Magnificent Norway!

• Magnificent Mountains - snow capped peaks, lakes, gorges, rivers and meadows

• Breathtaking Waterfalls, more, more - more than you've ever seen!

• Mystical Fjords, more, more

• Timeless Glaciers

• Land overflowing with incredible nature - the nature spirits are alive here!

• Quaint houses with sod roofs

• Norse Mythology, History & Legend

• Ferry journeys, mountain passes, walking, swimming, and breathing fresh air

• Like a thousand Yosemite's with NO TOURISTS to speak of

• Stave Churches

• Sognefjord - one of Norway’s greatest and most beautiful fjord systems - cuts eastwards some 120 miles inland from the weset coast
  • Balestrand on the magnificent north bank of Sognefjord
    • English church of St. Olav - intriguing wooden church built in the style of the Norwegian stave church
    • Viking burial mounds
    • Visit picturesque Kvikne's Hotel - with its famous 1913 swiss style facade is a well-known landmark in the region

• Beautiful Gaular - Climb the steep Gaular Mountain road (by vehicle) with its hairpin bends and up to a pristine high mountainous area of lakes and waterfalls

• Jostedalsbreen National Park & Glacier - (the largest Glacier on the continent of Europe) - glacier lakes & waterfalls. View one of the most spectacular and also easiest accessable of the many glacier arms - the Nigardsbreen Glacier. Also a visit to the vistor center & museum - Breheimsenteret. Urnes Stave Church - the oldest of Norway's stave churches, is included on UNESCO's World Heritage List. It was built around 1130 AD, but the distinctive carvings on the north portal are from an even older church. The stave churches are unique and are Norway's most important contribution to world architecture.

• Fjaerslandfjord - Ferry journey to Fjaerland; Norsk Bremuseum (Norwegian Glacier Museum); Supphellebreen, more & Boyabreen glacier

• Flam Railway Journey - Mountain rail train up from Flam to Myrdal. The Flam Railway is considered as one of the world's finest railway journeys through unique scenery with high snow-covered mountains, thunderous waterfalls and emerald valley pastures; Panoramas

Tentative Itinerary

Tentative itinerary - depends on flight schedules and accommodation availability

Day 1 Fly into Sogndal airport via Oslo airport and arrive early afternoon. Travel to the Balestrand area for overnight.

Day 2 Introductions & orientation this morning. Introduction to Norse history and folklore and mythology. The Sognefjord at Balestrand is at its widest with 7 narrow fjordarms pointing in all directons. It is an area of glaciers, water, apricot-trees & artists. Local - Viking Buiral Mound, Church - Today time for sightseeing in the town including the English church of St. Olav - a spiky brown and beige wooden structure built in the general style of a stave church (wooden churches Norway is famous for) in 1897. Also we will visits 2 marked Viking burial mounds. Also visit the beautiful Kvikne Hotel. Overnight in Balestrand.

Day 3 Today all-day journey by ferry from Balestrand through Fjaerslandfjord - a wild place. The mountainsides are blanketed with a thick covering of trees extending down to the water's edge. The village of Fjaerland is made up of a ribbon of old wooden houses edging the fjord. It was one of the last settlements on the Sogneford to be connected to the road system. It is also a Norwegian "book town" with a large number of bookshops. We also will visit Norsk Bremuseum (Norwegian Glacier Museum) - learn everything there is to know about glaciers as well as visit Supphellebreen & Boyabreen - areas of the glacier. Arrive back in Balestrand at around 5 p.m. Overnight in Balestrand.

Day 4 & 5 - Travel up and into Gaular with its incredible waterfalls. The protected Gaularvassdraget watercourse flows through the whole area with incredible waterfalls along the way. This water course was placed under permanent protection in 1993, after more than 20 years of battling on whether it should be protected or used for hydro-electricity production Continue on thru mountains and along fjords to Briksdalsbreen, with its easy 45-minute walk to the glacier, passing waterfalls and weaving up the river on the way with incredible waterfalls along the way. This watercourse was placed under permanent protection in 1993, after more than 20 years of battling on whether it should be protected or used for hydro-electricity production. Overnight in this area for 2 nights.

Day 6 Travel to Briksdal Glacier today and then on Jostedalsbreen.

Day 7 & 8 Travel to visit the Jostedalsbreen glacier - an 800 sq. km. ice plateau that dominates the whole of the inner Nordfjord region. The glacier has 234 arms that flow down into the nearby valleys and its Jostedalsbreen glacier that gives the local rivers and glacial likes their distinctive blue-green coloring The glacier is now within a national park system. Glacier lakes & waterfalls. View one of the most spectacular and also easiest accessable of the many glacier arms - the Nigardsbreen Glacier. Also a visit to the visitor center & museum - Breheimsenteret.

Day 9 Early afternoon visit to the Sogn Folk Museum at Kaupanger (Heiberg Collections). This museum shows how people lived from the Middle Ages up to our own time. The open-air museum, with more than 30 buildings, ranges from medieval buildings to modern industrially produced houses from the end of the 1980s. The museum presents exhibitions on agriculture, crafts, food traditions, clothing, holidays and celebrations, boats and fishing equipment. There are more than 30,000 objects in the collection, and the museum also boasts a comprehensive library. If you spend a few hours here you will gain insight into life along the Sognefjord for the past 300 years.

Also today we will visit the Borgund Stave Church

Continue on to Flam area.

Day 10 All day journey to Flam & on the Flam Railway, considered as one of the world's finest railway journeys through unique scenery with high snow-covered mountains, thunderous waterfalls and emerald valley pastures & incredible tunnels. Take the train back down or walk part or all of the way.

Day 11 Free day in Flam area.

Day 12 - Late afternoon, travel towards Bergen airport for journey home on Day 13.

Day 13 - Flight home

Cost: Starting at $3295 plus airfare, per person, twin/double occupancy (other currencies can be calculated); single occupancy available at extra cost
Single Occupancy available at $400 - 700 extra cost, depending on type of room