NORD DMC

They were not informing us of cancelations in Tromso and they were not helpful in plannng The Blue Lagoon and didn't advise us of darkness. Hotels were excellent that bthey booked for us. The 24 hour emergency line person in Tromso was completely useless and seemed annoyed when we called.

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

Key goal - see the Northern Lights, unfortunately we didn't see them as we had hoped with swirling shapes of color and only saw a weak light through our camera lens on 21 Oct 2024. Seems that we missed a great light show on the day we arrived in Tromso, 19 Oct but we didn't have anything scheduled that night. The rest of the trip had cloudy nights with poor sightings. Even though our goal had been the Northern Lights, Norway and it's people definitely made up for it with the country's beauty and the people's hospitality

The following are snapshot reviews by category to help future travelers, especially seniors like us

City Tours -
Private tours are very helpful to adjust endurance as needed. Our guide Lena in Oslo did that because the weather wasn't good for walking and we bought tram tickets to a location where she was able to show us non-touristy areas which is what we requested. There was some confusion with our guide in Bergen, itinerary listed Synnove and when I texted her to confirm, she said she wasn't scheduled but she did get back with us and told us Thomas would be our guide. He met us at our apt but was puzzled as to why we would start our 2 hr walking tour in the outskirts of town when he usually started them in city center. We ended up having to buy tram tickets to get to the city center where Thomas started the tour which of course was less than the two hours but Thomas was very good and actually stayed a little longer. If outskirt accommodations are scheduled, notify travelers and guide to have a plan for transportation and sights prior to starting the tour. Private city tour in Tromso was ample time

Scheduled Tours -
Nutshell Tour - our favorite. Due to the length of time to do it in one day, staying overnight in Flam was a great idea and we think you should recommend it to all travelers. As for the luggage transfer to the hotel in Bergen, the luggage transfer did work but the problem was it not being delivered on time at the Bergen Apt due to logistics issues.

Fjordsafari - 2 hr 15 min was too long for us, very cold and windy, would have preferred a one hour tour
Aegir Viking dinner - too bad we didn't catch it in time but neither of us drink beer, so the 5-course beer tasting with the sampler dinner could have been switched to just a traditional dinner but the atmoshpere made up for it

We had requested a longer stay at Voss but once we arrived we were too tired and found out that an earlier train could be taken by requesting it to the conductor on the earlier train. This would be a good note to advise travelers, that based on availability, they could move up their scheduled time

Hardangerford Express in Bergen - enjoyable relaxing cruise, limited eating and shopping locations during off season
Coastal Scenery Safari in Tromso - conflicting notes on where to meet, Radisson or "from Oct @ Bus Terminal Prostneset but this was resolved by checking with KimKim
Northern Lights Expedition in Tromso - 21 Oct, due to rain sat in mini van for over an hour before getting out to go to down to the fire and wait for the lights that didn't happen. The walk down the wet, slippery embankment was a challenge for these seniors but thanks to two wonderful helpful passengers, we were able to go down and back up to the mini van.

Aurora Husky Visit - still no Northern Lights, excellent staff and our favorite meal on the trip. Tour was listed as "Small Group" but it was actually a full bus with about 40 passengers

Private Transfers - all excellent and very helpful to these seniors

Hotels -
Oslo - Hotel Bondeheimen, good location for walking to key sites and public transportation
Flam - Flamsbrygga Hotel - good location
Bergen - Bjorvika Apartments - good accommodations but logistics to receive keys and not in city center was an issue
Tromso - Specialty Stay-Standard Apts - comfortable accommodations but hike up the hill from the reception area was another challenge to these seniors but we made it. Very friendly staff that helped us at check in with out luggage and offered great waffles between 5-7 pm
Alta - Glod Aurora Domes - interesting change to a typical hotel but not in city center and had to order dinner to be delivered from a restaurant because we arrived too late for their dinner. Our disappointment again was no Northern Lights but we felt this area had too many lights from the office area, to the adjoining buildings making it not very dark
to see the lights even without lights in our dome. We found out later that they offered off site Northern Light Expeditions, so maybe notify passengers of this option

Our disappointment of no Northern Lights continued after we left Norway and stopped off in Iceland for 7 days.....hard to believe, but again no Aurora Borealis..... maybe next time. Thanks to all the staff at KimKim for making this a wonderful trip and we'll certainly contact KimKim again once we decide where we want to go on our next adventure

Alicia & Gloria

Our trip to Norway was organized with care and quality. We had to make a number of changes and KImKim was always incredibly helpful, efficient and understood exactly what we were looking for. thank you to KimKim for an unforgettable experience!

Activity Reviews

Private Floating Sauna Experience

Norway

Quality of Experience

Boat Trip and Dinner at Cornelius Seafood Restaurant

Bergen

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

At the Cornelius the staff was fabulous

Transport