Norway is just one of those places that ticks every single box for an overlanding road trip.
Endless wilderness, dribble worthy hikes, rugged peaks and too many empty beaches to count... Warm in summer and a snowy wonderland in winter, it's hard to name a reason not to go. We were lucky enough to spend a month driving along the mountain roads and all the way up to the Lofoten Islands in the North. I'm sure most people would always wish for more time on adventures like this and there are so many things we didn't have time to see, but one month is definitely a good amount of time to see most of the things on our HUGE bucket list.
Summary of Costs
There is no escaping it, Norway is an expensive country to visit. But the beauty of travelling with your own camper is that you save so much money on accommodation, which is usually the most expensive part of any trip. Below is a quick round up of all our costs for one month's worth of travel for two people, one dog & a thirsty ol' Land Rover. (We also go into more detail further down)
- Fuel: £1211.17
- Eurotunnel/Ferries/Tolls to Norway: £519.74
- Ferries in Norway: £129.07
- Food: £382.35
- Wine & Beer: £72.23
- Petrol Station Coffee & Snacks: £104.93
- Eating out: £59.73
- Accommodation: £103.56
- Parking: £27.37
- Activities: £34.53
- Offsetting Our Carbon Emmisions: £16.13
TOTAL: £2660.81
Detailed Breakdown of Costs
All these costs are for two people travelling in one vehicle.
Fuel: £1211.17
Considering we covered over 9000 km's and countless hours of driving, just over £1,200 doesn't feel too terrible but we could be wrong. We aren't really sure if this is great fuel efficiency or not but, to be honest, seeing as we plan to do a lot of travelling in this car and this is the fuel efficiency we've got, maybe we don't want to know... 😆
Eurotunnel/Ferries/Tolls to Norway: £519.74
This includes our Eurotunnel return ticket from Folkestone to Calais (£135 each way), the cost of the Puttgarden to Rødby ferry (roughly £75 each way) and the Øresund Bridge toll (roughly £50 each way).
Ferries in Norway: £129.07 (including 4-hour Lofoten-Bodø Ferry)
Most of the ferries we took were in south Norway, navigating all the fjords. Avoiding them would be more hassle than it's worth but we didn't realise how little they run during off-season. We missed one ferry by 15 minutes and the next one wasn't for two days time. We always checked the timetables online after that.
Food: £382.35
Good food is our biggest weakness. I'm sure this cost could be cut down but this is how much we spent on huge breakfast feasts and campfire food fit for kings (and queens of course). Also, when you divide the cost by the amount of days then it comes to around £12 a day, which isn't too bad for 2 people.
Wine & Beer: £72.23
Pretty self explanatory but our advice to anyone driving to Norway through Europe would be to stock up on alcohol in France or Germany. We didn't do this and suffered the consequences of eye wateringly expensive wine. But we bought it by the box which definitely helped.
Petrol Station Coffee & Snacks: £104.93
This is slightly embarrassing, but travelling over 9000 km's in one month definitely requires caffeine. After calculating this cost, we are brutally aware that we need to figure out a good coffee set up in the Landy. Right now we only have a Moka Pot and they are hard work to clean, which makes the takeaway coffee too tempting. Does anyone have any tips for getting really good espresso on the road?
Eating out: £59.73
We rarely eat out as it's not really something that tempts us. We prefer cooking for ourselves as we have total control and can enjoy a good view while munching down on a halloumi burger. We also just LOVE cooking. This cost is actually for the times we bought takeaway pizza or noodles, during the gruelling drive home to England. After 12 hours on the motorway in a Defender, cooking loses its charm..
Accommodation: £103.56
Every 10 days we booked an AirBNB to thaw out after sleeping in minus temperatures in the back of a Land Rover. We made sure they all had washing machines/dryers so we could wash our clothes and we also took the opportunity to thoroughly clean all our kitchen things and of course, ourselves. If we were travelling in summer, we would probably avoid this cost all together but in winter, outdoor showers would be painful.
Parking: £27.37
The one that no-one wants to pay but sometimes it's just unavoidable. Most popular hikes in Norway have a day parking fee and we also paid for parking during our days exploring around Bergen and Trømso.
Activities: £34.53
This was the cost to take the Cable Car in Trømso. You can hike up and down but on this day the walk was closed because of so much snow!
Offsetting Our Carbon Emmisions: £16.13
Finally, we know we don't drive the greenest car and we rarely talk about our passion for sustainability in fear of sounding extremely hypocritical because yes, we know the Land Rover is a diesel guzzling machine. But we love this planet so much and are so grateful to be able to travel it the way we do... so if we can do anything to lower our impact just a little then why not, and for only £16?! Yes we know carbon offsetting isn't perfect and we're constantly looking for the best way to do this but for now we use CarbonFootprint.com!
Norway in Winter
After buying our Defender in the summer, an overloading trip to Norway was all we could think about. We've always loved frosty weather and jumped at the idea of experiencing a proper snowy winter.
We travelled through Norway in late October through to mid November. This truly is the off-season in Norway and you understand why when you're there... it involves A LOT of rain and wind. A few years ago we spent a week driving around the Faroe Islands during the Off-season and fell in love with travelling at this time of year. It can feel like you are one of the few to brave the crazy weather, and there is real excitement in that.
However, it does have its downsides. You don't have many daylight hours in October/November as the country is transitioning into winter and the polar night. In northern Norway, the sun was setting at 2pm. It's not all doom and gloom though, because this brings the possibility to see the Northern Lights!
As we got further north and winter really kicked in, we were definitely grateful for our diesel heater. It made the inside of the Defender quite cosy considering there was only thin sheets of aluminium between us and temperatures as low as -16°c ☃️ If you plan on camping in Norway in winter, even though though are quite expensive, we highly recommend getting one!
Wild Camping
If you're thinking of taking your camper to Norway then you've probably already heard of "Allemansrätten", but if you haven't then strap in! Allemansrätten, which translates to "Everyman's Right", is basically summed up as 'the freedom to roam'. It's this beautiful concept in Scandinavia that everyone has the right to enjoy the wilderness, and can make the most of public lands for recreation. Amazing right? This was the main reason Norway was the top of our list for our first trip with the Defender.
Of course, this comes with the expectation that you will respect the nature & always leave it exactly how you found it. This way, everyone can continue to enjoy these amazing places and enjoy the same freedom for the foreseeable future!
We mostly used Park4Night or iOverlander to find amazing camping spots, and we stayed in some seriously beautiful places during our Norway trip thanks to these apps.
Norway Travel with a Dog
Our trip was pre-brexit so please please check up to date travel requirements before you go, they can change these things any time! We've found asking our vet and checking governments websites have been the best for getting the most up to date information! 🐶
We had no issues when travelling around Norway with Henry and we're pretty sure he loved it too, judging by his constant excitement for absolutely everything. Daily adventures also meant that when we did have longer drives to do, Henry would easily just sleep through the entire thing (definitely jealous 😍).
One thing we encountered was that they are definitely not as dog-friendly in places like restaurants & shops, which meant we had to sit outside if we ever wanted to eat out or have a coffee. It's not really something we think personally affected our trip as we don't tend to do that kind of thing very often, but in Tromsø we actually ended up renting an amazing dog-friendly AirBNB which Henry could sleep in (after big morning adventures to tire him out) when we wanted to take the cable car to the panoramic restaurant or go out for a nice drink.
Other than that, the main reason we went to Norway was for the wilderness & amazing hikes, which is definitely something Henry enjoys...maybe even a little more than us.
One month, two people, one dog and a Land Rover Defender... 9348km's travelled!
OUR ITINERARY ⚡️
To see our full Norway Itinerary with every where we stopped along the way, click on the button below!
July 27, 2020
Like!! Really appreciate you sharing this blog post.Really thank you! Keep writing.
August 26, 2020
Thank you!!
October 18, 2020
I always recommend you have filtered water to your espresso regardless of what machine you’re using.
A coffee grinder is a must if you want the freshest tasting coffee possible.
Having that perfect mug of coffee will not need to need you to step foot in the cafe.
November 17, 2020
Yes totally agree! We recently bought a Wacaco hand held Espresso machine which we love for the road, although we’d still prefer an actual machine. Nothing compares…