Norway One Month Overland Itinerary
Planning a trip to a country like Norway where there are so many places to see can sometimes feel like an impossible task. We normally start by listing all of our must-see spots and then figure out a route that includes as many as of these possible, hopefully all of them.
This was the route that we took for our road trip and although we didn't get to see everything that we wanted, we still managed to tick off all our top places.
To drive up to Norway we took the Eurotunnel from Folkestone to Calais, then drove up through Europe to Puttgarden in Germany. Here we took the 'Puttgarden to Rødby' ferry which cuts off a fair amount of wiggling around Denmark. We also have family in Sweden so this determined our route. From Rødby we drove to Copenhagen and over the Øresund Bridge. Then up through Sweden to Oslo.
The total driving time for us took about 24 hours, and if you exclude the days we spent broken down in the Netherlands (what did we expect when we drive a Land Rover 😅) then it took us about 3-4 days to Oslo & the start of our Norway Adventure.
This part of the trip is probably the hardest because it involves A LOT of motorway miles & the views aren't particularly desirable, but the excitement of what's to come definitely keeps you going. We did also manage to find some wilder camping spots along the route thanks to Park4Night!
Click here to see the costs of our route up to Norway...
The Norwegian fjords are one of those things that you really have to see to believe. We drove some of the steepest roads we've ever tackled in our Defender & we definitely struggled on some of them 😆 But for a camping road trip, we honestly cannot think of any better country. It's truly stunning.
Some of our Must See Spots for Southern Norway:
One thing worth mentioning is that travelling during off-season meant that we weren't able to do as many of the hikes that we would have liked because the weather was so unreliable. Also, some of the longer hikes you have to consider that you have fewer hours of daylight in autumn/winter which makes them more dangerous, especially as you don't want to get caught out in the mountains unprepared. This definitely had us dreaming about coming back during the summer sometime soon!
There's no way this trip would have been as comfortable without building out the back of our Defender into a cosy campervan! If you want the details of our build... click here!
Did you know Bergen is known as the rainiest city in the world and it rains around 240 days a year!
Well it wouldn't be a true experience if it didn't rain so we wrapped up in our rain coats and away we went! This picturesque city is right in the heart of the Norwegian fjords and despite the weather, it's cute as heck. We parked just outside the city centre and spent a few hours wandering along the bustling streets lines with colourful houses, cute little shops and market stalls.
It definitely felt like a bit of a whistle stop tour but we had many more miles to cover that week to make it up north!
As we started to drive up through central Norway, the temperatures dropped dramatically and with this came snow, and A LOT of it! Our dream for this trip was to see some snow, and to say we achieved this would probably be an understatement. We found out later that this was actually one of the snowiest Octobers they've had in Norway in 20+ years!
We weren't quite prepared for how long this section of the journey would take, especially travelling at a snails pace because of the black ice & insane amount of snow plummeting from above. But the drive across Saltfjellet was one of our favourites from the entire trip. This is also where the Arctic Circle officially starts, and we were lucky to see herds of reindeer everywhere!
After two weeks of sleeping in the Land Rover, with some nights dropping to -10°c, we were relieved to finally arrive in Tromsø where we had an AirBNB booked for a couple of nights. Especially to take advantage of the hot water... oh the luxury! 😍
This lovely little city is actually the northernmost city in the world & when we arrived it felt like a Winter wonderland. We mostly spent our time eating and drinking, exploring around the cute little streets & we also really enjoyed the Polar Museum, learning all about the history of the Norwegian culture and historic expeditions to the North Pole.
A stand out favourite though, was Fjellheisen, the cable car you can take to a restaurant and viewpoint over the whole city. You can also hike up to the restaurant, but the route was closed due to heavy snow when we were there. We paid 218.50NOK each for a return ticket (about £18.50) and the price was definitely worth it - the views were epic, and the wine wasn't half bad either!
Visiting here was our main goal of the trip. Lofoten is possibly the most photographed place in Norway and for good reason. The towering mountains emerging straight from the sea is the stuff of dreams. You have access to so many outdoor activities, whether you like hiking, surfing, climbing or just driving around staring out the window in utter amazement, you're always in for an incredible time.
Some of our Must See Spots for Lofoten:
And just like that, we were sat on the ferry from Lofoten back across to mainland Norway, watching the sunset and wondering how time can go so damn quickly. We won't lie, the drive home was utterly exhausting, Norway is massive. We managed to drive from Lofoten to the UK in 5 days and at the time we fully regretted giving ourselves such little time. We drove around 8 hours a day in the Defender, and well; if you know, you know. But it did mean we got to spend as much time as possible exploring Lofoten and we would do it again in a heartbeat.
As it was winter and we didn't know how icy the roads through Sweden would be, we decided to drive back down through Norway for the route home. But if it was summer, or Leo didn't have to be back at work in 5 days time 😆, we would have taken the grey route through Sweden that you can see on the map.
I'm sure we all wish for extra time on any trip, because nothing ever feels like enough... especially in a country like Norway, where we feel like we only just scratched the surface. But we are ultimately so grateful that we had so much time at all ☺️
