Norway | Route and tips for a train journey with Interrail

Going on an adventure, traveling through beautiful nature, discovering new villages and cities, traveling is something our generation loves. It is becoming more and more normal to fill the backpack and take a few months off. Bee backpacking many people think of destinations as Thailand, Indonesia of Mexico. Still, you can easily look a little closer and backpacking the beautiful Norway to discover! We booked one Interrail train ticket and went out. The advantage: easy travel with comfort in the well-maintained rail network of the Norwegians. In this blog you can read everything you need to know about traveling through Norway with Interrail.

Traveling by train

If you are going on a trip in Norway without a car, I advise you to opt for Interrail. This is cheaper than buying separate train and bus tickets, and it works super easy. We chose this because you can board (almost) all trains throughout Europe (depending on your train ticket) and this gives you a lot of freedom! Visit the NS-International website (view here) for all options in terms of train tickets that you can easily get from The Netherlands can already book. I'm taking you on our Interrail adventure through Norway. Read all the tips and about the route below.

Interrail global pass: 2 months

We opted for an Interrail global pass (see here). This is valid for 2 months. You can buy it directly. The condition is that you start your trip no more than 11 months later. With this pass we could travel unlimited and so you are not tied to travel days. The Interrail Global Pass, with 2 months of unlimited travel throughout Europe, costs €575 per person.

Depending on what your idea is for your backpacking trip, you can also choose, for example, a pass with 7 travel days within 1 month (then you can use the rail pass 7 days a month), or 10 days within a month, 15 days, 22 days, etc., etc.

Advantages of Interrailing through Norway

1. Norway has the very best trains

Wow… the comfort in Norwegian trains is ridiculous! Ridiculously comfortable. We were totally enthusiastic about the trains. First of all, the staff is super friendly. It's not just a 'good afternoon, your ticket please' and on and on, but they take the time for the travelers, take you around the train journey and are helpful. Sometimes you don't even have to ask.

In addition, each compartment has a socket, which is very handy when backpacking. The longer-distance trains also have many facilities that you are not used to in the Netherlands. Think of a café where you can buy snacks, sandwiches, coffee and tea, a candy machine, and sometimes even a play corner for small children.

You also have enough legroom and the seats are comfortable. The toilets in the trains are very clean and spacious. In the Netherlands I avoid the toilets in the trains as much as possible, but in Norway you really don't have to think about that. All this is very nice, because you travel quite long distances in the train.

2. Being on the train feels like an outing

In addition to the comfort you will experience during train travel in Norway, the views from the window are magnificent! Interrailing through Norway is really an attraction. The Norwegians have ensured that the railways are built through the most spectacular areas of the country. The train tracks have been dug right through the fjords and the mountains. This provides amazing views. You will pass wild waters, high mountains, rugged rocks, deep fjords and with a bit of luck you will spot a moose or a herd of reindeer.

You should therefore not only see the train journey as a means of getting from A to B, but as a means of entering the lush nature! It brings you closer to the Norwegian landscapes than you could have imagined. We sometimes made train journeys of 6 to (maximum) 10 hours. This seemed like quite a bit in advance, but time flew by because you are glued to the window.

3. No extra costs

We loved that we had paid the one-off 575 euros for the train ticket at home. This way you keep an overview of what you spend while backpacking and you don't have to think about it anymore. Please note that it is only a ticket for the train, not for the bus or other public transport.

As long as you stick to train travel and do not also go by bus or metro, you have no further transport costs at all. The advantage is that the bus is relatively cheap in Norway. You pay a lot less for a bus ticket than in the Netherlands. If you do have to take the bus a number of times to, for example, your AirBnB or hostel, you will not lose much. Great to combine with Interrail!

4. There are night trains where you can sleep

We didn't do this, not really for a clear reason, but that's just how it turned out. So there are night trains in Norway, where you can book a sleeper compartment and arrive at your next destination after a night's sleep (if you succeed)! Super convenient. A compartment costs about 25 euros extra and you often share the room with three others. You get a lock to safely store your belongings and there is a curtain on your bed that can be closed. You also often get earplugs against the noise.

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Tips for interrail travel through Norway

1. Reserve your seat

In Norway it is not mandatory to reserve a seat on the train (with the exception of a few popular destinations), but it is recommended. Now I have to say, we had an attitude of 'well, that won't be too bad' and this meant that we couldn't take the train twice. After that we took the advice seriously, because we soon noticed that the trains do fill up quickly. It may be quiet at the start of your journey, but it may be different at the next stop. Then someone might come to you who has reserved your seat. There you are!

You can book your train ticket in different ways:

1. At the station at one Entur AS ticket locker.
2. Online through it interrail reservation system. You will get the login details after you have the ticket here have purchased.
3. By telephone by calling the Entur customer service on working days between 7:00 and 23:00, on Saturday between 8:00 and 21:00 and on Sunday between 9:00 and 23:00. These opening times may vary during holiday periods. You can call them on +47 61 27 90 88. You can reserve both a seat and a sleeping compartment by phone, you will receive the ticket via SMS with a payment request.

Take into account the reservation costs. This is always around 5 euros per person.

2. Travel with the 3 railway companies

In Norway, the Interrail Pass is valid with 3 railway companies: VY, Go Ahead Norway en SJ. Almost all trains belong to these three designated railway companies. They are basically the NS en Arrives of the Netherlands, so you can easily travel through the country with this.

I've only experienced one time when backpacking where we couldn't take the train with our Interrail Pass. This was because that train is a tourist attraction, where you also stop at a waterfall along the way.

3. Go to the information points at stations

In the beginning, we sometimes found it quite difficult to find out how we reserved tickets and whether we had done everything right. The stations in Norway, like the trains, are in good condition and you will find the facilities you need. At most stations you will find an information point (I-point), where you will be helped with all your questions. We used this a number of times and the employees easily booked a ticket for us or reserved a seat for us. So, if you can't figure out something about your ticket or train journey: look up the I-point!

4. Download the interrail app

You can plan your trips in the Interrail app. Because you have of course already paid for the train in advance, you do not have an online ticket that you can show after buying it. That is why it is important that you indicate in the app where you are traveling from and where to before you board the train.

You can then check train times, but also add the train journey to your account. The app then creates a QR code that the conductor can scan when they pass by for ticket control. The nice thing about the app is that it saves train journeys, so you can see where you've been in an overview later.

Arrange this in advance, because although you have internet on the train, the range can sometimes be lost in tunnels.

5. Bodø is the northernmost point that you can reach by train

The train takes you to enough places through Norway to make a wonderful journey. But, all the way in the north of Norway, the rail network ends. Bodø (Location here) is the highest point you can reach by train. From here you will have to do it by bus or by boat (ferry).

The advantage is that many ferries are free! So we went on to the Lofoten from Bodo. Here we could go for free with the Ferry. On the Lofoten itself we took the bus a number of times and this costs a few euros. As I described before, the buses are relatively cheap, even though Norway is known for its high prices.

Itinerary

Our itinerary in a nutshell. I will give more information about the route in another blog, but this is our itinerary in a nutshell. The route consisted of the following places:

1. Oslo–Stavanger
2. Stavanger–Bergen
3. Bergen–Andalsnes
4. Åndalsnes – Trondheim
5. Trondheim – Bodo

Also read: Train travel routes through Germany | These are the 3 most beautiful train journeys

To clarify: We are to Oslo flown, but you could also via Sweden to travel to Norway by train. After Bodø so we are still with the boat to the Lofoten gone and back. On the way back we went from Bodø by bus to Tromsø and then to Narvik. From Narvik we could use the train track again and so we traveled on to Swedish Lapland (kirun) to continue our journey through Scandinavia there. The numbered places above are the places that most tourists visit with Interrail in Norway and with which you can take the most beautiful train routes!

Tip: If you're in Bergen don't forget to take the Flam train (Flamsbana) for a day visit to Flam. This is the tourist train I was talking about, which stops at a waterfall. Flam is a great destination for a day trip and the train journey is spectacular! This railway company is therefore not a member of Interrail and a ticket is not cheap. Well worth it!

Closing comments

Hopefully I was able to help you a bit with your future interrail adventure. I have made two trips through Norway myself. The first was backpacking across the country by train (Interrail) and the second trip we were by car. You are of course more independent with a car. You can then stop at any point of interest and enjoy the view. Nature flashes by faster on the train, but you still see so much. In addition, it is a lot cheaper if you are on the road for a longer period of time.

I would definitely recommend Interrailing through Norway! You can of course choose to combine it with other countries. That's the beauty of the Interrail ticket. Do you have any questions or suggestions? Then let us know below in the comments.