The Magical Northern Lights!
We flew to Bergen, weighed down with 2 suitcases each (we needed to be fully prepared for the cold!) and stayed for 2 nights at the Clarion Collection Havnekontoret. A nice enough hotel in a great location, though it wasn’t really our style.
Now, Bergen is one of the rainiest places on the plant and we duly arrived to grey skies and rain. Next morning, however, we woke up to clear blue sky and sunshine and it remained like that for the rest of our stay. I was surprised to find that a lot of cafes have outside seating even in January – and it was lovely to sit outside (under a heater!) in the sunshine.
We had a good wander around for 2 days and went up the funicular for some great views.
We knew that Norway is expensive and we quickly discovered that eating and drinking costs at least double what it does in the UK, but hey, we were on holiday!
On day 3 we boarded our Hurtigruten ship, the MS Finnmarken for our 6 night coastal cruise northbound from Bergen to Kirkenes. Hurtigruten operate each of their ships as a combined passenger ferry, cargo transport and cruise, but onboard it felt just like any other cruise ship. Beautifully appointed, clean and with friendly crew. We had booked a suite with a balcony and we were more than happy with the size, the space, the amenities and the comfort. We even had tea and coffee making facilities in the cabin which is unusual for a cruise ship.
We stopped regularly at various towns along the coast – usually for only about 15 -30 minutes (even during the night), but each day there was a longer stop of 2.5 to 6 hours where we could get off and either do an excursion or wander around under our own steam. The shorter stops are for loading and unloading cargo and letting A-B passengers on and off. There are also some excursions available from the shorter stops where you get off and rejoin the ship at the next port later. We got off in Alesund, Trondheim, Bodo, Tromso and Honningsvag, and also did a Meet the Vikings excursion where we got off in Stamsund while the ship sailed on to Svolvaer where we got back on after “meeting the Vikings”. This trip was really good – I was worried that it would be a bit touristy but it was not at all – it was such fun and very informative and included lots of food and drink (mead!).
My favourite stop was Tromso – somewhere I’d definitely like to return to for longer.
Food was excellent on board (probably the best food I’ve had on a cruise) although there was very little choice at dinner. Breakfast and lunch were vast buffets, and dinner was waiter-service.
We were so lucky with the weather – most days were clear blue skies and calm seas, albeit getting colder the further north we went. And the scenery got prettier as we went north, as it became more mountainous and there was a lot of snow on the ground. The highlight was getting to see the Northern Lights four nights in a row, the last night’s “show” being particular spectacular! This was way, way beyond my expectations and such a magical experience. The Crossing of the Arctic Circle ceremony was also great fun, with King Neptune “coming on board” and pouring ice cubes and ice water down everyone’s backs (not compulsory I must add!).
On arrival in Kirkenes, we got transferred to the Kirkenes Snow Hotel, and we did a very exciting dog sledding trip here, racing over a frozen lake (which I swear I could hear creaking underneath us!!). Those dogs do like to run fast, especially around corners! We had booked an ice room but also had a warm cabin as a back up – and yes, I'm afraid we slept in the cabin! The sleeping bags you get for the ice rooms are quite tight and don’t allow much movement and we felt we’d get more sleep in the cabin!
The Snow Hotel is very pretty and the ice bar is a real wow factor, but everyone does a tour of all the ice rooms and takes pictures anyway so there’s no real need to actually book an ice room to sleep in if you really don’t want to. I wouldn’t have missed the Snow Hotel for the world, it is a unique experience, although I did find the place a little laid back and disorganised, and there was a set timetable – 5pm meet as a group for tour and briefing, 7pm is dinner, 9pm the ice bar opens for half an hour, then there’s not much else to do but go to bed.
After our night in the winter wonderland we flew to Oslo (where we saw the first FALLING snow of our trip) for our stay at the Hotel Continental. This has got to be in my top 5 favourite hotels in the world – everything was perfect. A grand hotel with a very classy but unpretentious feel, nothing too much trouble for the staff, everything spotlessly clean, and the location couldn’t be more central. Short walking distance to a huge variety of bars, restaurants and shops, the Royal Palace, the Parliament building, the harbour. Fantastic!
Would I go again? – absolutely! I one hundred percent recommend such a trip, so do let me know if you fancy following in my footsteps and I can tell you more – I just don’t have enough space here to tell you everything.
