For once, the hype was justified.
The Oslo to Bergen railway is often held up as one of the greatest railway journeys in the world. Naturally viewing that claim with a certain dash of cynicism, I set off from Oslo S with my dear friends Chris and Graham ready to be wowed.
I was wowed.
Have you ever seen scenery so spectacular your stomach turns a little, so wowed that mother nature could have created something so beautiful, so peaceful that it makes you think everything is going to turn out okay?
I have now.
Chris is a master wordsmith. His description of the journey betters anything I could cobble together and his photos aren't so obviously taken on a phone through a train window like mine. So I advise you to go read it. Now!
Little did we know as we spoke of how this was the most beautiful thing ever that in fact, we were seeing the pre-amble to ascending Europe’s highest mountain plateau where the beauty was cranked up to 11. Here, the mountains were dusted with snow, the lakes were half-frozen and it was hard work getting back on the train, such was the desire to just explore the area, move into a wooden hut with a grass roof and marry a woman called Helga.
He got very excited on the train… look!
You can buy a one-way ticket in advance from a spectacular 199kr from the NSB. That's only about £22 GBP for a 6.5hr journey, REMARKABLE. Oh, and it's most definitely worth paying 90kr to upgrade to NSB Komfort where it's quieter and more comfortable.
Enjoy, I know you will 🙂
Thank you for the lovely comments! You are blates kind. Thanks for giving me the chance to go on the journey as well. It was wonderful! X
we want to do this trip (well, I certainly do), and I know my parents do as well. NRK showed the journey (real time) on TV a cpl months ago too
(You can get it on DVD, but sadly no English subtitles – was going to be a Christmas present for my Mum)
I have been to Norway several times and have been completely and thoroughly blown away by the beauty that is everywhere. I live in Hawaii and Norway is far more beautiful. Trondheim to Bodo is also a fantastic ride. I want to live part-time there beginning next year and am leaning Norwegian now.
I recommend you to take the train ride simply referred to as Raumabanen. It goes through a large part of Møre og Romsdal (Åndalsnes is where I entered the train) all the way to Oslo. It is by far the most beautiful train ride I have ever taken (I haven’t travelled Oslo-Bergen by train though, only by car, it was a spectacular journey). It takes you through fjords and over mountains where you can see an almost turqouise little river flowing in the dramatic landscape, meeting the fjord around the “edge” of the mountain. It takes you to Dombås in Gudbrandsdalen where you have a spectacular view, there you have to change trains (either to Oslo, or you can also go to Trondheim etc. if you wish – of course, it would be sort of stupid as you just went the opposite way from Trondheim). I can’t really explain it, it was amazing. There were a lot of tourists on the train and they were glued to the window. I think they actually thought I was crazy when I fell asleep halfway through it because I was so tired, seeing as I then missed some of the best scenery of the journey.