A road trip through Scandinavia (Part 1)

My summer holidays in 2023 took me through Sweden, Denmark and Norway. After a late-July conference in Berlin, I embarked on a trip where I would use rail, boat, cycle, car, and plane transport (in that order). Exciting, no? To make it even more exciting: I only booked hotels one or two days in advance. Those who know me well will know that this is absolute madness. Why did I do that? How did it work out? Read on! (Or skip to the second part.)

Preparation

It all started in 2019 with me wanting to go on an Interrail trip through Scandinavia. I downloaded the route maps and started sketching out the various connections, how long they would take me, and what parts of Sweden and Norway I could cover.¹ For a virus-shaped reason, this did not pan out.

Fast-forward to 2023. Life had moved on, but I still had the notion that I wanted to do a trip through Scandinavia. Fortunately, there was a window of opportunity: The week after the We Are Developers conference in Berlin. My thinking went, I’m already halfway there, so why not go all the way?²

So, I did what I do best. I busted out a spreadsheet and tried to cram in as much activity as possible into nine and a half days. My initial plan was to take the overnight Snälltåget from Berlin to Copenhagen. However, track construction works on just that weekend foiled that plan.

After consulting a panel comprising Scandinavian experts, I arrived at the following itinerary:

1. 🚆 to Rostock
2. ⛴️ to Trelleborg/Malmö
3. 🚆 to Copenhagen
4. ⛴️ to Oslo
5. 🚗 and ⛴️ around Norway (the actual road trip)
6. ✈️ back to Munich

In order to prepare for our at-the-time upcoming three-week trip to India, I only booked my transportation in advance, but not the various stops in Norway. This made me anxious (as mentioned, I’m more the spreadsheet kinda enby).

So without further ado, let’s get this party started!

First leg: Berlin 🚆 Rostock ⛴️ Trelleborg/Malmö

My ship (TT Line) left Rostock at 22:15, so I had ample time after the conference ended on Friday. I arrived early enough in Rostock to visit the shipping museum, where I was apparently the only visitor. The (also only) staffer was super friendly and immediately started asking me where I’m from,³ apparently surprised about a Friday-late-afternoon visitor. The place was nice, and I’m glad I stopped there.

Afterwards, I walked around the old town and harbour and had dinner, before realizing that I actually had to leave quite soon for the ferry port. I was supposed to be there between two hours and half an hour early (so between 20:15 and 21:45). Well, turns out that both of the bus lines going to the port run only hourly, but not spaced evenly (they leave within a few minutes). I ran to catch a bus that would drop me off there at 19:45. What a close call!⁴

Fortunately, there was neither Wi-Fi nor decent cell reception at the ferry terminal, so I was browsing through my hiking guide.⁵ Since this was my first time on an overnight ferry, I was legitimately excited.

Right on time – half an hour before departure – a bus picked up all pedestrian passengers and brought us to the Akka.⁶ I found my cabin, took a shower and immediately went to sleep.

After sailing uneventfully across the Baltic Sea (proper), I was awoken by a PA around 05:00 and took a walk around the ship. We arrived around 06:00; I disembarked and headed for Trelleborg’s train station. When planning the trip earlier, I had considered doing a little sightseeing in Trelleborg, but on a Satuday at shit o’clock, there’s really nothing to do in that town.

Fortunately, one of the Swedish experts, a friend I met in Vilnius at a conference in May, offered to pick me up at a suburban Malmö train station at around 07:30. I think that day will go into history when the stereotype about Swedes not being hospitable was finally proven wrong. We went on a cycling tour along the Swedish side of the Öresund strait, all the way to Malmö’s castle and city centre. I had already visited Malmö a few years prior and checked out the eclectic Malmö Museum, so we skipped that one.

After around 20 km of mostly flat cycling, we returned to my friend’s home and had a good brunch. Some Swedish stereotypes held up, though: The young daughter engaged in the national pastime of speaking perfect English and complaining about the Danish language.

Second leg: Malmö 🚆 Copenhagen ⛴️ Oslo

After this wonderful morning, I boarded the train to cross the Öresund strait, check into my train-themed hotel, and meet one of the Danish experts. On a whim, we decided to go watch Barbie in a cinema painted pink not for the occasion, but since 1989. We walked past Elmo riding a motorbike and bought ourselves some tickets. Shortly after the film started, a staffer walked in, said something in Danish, and everyone got up and left. Thankfully, Asta told me that it was a fire alarm.⁷ After a while, we were let back in, though, and could enjoy some more pink on the inside of the cinema. We finished off with some Indian food in Copenhagen.

Very tired after a long day, I returned to the hotel and immediately fell to sleep. After all, I had some great plans for the next day!

Sunday came about and after sleeping in, I realized I had forgotten something: I hadn’t booked any hotels in Norway yet. So I did that, which means I finally knew where I would sleep two nights later. Really living on the edge here, I know.

I made my way to my friend Marek. He lent me one of his bikes,⁸ and we embarked on my second cycling tour on the trip. Just as we got started, it started to rain, then pour, then rain again, then sunshine, then rain again, then pour again. The plan was to follow along the Mill River, but after reaching the starting point of that route, we decided to take refuge in a café.

Around 15:00, the skies cleared up for good, so we once again got on our bicycles, but as we couldn’t be bothered with the original route, we just did a tour through Amager. We followed the beach facing the Öresund (so, exactly the opposite as the day before), passed the airport and arrived at Dragør, a picturesque town popular with tourists. On our way back it became windy and drizzly again, but as luck had it, we were almost at our final destination for the day: Reffen, an area sporting an impressive selection of international cuisines and brightly-coloured beer cans. Despite the weather, it was bustling with people (for good reason, as the selection is fantastic). At some point, we moved inside, tried another set of weird beers, like a non-alcoholic Riesling (yes, grape juice in a beer): I initially thought 🤨 but after tasting found it to be 🤌.⁹

The aborted first and impromptu second tour amounted to a little over 50 kilometres, so I figured we made the best of the day anyway. I went back to the hotel and checked out late the next morning.

The next day (Monday) I checked out the Danish Design Center and learned a thing or two about Danish architecture. Sadly, my plan to meet a friend for lunch fell through because my stomach got upset. There was little else for me to do except make my way to the DFDS terminal to board the Crown Seaways, taking me to Oslo via Frederiskhavn.

Boarding the ship was chaotic: We were allowed on board already quite some time before departure, but the cabins were not ready yet, and there was no spacious common area. This meant that the halls were packed with people and their luggage, which did not seem entirely safe (I don’t think there could’ve been an orderly evacuation in case of emergency).

The ride would take a lot longer (19 hours) than from Rostock to Trelleborg, so we set sail at 15:00, to arrive the next day (Tuesday) at 10:00. On board, there was a maritime researcher looking out for sea mammals. Apparently, a few dolphins and whales are loitering in the Øresund. (I failed to see one, though.)

I went to bed early after a nice dinner on board. This time, I woke up before the PA and snatched a few pictures of the Oslofjord, including the narrow Drøbak Sound. Also, I splurged on Wi-Fi and planned my route for the day, as well as booking the next hotel (for the next day).

The ship arrived right on time and I disembarked, setting foot into Oslo for the fifth time. Never had I dared venture beyond the relative safety of Norway’s capital, but fear shall reign no longer, for I will finally conquer the Norwegian countryside! But first, I had to hop on a bus to get to the car rental.¹⁰

Imagine my surprise that I could not pay for the bus ticket by card. The driver waved me through, though. I got off the central station and thought, well, I can surely buy a ticket here for the follow-on subway ride. Imagine my surprise that there were no vending machines at all.¹¹ This led to the following exchange with one of the Norwegian experts:

I’m now wondering whether I should get some cash to be on the safe side 🤔

Wildest sentence written in Norway in a long time. 😅

To my inconvenience I had to go to one of the ubiquitous convenience stores to finally obtain my ticket. Fear shall reign no longer!

Third leg: Road trip through Norway

At last, I was in temporary possession of a car, a cute little VW (I know nothing about cars). The day is now Tuesday, and I wanted to complete a round trip through the southernmost provinces (Vestland, Rogaland, Agder, Telemark). With little time to spare, I departed from Oslo.

Tuesday: Oslo → Sogndal (Vestland)

My route for the day took me along the picturesque roads 7 and 52 towards the Sognefjord, or rather, one of its branches, the Sogndalsfjord. I got lunch about one hour later: a Norwegian interpretation of a Kebab that set me back about 200 NOK. This reminded me about the prices in Norway; I did not dare eat Kebab again in Norway (not just because of the price, though).

I had about 270 kilometres ahead of me. I did not plan any hike for today, which gave me time to stop at multiple places. The next one was at Lake Krøderen, where I took a swim. It was almost 20 °C outside and the water was definitely warm enough to be enjoyable; and the area was nice and quiet with only few other people around.

One hour later, I stopped again because I spotted quite the high waterfall. I checked the map, and it turns out that the Hydnefoss actually has a drop of 475 m. Not bad for a random find! (Especially since Hydnefoss means Hidden waterfall.¹²) I drove up close and snatched a few pictures, but did not venture further.

Further up the road, I had to exercise great restraint not to stop every five minutes. The route was just that scenic. I did make one more small stop before my destination for the night, near the Eldrevatn (Older lake) in the Mørkedal (Dark valley).¹³ Look at the pictures and judge for yourself.

I arrived shortly after 18:00 at Fodnes to take a short ferry ride across the Lærdalsfjord. Another first for me: driving a car onto a ferry and then off again. I closely observed the Norwegian experts in front of me. Not satisfied with what I had seen, I stepped out of the car and asked the driver behind me. They assured me that everything was fine, and that the fare would be automatically deducted through the transponder in my car. It was very convenient; so convenient that nobody could in fact tell me how much it would cost.

Anyway, the entire experience was super smooth and after a short fifteen minutes, I continued on the road. Around 19:00, I had reached my destination: a quaint hotel in the village of Sogndalsfjøra. I grabbed a quick dinner, because I would have to try to catch an early ferry the next day. I also booked my hotel for two days later (having already sorted out the next day’s hotel in the morning while on the ship).¹⁴ After driving a little over 300 kilometres, I was properly exhausted.

Wednesday: Sogndal → Saurdal → Bergen (Vestland)

I left the hotel at 07:00, skipping breakfast. At the time (July/August), I was still doing a special medical diet anyway, which excluded egg, milk, fish, and various other products. As you can imagine, this is not naturally compatible with the average hotel breakfast menu. Therefore, I mainly survived on Wasa and salami. (It also gave me a convenient excuse to not try Scandinavian cheese, which is not known for its culinary value.)

At precisely 07:45, or ten minutes before departure, I arrived at the ferry terminal in Hella, for another short trip of less than ten minutes. I got the feeling that the ferry system in Norway is like a well-oiled engine. Much to my surprise, some of the ferries even run on battery-electric engines.¹⁵

I arrived at the starting point, the Saurdal car park, around one hour later. To reach it, I had to take a turn off the country road and follow a winding gravel road. I had to stop in front of a gate that presumably said “keep closed” (in Norwegian). Even though I was in the backwoods, there was a (local) car in front of me, so just like the day prior, I could follow their lead. I could not tailgate them all the way up to the car park, though, because they just disappeared somewhere at a fork in the road. So I was on my own to follow the instructions from my GPS.

A few kilometres uphill, at the car park, there were again signs of life. A few other people were there, mostly camper vans, mostly Germans, mostly still asleep. I did not reveal myself to them as a fellow countryenby and went on my merry way towards Saurdalseggi. The route first took me through a dense birch forest. However, the guide book’s promise of nice views over the Sognefjord did not hold up: It was foggy for the entire ascent. I was the only one around the entire time. There was only very little wind, which meant it was eerily quiet, save for a few birds and waterfalls.

The route was very unusual to me. At times, there was no obvious footpath and at a certain altitude, I kept having to walk across snow fields. As mentioned, there were no other people, it was foggy, and no landmarks (except for two abandoned huts). I’m not sure if I deviated from the specified GPS track, or if the specified GPS track deviated from reality. Finally, close to the projected target of the route, I ended up having to climb across some gorges. It’s a bit hard to put into words what I felt: not exactly to be exposed or in danger, but rather, a ghostly solitude. The kind of solitude that makes you think about life.

Just as I started to become philosophical, I spotted a communication tower. That one was actually described in the guide book. I was on the right track after all. Maybe it was just not the beaten track, but the true one?¹⁶

At 11:30, or about two and a half hours of ascent, I decided to stop where I was, have a Wasa with salami, and enjoy the view. The fog was kind enough to evaporate, so that I could get a clear view of the fjord after all. And what a view that was.¹⁷ In bright sunshine, everything looked much better. I even saw a few fellow hikers when I went back down.

My mood, being inversely proportional to the fog, had improved considerably, so the onset of drizzle didn’t concern me in the slightest. Shortly before 14:00, I arrived back at the car park. There was a bit more activity there now. I rested for a moment, because I had a four-hour drive ahead of me, bringing the total for today to 250 kilometres.

On the drive along the Sognefjord, I could not resist stopping once more to go swimming. I found a beautiful spot right off the road 55, opposite the small island of Kvamsøy. I ignored a gigantic sign that said that swimming was forbidden; I was not the only one, either. While yesterday’s swim was in a lake, today’s was in a fjord – way up though – so it was noticeably colder. It was still a comfortable 20 °C outside, so it felt quite nice.

After this brief interlude, I was ready to board another car ferry (the third one, if you’re keeping track) in Larvik. I could tell that I got closer to Bergen, because now there was a line and I had to wait around 20 minutes.

I used the short ferry ride to refuel on snacks and drinks, which is an amenity that most ferries that I took in Norway provided. I got off in Oppedal and drove another two hours towards Bergen; initially on a bit of a boring route, but finally along Osterfjord. Once again, I had to stop there to take in the beautiful, cragged shores of the fjord. It was also a bit challenging to drive there: I took a turn to see a village, but struggled to turn around later on the narrow, curvy roads.

I eventually arrived in Bergen in the evening. My hotel was close to the Vågen harbour, so I could stroll around the busy historical city and buy some souvenirs. I had some Indian food and was planning to go to sleep pretty quickly. But not before securing myself a hotel room for Friday, keeping my headway of two days. Realizing that I actually had a lot of distance to cover on the weekend, I sat down to plan out the final stages. I even booked my hotel room for Saturday already, completing the entire journey. Now I could sleep easy.

To be continued in Part 2.