Lysebotn
the Voringfossen
Briksdal Glacier
Geiranger The ferry to Hellesylt is not to be missed. Or the Flydalsjuvet Viewpoint. Dalsnibba was closed due to snow as we went in the first week of June.
Trollstigen
The site of the Real hero's of Telemark at Rjukan i.e the Vemork hydro plant were the Germans produced heavy water during WW2
You are welcome to the GPX files if they would help.


This is myself and good lady Wife on the ferry to Hellesylt. Note that we are both wearing heated vests. These were a godsend as the (Many)tunnels can be cold and on the higher ground you can still be riding through snow. But it can be 20C at the bottom of a Fjord. Warm on the ferry here but about an hour or so later we where here.



Also a helmet with a flip down sun visor would be good. My old Arai in those days didn't have one and many of the tunnels are unlit and some you enter below the snow line and emerge above it. A couple of times I had to pull in to let my eyes adjust when I came out of a tunnel into a white out

​

 

[Mzokk]

PS I'd only just turned 44 there......I had a hard paper round!

 

[Mart75]

PS I'd only just turned 44 there......I had a hard paper round!

Thanks for the info - and great pics. Interesting what you and Bob say about the Atlantic Road. Many people suggest the Lofoten Islands as unmissable which obviously takes you north up the Atlantic Road. We're planning to head back via Oslo - just wandering whether you would go for the more inland route north from Kristiansand rather than the coast if you were going one way. If you're happy to share GPX files that would be great - I'll PM you.

 

[Hann]

The Atlantic Road is a bit short, short but spectacular. It`s a bit out of the way if you`re not planning on routing through the west coast just to do it, though.
What isn`t short is the Laerdals Tunnel - i think it`s still the worlds longest road tunnel at 24.5Km. That`s more central and might be worth a detour if you like tunnels!





The Trollstigen to Sylte road - still plenty of snow in June....



I`m going back to Norway very soon actually, but on a boat....

 

[Mzokk]

Thanks for the info - and great pics. Interesting what you and Bob say about the Atlantic Road. Many people suggest the Lofoten Islands as unmissable which obviously takes you north up the Atlantic Road. We're planning to head back via Oslo - just wandering whether you would go for the more inland route north from Kristiansand rather than the coast if you were going one way. If you're happy to share GPX files that would be great - I'll PM you.

Hi I suppose my only advice would be to go to the places you want to see. The Atlantic road wasn't on my radar at the time but bob obviously did it and wasn't impressed. In some ways i'm not surprised as the interior of Southern Norway is very mountainous and spectacular. I've visited the Alps, Dolomites, and the Pico's and would put the scenery in Norway above all of those. The Scenery is a bit like North West Scotland on Steroids. I had a list of things I wanted to see and do (mainly from advice on here and a Lonely planet book of Norway). A bit of that list is mentioned in my earlier post. One of the things I missed was walking up from the Preikestolen hostel (were we where staying) on our second morning to Pulpit Rock above Lysefjorden.....but the cloud base was about 400m and they didn't want anyone falling off Geiranger Fjord is spectacular but might be very busy in July when the cruise ships will be in. My routes kept me out of the Cities in Norway. Just a personal thing I'm not a fan of busy places.

 

[knutk]

In addition to all the well known places, there ar also lots of smaller detours along the way that may be well wort seeing if weather is good and time permits.

I find Google maps a bit lacking when it comes to depict the smaller roads properly.
For more details (but with no planning tool) I prefer to use these maps:
norgeskart.no and
Finn maps
as they show more details and makes it easier to see smaller roads.

Both maps offer detailed pictures, based on low-level areal photos rather than satellite pictures (but not streetview) where you can get a good idea of the road surface etc. Most of the time the pictures are rather fresh and updated (they spend all summer taking areal photos).

When it comes to road numbers, as a rule of thumb: Roadnumbers with 3 or 4 digits offer more fun (and less speed-radar control) than 1 and 2 digit numbers.

 

[The Stimulator]

In addition to all the well known places, there ar also lots of smaller detours along the way that may be well wort seeing if weather is good and time permits.

I find Google maps a bit lacking when it comes to depict the smaller roads properly.
For more details (but with no planning tool) I prefer to use these maps:
norgeskart.no and
Finn maps
as they show more details and makes it easier to see smaller roads.

Both maps offer detailed pictures, based on low-level areal photos rather than satellite pictures (but not streetview) where you can get a good idea of the road surface etc. Most of the time the pictures are rather fresh and updated (they spend all summer taking areal photos).

When it comes to road numbers, as a rule of thumb: Roadnumbers with 3 or 4 digits offer more fun (and less speed-radar control) than 1 and 2 digit numbers.

Thanks Knutk, looking forward to coming to Norway in Jun/Jul

 

[Zwerver]

Obvious route would be going north through the Setesdalen and then turn west towards Lysebotn, but the southern coast route over Lindenes and Flekkefjord towards Stavanger is quite nice, as long as you avoid the E39 and folow the smaller roads. At Brusand we camped in the dunes at a sandy beach, which was a first for us in Norway.

 

[Rusty]

When you are up there or upon your return be sure to keep us posted. Norway is on my hit list so I am, like others, always keen to hear from those who have actually done it.

 

[The Stimulator]

Just back from my NordKapp trip. Did the Atlantic Road as part of a day trip from Geiranger; whilst it was a cracking day out, it was quite a long run to get to something that in truth isn’t that stunning. It’s ok, but if you’re tight for time I’d consider other things. Having said that, the fish and chips for lunch from Bjartmars Favorittkro at the eastern end of the Atlantic Road were great, as was the fish soup. Worth booking though, as it seemed very popular.

 

[Rusty]

Glad you made it back ok ... is there a new thread on your trip ? (PS havn't checked yet !)