Eliise Nurk

Family trip to Norway!

I reached out to kimkim to get an idea on how to plan our trip. I was put in contact with Eliise, one of kimkim’s local specialists. She was always quick to respond and came up with several options on excursions for my group. It took us several months to finalize our trip and Eliise was there to guide us from beginning to end. She was open to our suggestions for hotels too.

Fenne was great to work with as well. Always quick to follow up and respond. Rufo the local emergency contact was amazing. He was extremely patient and quickly to follow up with questions and suggestions.

Thank you all. We definitely could not have planned this trip without your assistance and guidance.

Our trip started with a few hiccups all related to KLM which had nothing to do with kimkim. We arrived into Oslo spent a night there and started our train ride to Bergen early the next way. Best idea. Although the trip started early in the dark we enjoyed a lovely local breakfast on the train. The attendant in the cafe was friendly and helpful. As the sun rose and the beautiful scenery came to view we were all left speechless. The colors, the clear water had us escaping from Houston. We changed trains in Flam and enjoyed more scenic rides all the way to Voss. Unbelievable is all we can say.

We finally made it Bergen. Checked into Scandic Byparken. Hotel was ok. Apparently they have an old section and a new section. Some of my group ended in the new section which were bigger and better rooms. I would definitely pick another option for the hotel. Breakfast was good though. We took the Fjord cruise. Spectacular doesn’t even describe our experience. The stories of the trolls 😀 and the views were unbelievable. We returned and enjoyed an amazing meal at the wharf near Bergen Brygge. The freshest seafood I have had in a long time. Even tried the local fish soup. Very tasty.

We took the tram to the Seven Mountains. It was quite windy up there but again spectacular views if the city. Completely surreal.

Next day we took a flight to Tromso. The Paris of Norway. Radisson Blu was a great hotel.

First stop was Magic Ice. It was a cool experience, but you could tell it was a common tourist attraction. Nothing very impressive. There were some pretty nice sculptures.

At the recommendation of staff at Magic Ice we went to dinner at La Famiglia. Do not go there. The food was extremely salty and very basic flavors. The best item was their reindeer burger. Everything else was subpar. Not worth the money we spent.

We were scheduled for the Winter Fjord Cruise on a yacht but had yo cancel. Half our group got sick due to food poisoning. It sounded like a great trip.

Our next excursion was the Aurora Dinner Cruise. Going into the cruise we were informed that there is a low chance we would see the Northern Lights since it’s been a cloudy day so our hopes were not too high. Meal was good and the tour guide was really entertaining. The cruise staff took good care of us. About an hour into our trip the captain spotted the special clouds. We all went upper deck and to our surprise got the opportunity for some light Northern Lights. After a few minutes they were amazing. We were so happy to have experienced the Northern Lights. We returned back after completing our meal.

Next morning was our trip to feed the reindeer and get to know more about the Sami culture. Tried the reindeer soup. Different. Needed some flavor very bland. Our local tour was great. Loved the stories he shared.

We came back to the hotel and rested to prepare for our Northern Lights chase. We drove for about 2 hours out of Tromso and made our first stop. Again concerns with the weather preventing us from finding the Northern Lights. Our first stop we waited around and saw some lights, beautiful but not spectacular. The crew was waiting to hear from other team members if they were finding anything. Unfortunately they hadn’t had any luck. After enjoying a local warm drink of Ribena and cookies our tour guides decided to head towards Finland. We were about 1 1/2 hours away from Finland. We got there and watched the sky. After about 20 minutes what we saw left us speechless. The dancing of the lights across the clear skies and it was beyond imaginable. We were able to check off an item off our bucket list. I can still feel what I was experiencing when I saw the lights. No words can describe that feeling. You just have to experience it. And it was time to head back after enjoying the lights dance around us after a couple of hours.

We started our morning leisurely the next day. Took the taxi and rode the cable car up the mountains. It was cold!!! We enjoyed a light snack in the cafe and headed out to look at the amazing views. Tromso did not fail either. We came back down and visited the local cathedral. It’s a beautiful church. That evening we had scheduled a trip to the sauna and did the arctic plunge. What an exhilarating feeling and experience. You should do it once.

We found a restaurant close by and enjoyed some tasty tapas.

Unfortunately our last day in Tromso we had scheduled the whale safari. The trip was cancelled due to weather. Thankfully kimkim issued a full refund on the excursion. We ended up having a free day and spent our time shopping and exploring the city. We went to the oldest pub in Tromso and enjoyed some good ale and tried Aquavit.

We had dinner at Mathallen. Amazing experience. Food was fresh and flavorful. Make reservations early. Seating is limited.

It was time to return back to Oslo and head back to Houston.

Overall it was a great experience. Thank you kimkim for the memorable experience. Will definitely work with you for our future adventures.

Next time we plan a trip we will be more mindful of the early activities. It was a vacation for us so doing things a bit more leisurely would have been nice. We felt we were on a tight schedule.

Hotel Reviews

Scandic Byparken

Bergen

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotell Bondeheimen

Oslo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Norway in a Nutshell Tour

Norway

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Mostraumen Fjord Cruise

Bergen

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Fløibanen Funicular Experience (Tickets Included)

Bergen

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ice Gallery Experience

Tromsø

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Winter Fjord Cruise in Tromso

Tromsø

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Northern Lights Dinner Cruise

Tromsø

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our trip to Norway was a wonderful experience. Hotels were well located, close to centres of towns and close to departure and arrival points for tours and public transport. All accommodation was clean and comfortable.
The excursions and day trips which Eliise recommended were relevant interesting and operated smoothly and all our tickets were accessible and easily presented to the tour operators.
The only small disappointment was the view from our hotel in Bergen which did not match expectations or other hotel views. Although the room was clean and comfortable standard room the only window looked out on to a brick wall dominated by a huge aluminium heating duct. An upgrade which we would have been happy to pay for was not possible as all rooms were fully booked.
However the overall experience with kimkim was positive and well researched, giving us a trouble free holiday in a beautiful location. Eliise recommended a sea eagle experience in Lofoten which was one of the highlights. Thank you very much to the team at kimkim for organising such a beautiful holiday in a truly spectacular country.
Regards Jenny Baxter

What a fun and beautiful country! We really enjoy the outdoors, and kimkim and Eliise provided excellent adventures for us. We saw Bergen, explored Stavanger, and canoed then hiked up a secluded trail to overlook Pulpit rock. We highly recommend the tour!!

We loved Norway. I was impressed by how convenient all the hotels were to all of the activities at each location- i.e. The Scandic Byporten was so convenient to the train, and centrally located to the museums. My favorite hotels were the marina apartment hotel in Flam because of the incredible Fjord view, how it was out away from the main part of town, how quiet it was at night and their restaurant, as well as Gudvangen because of how quiet it was at night, their delicious Fish restaurant and fantastic pizza restaurant and the Viking village and trail to Bakka. The Scandic Voss was great because of its convenient location and the beautiful sauna they had.
My favorite activities were the Floating Sauna in Flam and the ebike ride in Voss. Our ebike guide, Daniel, at Outdoor Norway took us on a fantastic route with varied terrain and taught us a lot of Mountain biking techniques. We enjoyed the kayaking and our guide, Kelly, who was very knowledgeable, but the level of the kayaking was too easy for us. Although it was an enjoyable trip and lovely to be on the Fjord. The Stegastein Viewpoint was incredible, too! We loved it all. The Flam Railway was great, too. I would love to return and experience the Flam Railway when it's less crowded to enjoy all the scenery.
Our initial room at The Scandic Bergen was a dark and noisy room on the airshaft. We were able to request a different room that was on a higher floor and on an outside wall with a nice, little balcony. What a difference! At every hotel the breakfasts were delicious 😋. Thank you for everything! We enjoyed our Kimkim experience.

We really had a good time. Elise was fantastic and on top of everything.It rained quite a bit, but that made the waterfalls more spectacular. We did the bicycle ride ride after we hiked dow from the gondola ride in Voss and it as quite fantastic. We also loved the floating sauna in Flam. We were disappointed with our room in Bergen and we had words with management, but that had nothing to do with Kimkim. So overall we thought it was a great way to see Norway. If the Kimkim team would like to suggest a trip through Denmark, Sweden and Norway for about 3-4 weeks at the end of next summer that included all the same activities, I'd love to hear about it. Thank you again.

Michael and Tamara

Hotel Reviews

Scandic Byporten

Oslo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Flåm Marina

Flåm

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Gudvangen Fjordtell & Apartments

Gudvangen

A bit run down, but easy access to some wonderful sights. Wishing it was easier to rent bicycles there.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Easy access to someamazing waterfalls.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Scandic Voss

Voss

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Scandic Torget

Bergen

It was busy. The staff was the most rude here. Theye put us in a back facing room that stank of Chinese food from the restaurant behind us. Also there was construction going on and the tube for the debris ran next to our room so every 15 minutes there was a loud rumbling right past our window and a crash of glass and bottles into a dumpster. I asked to move and the young assistant gave me a hard time, but eventually gave us a better room and it made a difference.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to the train up the hill, although we walked up.

Staff

One of the staff was a bit rude. The other was very superficiaL.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Private Fjord Sauna experience

Norway

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Summer Kayaking Tour

Flåm

Some inexperienced paddlers and younger childre limited how far we could go, however it was still a nice experience.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Norway in a Nutshell Tour

Norway

Wellput together overall. The Scandic chain was very nice and accomodating overall.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Stegastein Viewpoint with a bus

Norway

Wonderful lookout. Wild ride!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The driver was excellent at manuevering his bus.

Transport

Viking Day in Gudvangen

Gudvangen

Fun

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

N.A.

Gondola Ride in Voss

Voss

Fogged in and couldn't see. We walked down.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

E-Mountain Bike Guided Tour

Voss

The guide was excellent.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide was excellent.

Transport

Return to Oslo, Explore

Oslo

Neededmore time in Oslo.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The trip was well planned!

Activity Review

Overnight Hike to Trolltunga

Odda

This was an incredible experience. We almost missed our tour due to a lack of communication with our bookings team and Kim Kim. We were told we were with Trolltunga Adventures and the tour started at 11:30. We were actually booked with Trolltunga Active, who start tours at 10:30. We were not told about the parking situation at the base of the hike. We had reserved parking we were not told about in P2 with a paid shuttle to P3. Due to this, it was a hassle to race up the mountain and find our correct group. If not for the amazing tour guides at Trolltunga Active and the humorous shuttle driver, we would have missed out on our favorite part of Norway. We are still trying to get our pictures from the tour guides at Trolltunga Active and have asked Kim Kim for help but have made no progress.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Eliise came up with a great itinerary for us and Fenne did a wonderful job booking hotels, ferries, etc. This was our first experience with kimkim and we were extremely satisfied with the service. We will certainly work with them in the future with other travel adventures!

Elise made planning the trip so easy. She gave us great suggestions and was happy to make any tweaks that we wanted. All the excursions that she arranged we wonderful and all the hotels booked were good and were always close to our arrival/departure point which minimised the dragging of luggage. The itinerary provided was very clear and easy to follow. The guides for the excursions were very informative. Overall I would have no hesitation in recommending Kimkim. Thank you Elise for everything

Hotel Reviews

Zander K Hotel

Bergen

Very comfortable centrally located hotel. Good sized rooms and excellent breakfast

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to station and centre

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Large rooms. Coffee machine in room

Kviknes Hotel

Balestrand

Gorgeous hotel overlooking the fjord. Comfortable rooms and great food.

Authenticity & Character

Lots rooms to sit and overlook the water

Location

Right by the fjords and close to the boat

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Augustin Hotel

Bergen

Centrally located hotel near the harbour. Good breakfast although it does get crowded. Rooms are very very small. Not much in the way of public areas. Unfortunately there is building work right next to the hotel so woken at 7 am each day

Authenticity & Character

Not much in the way of character- lots of grey

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Ventilation system was noisy

Activity Reviews

Cidertasting & Lunch/Snack

Balestrand

Fabulous experience. Very interesting introduction to apple growing and cider making by the owner followed by a cider tasting and wonderful lunch. Would highly recommend

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Gondola Ride in Voss

Voss

Gondola to the mountains above Voss. Lots of hikes once up there and great views. There is a restaurant at the top

Quality of Experience

Transport

Great Summer Waterfall and Fjord Tour

Voss

Day long waterfall and fjords tour. Part was guided and was very interesting and informative. The end part of the tour - returning via Bergen to Voss was on the long side bus and train taking 2.5 hours

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Knut - the guide was excellent

Transport

It was overlong at the end

The itinerary planned for us by Elise was great. We never had to travel too far to.our hotel from.the train or Ferry. We woukd not have known about some of the activities e.g the cider tasting with fantastic food at Balestrand.

Hotel Reviews

Kviknes Hotel

Balestrand

Gorgeous views, the most peaceful place I have ever been. Good breakfast, nice staff

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Augustin Hotel

Bergen

This is a fairly basic hotel but is very central. Decor is grey, very narrow corridors, some rooms are very small.The ventilation is noisy so.i could not sleep.the first night. However the staff were very responsive when I.mentioned this and they gave me a new room which was quieter.

Authenticity & Character

Everything is Grey..walls and, carpet

Location

Cental

Staff

Responsive

Cleanliness & Comfort

Rooms small

Zander K Hotel

Bergen

Good location, central. Pool and Sauna

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Cidertasting & Lunch/Snack

Balestrand

The cider and the food were lovely, and interesting talk re history of cider making in Norway

Quality of Experience

Food

Great Summer Waterfall and Fjord Tour

Voss

The waterfalls were fantastic, and I really enjoyed the film at the nature centre. However there was no time for lunch built into the day and there was a lot of travelling. I suggest cutting some activities out and including tome for lunch as it was a very long day with very little food!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Grest to.hear background on Norway

Transport

Very long day with many changes of Bost, bus and train

Gondola Ride in Voss

Voss

Great views from the top and lots of hiking trails

Quality of Experience

Transport