An unreal, fairy tale trip through Norway - thanks Tricia!!
Norway
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Jul 14 - Jul 25, 2024
We had never used a service like Kimkim to plan a trip before, but have had such an amazing experience in Norway, thanks to Tricia and the Kimkim team, that we'll be coming back. Having someone like Tricia give us expert advice and structure our trip around our wish list has been amazing, and she had us doing things we wouldn't have thought of (Flam bike ride, floating sauna, walking tour guide in Bergen, and staying in Hjelle, to name just a few!)
We knew that it could be a busy 12 days in Norway, but the local knowledge from Tricia meant that a good mix of travel, activity and downtime to simply appreciate the beauty of the surroundings was achieved.
And it didn't stop with the planning and booking of everything, it was really nice to have Tricia keeping in touch with us nearly everyday to make sure things were going to plan.
Thanks Tricia, a truly memorable holiday, that managed to avoid the crowds, and had my daughters constantly saying, "this place can't be real, we're in a fairy tale!"
Hotel Reviews
The hotel was nice and close to the central railway station, and well placed for walking through central Oslo, the opera house, and the harbour areas. Breakfast was exceptional! Other than that, it is a typical city centre chain hotel.
This place is very modern, fancy, and ideally situated at the waters edge. Fantastic views, and very very comfortable.
Lovely farmstay type hotel, with comfortable rooms in a converted barn/warehouse. The restaurant cooks amazing set meals (no choice) which were divine, even for picky teenagers!
A nice old style hotel which seems to come from the age of steam trains! Located right beside the main railway station in Bergen, but also close to the main tourist areas. Very helpful and friendly staff. No great view from the hotel, but you are in downtown Bergen!
This wasn't a ferry trip, it felt more like a cruise! Amazing food, comfortable cabins, smooth sailing and scenery everywhere!
We did not expect this apartment to be so amazing. The location is stunning. The apartments are super super comfortable, with our own sauna and all the facilities we needed. Having access to row boats, kayaks, SUPs, and bikes made this seemingly remote location just come alive for us. The one thing I would recommend though, is to get an apartment with a view of the lake, ours didn't which was a little unfortunate. Otherwise, we couldn't fault the place, and would happily spend a week or more there next time!!
Ultra modern, really comfortable, and perfectly located for the stables, and hill walks. The restaurant on site serves amazing food!
Activity Reviews
The trip itself was amazing and not a hard paddle. The guide was brilliant, a lot of humour, a lot of facts, and generally kept everyone entertained!
So good... comfortable, smooth and really well looked after onboard. But the scenery that is going by, steals the show.... it's amazing. So good that I had to get up at 4am to watch the sunrise as we cruised between islands and fjords. Wished we were booked to stay onboard for a week!
The Flam railway was on our list of must do activities, and it lived up to expectations. A great 1 hour train journey. But, the cycling back down to Flam was even better! Great suggestion from Tricia that we would not have thought of. We had such a great morning cycling back down with amazing scenery, waterfalls, tunnels, river, and goats! So good, we wanted to do it again straight away!
Not something we would have thought about doing, but another suggestion from Tricia that hit the mark! John was brilliant at understanding what would be good for us to see, and tailoring his tour and commentary to suit. We saw parts of Bergen we would never have found, and gained a better appreciation for the city away from the tourist areas. The guide, John, has so much knowledge and a really nice and easy going way working with us.
This was an activity for my daughter who is an experienced rider, used to guiding treks herself. She had such a great time with the guide, pony, and the other rider on the trip, and found the whole experience truely memorable.
Thank you so much to you Geoff, Ruth and your family for visiting and taking my advice on the trip! Such a rare and lovely adventure to do the coastal steamer with a road trip, and I'm always grateful when families are willing to go a bit off-beat and explore more than the highlights. You guys were definitely willing to do so - and in an electric vehicle, the true Norwegian way :) I really appreciate your visit and hope you come back someday!