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[chasingmoose]

Despite having 2 young children (ages 5 and 3), we didn't hesitate to jump on an unexpected opportunity to visit Norway in June 2010. We'd like to spend time where Norwegian families take vacation, or otherwise maximize our interaction with families who have young children like our own. We love to hike, swim, bike, travel by train, and we're excited to do what Norwegian families with small children like to do. Any suggestions about places to research further, good books that might cover this topic, any help would be very welcome!

My wife will be at a conference in Oslo in mid-June.

[kathryn77]

As you like train journeys, I'd recommend flying from Oslo to Bergen, and taking the train back to Oslo - it's 7 hours, but is stunning scenery! Norway is expensive, but train travel is very cheap, and if you google Norwegian rail, you can book tickets in advance.

[chasingmoose]

terrific, we'll do it. maybe take the train both ways...

Would you suggest stopping in any towns along that line or just spending the time in Bergen?

[kathryn77]

How much time will you have in total? I was just there for a weekend, but we managed to see Oslo, Bergen, and do the train journey. Here's a link to my blog on it - there's 3 entries in total, so you just need to click 'next' two times

We were there in autumn/winter, so in June it'll be really different - no snow - BUT....the fjords will be open for tours on, and they looked amazing! They only run May to September, so if you want to go out on a boat, you might want to start looking into it, as I understand it's much busier in Bergen at that time of year, and from what I saw, the best fjords are over there...

Sorry I can't help on the Norwegian family thing, and where they go.

In terms of stopping in any towns en-route on the train - we didn't, but that's not to say you can't. The train stops in a lot of places - they looked like mainly ski towns when I was there due to the snow, but they have other stuff in summer - I'm not 100% sure. Voss is quite close to Bergen, and it seemed the biggest we passed through, and on reading the guide, it seemed like a lot of adventure sports there - not sure how suitable for kids though.

If I went back, I'd go to Stavanger next, as it looks stunning there too - plus, mainly to stand on this rock (south of Bergen - that's why I'm asking how much time you have, as you could fly to Stavanger from Oslo, and train up to Bergen then train back to Oslo....but then I've also heard Northern Norway is pretty nice too...)

[chasingmoose]

sounds like you had a great time. I'm jealous you live so close to so many beautiful and interesting countries and can do something so spectacular for a weekend trip. The pictures have me totally psyched to do that train ride, and the meatballs in Bergen sound like they'll be worth the whole trip (we're traveling from Portland, Oregon, USA). We hope to have 2 or more weeks in Norway, so the train ride sounds perfect, and Bergen, despite the cloudcover and rain, sounds terrific, especially with the fjords.

We're thinking about doing a house swap with a family somewhere for the time there. Voss or Stavanger or Bergen might be good locations to do this, and if we swap with a family with children, they may be able to tell us what the best things to do with kids are so that we can interact with native families. Do you know which house trade websites are best for Norway? Or otherwise have any thoughts about house swapping?

Northern areas are probably too far for us -- Bergen is pretty much the limit in terms of how far we want to go on a train (we're willing to go as far as Bergen based on your high recommendation...)

Thanks for your help and great blog!

[kathryn77]

No problem at all. I'm sure you won't be disappointed by Bergen

I'm afraid I don't know any house swapping websites, but I think that's a great idea! You should have a look at the main forum board, and start a new thread in another topic area, with that title - some others may know of a good site, that might not be reading this thread if they've never been to Norway -- I'd just put in the title about the house swapping, and the specifics about the countries / family in the message. I'm sure someone will come up with the goods!

I think Bergen would be best to do the swap - basically because you can definitely do Voss in a day trip from there - and you might be able to do Stavanger in a day / more likely 2...? So it'd be a good 'base' for seeing around that west side of Norway, and right in fjord-land!

I'm so pleased you're going to do the train journey, it is amazing. We were just like "Whoah!!" most of the time, especially in the Bergen half.

I'm glad you read and enjoyed the blog - how could I have forgotten to mention the meatballs?! They were the most delicious thing ever!! The bar/restaurant is quite small, and the menu is on a blackboard and in Norwegian, but the bar staff will help translate - the menu changes each night, so if the meatballs aren't there, be sure and go back. Yum! 'Pingvinen' is 'Penguin' in Norwegian, so to help find it, it has a stick out sign with a penguin on it