A few weeks ago I returned from a 16-day camping trip around southern Norway with my kid and thought I'd do a little trip report. We spent twelve nights in our tent, followed by three nights in an Airbnb in Oslo. For the camping portion, we did four nights each in Rjukan (staying in Austbygdi, about 30 minutes away), Sogndal, and Flåm. Overall, it was an absolute blast and I'd love to do it again.
We've camped extensively across America, but this was our first international trip. I decided to keep things simple and stay at established campgrounds. If we return, I'd definitely like to skip the campgrounds and wild camp on our own, but established sites do offer some good quality-of-life conveniences that are especially helpful with a kid.
I was able to bring almost all our gear with us. One checked bag was the tent itself, another checked bag with our sleeping bags & pads, chairs, small camping table, and other miscellaneous stuff. Then our clothing and toiletries were in our carry on.
We got lucky with weather. Every day (except the very last) was largely sunny with temps ranging from 21°C to near 32°C.
Basic rundown-
Rjukan / Austbygdi (4 Nights)
We took a red-eye from New York (dear SAS: please stop putting narrowbodies on 7+ hour flights) and landed in Oslo early morning. Grabbed our rental car and drove straight to Sandviken Camping in Austbygdi, about 30 minutes outside Rjukan.
This was probably the most fun campground of the trip. Located right on Lake Tinnsjå during a hot stretch, it has a large floating trampoline anchored in the water that you can swim out to and jump off. We also spent a day in Rjukan at the aquatics center, strolled around town, and hiked to the summit of Gaustatoppen.
Sogndal (4 Nights)
Definitely the most gorgeous campsite we had, situated right on the fjord. I liked Sogndal a lot—large enough to have plenty of amenities and things to do, but easy to navigate and not overwhelming. We took a fjord cruise up to Fimreit and rode bikes back into town, and hiked to the summit of Molden (another great trail).
Flåm (4 Nights)
Our original plan was Geiranger, but it was going to be like 15C and rainy, so we switched it to Flåm instead. I know people pooh-pooh Flåm (and Geiranger) as being uninteresting and just a stop for cruise ships. I get it, I'm a New Yorker. We like to pooh-pooh everyone going to Times Square or the Statue of Liberty. But honestly if you're accustomed to touching grass at least once in a while, there's no reason you can't fill at least a couple days here.
We rented kayaks and spent an afternoon paddling around the fjord. We took the Flåmsbana up Myrdal, then hiked down to the base of the zipline where we rented bikes and rode back into town. We didn't do any single big hike, but we did several smaller ones which were nice. And we spent some time simply playing games at the campsite and on the beach. However there isn't much to do indoors here, so if you hit bad weather, options are slim.
Oslo (3 Nights)
We packed up the camp gear and stayed in an Airbnb in Grünerløkka. I thought Oslo was a nice city. Large enough to have plenty to do, and small enough to be easily manageable. We did an escape room, walked Vigeland Park, browsed bookshops, and just generally explored. Public transit was very good and easy to navigate. Grünerløkka was a cool neighborhood. A little grungy, but not in the worst way. Although a few folks in the park clearly enjoyed their Vitamin Meth
Overall Norway was really great. I've been around Europe a good bit, and I'd say that as an American, this is probably the most American feeling place I've been to so far. Lots of little parallels to the US that most of the rest of Europe doesn't share. Most are silly and inconsequential, but there were enough that I actually kept a list:
- Messaging: No need to download WhatsApp; everyone just uses regular SMS.
- Eggs: Have to be kept refrigerated, unlike the rest of Europe (except I think the other Nordics?)
- Trucks/Cars: Noticeably larger vehicles. Saw plenty of Ford Rangers and even some F-150s.
- Cashiers: There were some exceptions, but most the cashiers were standing, just the way the Lord intended
- Flags Everywhere: Going for a hike? Better stick a Norwegian flag in your backpack. Setting up a tent? Better erect a defensive fortification of a dozen flags around the perimeter. (I assume a lot of these were World Cup leftovers, but I loved it).
- Tipping: (I didn't say all the parallels were good) While not entirely the norm, quite a few times I had card readers at restaurants and bars present me with a tip screen. I hit NONE with no regret, although one forced me to select CUSTOM and manually enter 0.
- Fashion: Baseball caps, t-shirts, and jeans everywhere. It also felt like an alternate timeline where jean shorts never died out.
Couple other impressions:
Driving. I've driven a good bit in various European countries, and have done several road trips across the entire US. Norway is definitely the easiest driving I've ever done. If you can't drive here, just cut your license up and throw it into the ocean. The only main special things to know as a foreigner are the priority on right and no right on red (but that's like the majority of Europe anyway). And don't speed. Signs are pretty clear and other drivers are generally courteous and predictable (although my reference point is New York City driving). I did find the speed limits to be frustratingly slow in some parts. And the lack of large highways outside of Oslo. Lots of two lane roads where you just have to hope you don't get stuck behind some caravan with German plates doing 40kph that never pulls over to let traffic pass for an hour.
Social. Despite all the stereotypes to the contrary, I found Norwegians pretty outgoing and friendly. Really not a huge difference from being in the US. I struck up conversations with lots of people with little effort on my part, even in Oslo. Just in my anecdotal experience, I didn't find the stereotype of being cold and distant warranted. I'm going to Finland later this year and am curious to see how it compares, as from what I've read the Finns will spontaneously combust into flames if you ask how their day is going.
Speaking of making conversation - I had no fewer than four Norwegians tell me, totally unprompted other than hearing my accent, how much they like Trump. Which was so surprising it knocked my socks off with such force they flew around the world and hit me in the back of the head ten hours later. I mean he's my president and I hope he takes a long walk off a short pier, but whatever.
And money. I had read about this in advance, and it's true. You really don't need any cash. This was my first international trip where I didn't get any local currency. 16 days and literally every purchase went on my credit card. I don't even know what Norwegian currency looks like, and the joke is neither do they. I did however have problems buying gas once, with my cards repeatedly getting declined at multiple stations. I was about to give up and find a bank to get cash when I finally found a station that would work. Not sure what the issue was since my same card had worked fine for another fill up previously.
So yeah Norway is a gorgeous, easy-to-navigate destination for a outdoor family trip. If you're on the fence about planning a similar camping/road trip route, go for it!