This trip was supposed to be one of the most expensive ones in our lives. But I will share the full amount for 2 people with a few considerations: we took buses and public transportation and we cooked a lot in our Airbnb’s and pensions we rented. In total, we spent 2161€ in total in flights and hostels or airbnb’s for 12 nights, and we spent 1276€ in total in public transportation, eating and entrances to some places. From which 553€ in public transportation and 283€ in supermarket shopping, 211€ in restaurants and 50€ in cafe stops. The rest goes to ticket entrances and other concepts.

Day 1 and 2: Tromso

We used Tromso as a connection point in order to go to Lekness and to see the furthest northern city in Europe. It was really rainy and we landed at 1:00 at night, but there was still light, the sun only goes down for a couple of minutes up there and it doesn’t go away completely. We took an express bus to the city, which was 220NOK. It was the only choice at that time.

The next day we went shopping so we could cook in our airbnb and took a nice walk around the city. We considered visiting Polaris, where you can see how seals are fed, but it looked really childish (plus, we don’t visit spaces with animals in captivity). We took a walk to the botanical gardens, where there are plants from the craziest places in the world.

Day 3: Trip to Leknes

We woke up at 6:20 in order to take the first bus to Leknes. We used the app Troms Billet and Norland Billet. The combination was: Tromso- Bjovik (number 100 for 730NOK), Bjovik- Svolvaer (number 300 for 730NOK) and Svolvaer-Leknes (number 300 for 310NOK). The trip was gorgeous, the landscape is amazing and what you would expect from a northern fjord-filled country. We took Leknes as a base camp in order to visit all the nice spots in Lofoten, which are many. Also, it is the best connected area in Lofoten, all the buses stop there and it has enough stores. We staid in a caravan, the cheapest option there and managed to sleep quite well and cook a lot.

Day 4: Reine and Å

We took the bus to Reine as we wanted to hike the top of its hill, but the day was really misty and couldn’t see a thing. It took us 1 hour to go up and 1 hour to go down and it had about 2000 steps, it’s completely feasible.

After Reine, we took the bus to Å, your typical fishing island town in Norway with red cabins and sticks with fishermen working on their fish. Right there, we discovered that black coffee usually includes free refill.

Day 5: Haukland Beach

We travelled to Haukland beach the only day the bus line drove there, so be mindful of the buses working days as it may change your plans. We took the 765 bus to Haukland beach from Leknes and it was only 20 minutes. From there, we laid on our beach towels and sun bathed a bit, but the Arctic water was cold enough to scare us away from swimming. We hiked all the way up to the Haukland’s hill and had the nicest view of the beach.

Day 6: Trip to Bergen

We went to the nicest airport ever, the one in Lekness, which was a picnic waiting area outside the airport with its grass and picnic tables. As the weather was really nice, we stayed there for a bit before our flight with a very small plane with helix, which held less than 80 passengers. From the airport, we took the tram to the city for 80NOK both with the Skyss app.

That evening in Bergen, we took a walk in the harbour and the Brygge and had dinner in the harbour food stalls. We had a salmon burger and a whale steak.

Day 7: Bergen

We tried to have breakfast in a café in Bergen but the coffee was really burnt and we didn’t like the offer, so we found our way to eat properly. We took a tram to the Stabkirche Fantoft, a black church which follows the old viking style architecture and it’s quite impressive to see. The entrance is 70NOK per person, so in order to make profit of it, I recommend that you enjoy the inside if you pay the ticket.

We also had lunch at the food stalls in the harbour and it was a reindeer kebab and, from there, took a few buses to Tysedall (Trolltunga). We booked the Trolltunga Guesthouse as it’s the closest one to the trek’s main entrance.

Day 8: Trolltunga (Tysedall)

We woke up at 5:30 in order to close our backpacks and get to the bus stop. Be mindful that there are 2 buses that you must take and they aren’t cheap! The first bus, which goes to the P2 is 200NOK per person, but you could go there with your car or bike, but parking it there has quite an expensive price (500NOK for a car). The second bus is compulsory for everybody (at least on the way up) as it’s almost 6km of a very steep road in zig-zag. The trek is quite demanding and, in a good day, you could do it in 6 hours, which is what we did even with the rain. We packed almost 3 litres of water but 2 were more than enough and a couple of sandwiches. The way up is demanding and be careful if it’s wet and slippery with the rain or the mist. In our case, as it was raining quite a bit, there wasn’t a huge line for people to take their pictures at the main photospot, the end of the trek.

From there, we took a bus to Odda, where we were supposed to take the next bus the next day.

Day 9: Stavanger

There isn’t much to do in Odda, so we spent our time having a coffee and took our buses with Skyss the first time (Odda to Etne), from Etne, all buses must be taken with the Kolumbus app. From Etne, we took a bus to Haugesund and, while these 2 buses costed 80NOK, the one from Haugesund to Stavanger, was 820NOK because it takes a ferry and no other bus does that journey.

Once in Stavanger, we took a walk around the city and were gladly surprised about the amount of swans there were in the city in comparison with the many seagulls we saw during our previous days.

Day 10: Preikestolen

Thanks to our Airbnb host, we got very confused with the directions on what to do to get there without paying 400NOK to get there. We took the bus 100 in the Stavanger Busstasjon to Jorpeland with a 24hour ticket in Kolumbus and it was 110NOK per person. But after Jorpeland, we had to walk for 2hours on a road all the way up to the starting point of the Pulpit Rock trek, which had us quite exhausted to start with. The trek is mildly easy and it can be done in 1 hour up and 1 hour down, but as it’s so close to a city and the weather was nice enough, it was full of people. If we knew then what we know now, we wouldn’t have done it, it was quite annoying to treck with so many people around.

The bright spot was a beautiful café we had on our way down to Jorpeland (this time it took us 1:30 hours), Lysefjorden Sjokolade. It’s a chocolate store, but they also had coffee and we had the most delicious doughnuts.

We picked up our stuff, had a burger in the harbour and went to the train station to take our bus to Oslo. We booked the cabin, so we could sleep in bunk beds more comfortably, it left at 22:35 and arrived at 7:35 right in Oslo’s city centre.

Day 11: Oslo

We were a bit tired from the train and wanted to have a shower, but had to wait until our pension allowed us to get in, so we had a nice breakfast with double coffee (it’s like a coffee soup, you must always order the double). The breakfast was 190NOK for the both of us and we went to the Opera house, which is in the same area as the Much Museum. The ticket for the museum was 320NOK for both and it’s quite cool as it’s quite interactive. The only thing you must consider is the time when The Scream is exposed, as it isn’t always open to the public due to conservation reasons.

We had lunch at the nicest place: The Bar Code Street Food, just by the Gamle area. You can order food from around the world for less than 200NOK and the decoration and mood there is quite colourful and fresh. After our shower, we went to the Dauchsman Library, which is incredible, its design and the facilities are amazing. We had dinner at a very nice asian place: Dojo.

Day 12: Oslo

This was our last day and decided to spend it walking around Rodelokka (we wanted some specific waffles, but the store wasn’t open) and ended up walking all the way down to the centre to B. W. Samson, a bakeri chain that’s really delicious, and it was 270NOK for quite a big amount of food, we loved it. After that, we tried to get shopping, as there are many nice stores and then took the train to the airport. Very important to take the right train, as it can cost you 3 times less as the express train and it takes just the same amount of time to get there. Always take the one belonging to VY.

Below a list of our biggest percentage of spent: the big transportations and stays:

Costs:

• Flights to Oslo: 440€
• Flight to Tromso: 133€
• Airbnb Tromso: 150,3€ x2 nights
• Airbnb Lofoten: 195.07€ x3 nights
• Flights Leknes-Bergen: 575€
• Airbnb Stavanger: 70,81€
• City Hostel Bergen: 102€
• Trolltunga Guesthouse: 98€
• Trolltunga Fjiordview Odda: 105€
• Oslo Cochs pensjonat: 85,95€
• Night train Stavanger – Oslo: 200€