2025 Norway Cycling Cruise

 Ride Report - June 2025

Norway is a country that we have wanted to visit. During our cycling tour of the Baltics, it was the only Scandinavian country we missed. Now that this cruise is complete, we understand why it needed its own tour. We pre-toured in Olso, sailed north to the fjords for 4 days, then headed south to complete our tour with a two planned stops in Denmark. It was a great trip, chilly and/or wet, so bring your raingear…and your camera!

Pretour

We like to take the 3 day pre-tours that Santana offers. It gives us a chance to acclimate to the new time zone and spend a few days touring, without having to plan anything on our own!

We carried a bunch of stuff with us destined for Salzburg and Mark’s family. Woody and Bullseye joined us for the trip and enjoyed Norway very much. We started with a walking tour in Oslo.

This is the old section of town, known as Greenland, mostly a middle eastern ethnic neighborhood now.

Historical buildings with our modern Raddison hotel in the distance.

Ruins of an old church.

Municipal man-hole cover with seal of St. Hallvard (more on him later).

There are only a handful of historic buildings in town. Fires and war destroyed many of them.

Opera house of Oslo, does it look like a ski slope? That was the inspiration!

At the Fram museum. Debby taunts this polar bear.

The Fram is the only ship to visit both the north and south poles. Its shallow hull was designed to pop up when the ice formed around it! Ships with standard hulls, for example the Endurance, were crushed when trapped by ice.

Great seafood restaurant in Olso. The one we tried to visit was closed for Whit Monday (Pentecost Monday), this one was next door and had the best fish and chips and fish soup of the trip!

Still looking a bit jet lagged, but working through it!

Fortress overlooking the Oslo harbor. Note the different layers of bricks. This, like many buildings in Olso, were built over time using ruins of other buildings or what even stone was currently available.

Cannons overlooking the harbor.

Glory, Glory with Crutches statue on the fortress grounds. Shows a woman returning from war and destruction with her luggage, both physical and mental on her shoulders.

Historical buildings in old town. Our tour guide said there were only about a dozen buildings in Oslo that dated into the 1700’s, and we saw most of them on our tour!

Oslo City Hall, looks like a building that could not decide if it wanted to look modern or historic!

Mural depicting St. Hallvard, patron saint of Oslo. He was attempting to save a pregnant woman wrongly accused of theft. He holds the three arrows that made him a martyr, and killed the woman and unborn baby!

The great hall in the Oslo City Hall. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded here!

Now I know why I have a negative reaction every time I get a haircut, my hair must be gluten sensitive !

The king of Norway pointed to a map and decreed that the ‘new city’ should be built here, as he pointed to the map!

We decided to skip the afternoon part of the walking tour. Since we were near the Metropolitan Museum, I jumped in!

The Scream

Paintings by Edward Munch at the Metropolitan Museum. It was not on our tour, but 

Deb enjoyed a coffee while I jumped in to check out the Munch exhibit.

Day 1 - Bergen

With the pre-tour of Olso in the rear-view mirror, we boarded flights to Bergen where our ship awaited our arrival. Santana booked seats on 4 commercial flights to get all us pre-tourists to Bergen. We boarded, bussed and headed straight to the ship and went through the very efficient embark process.

Lunch was poutine fries and Tri-tip sirloin. The food on the Windstar cruise ships is always outstanding!

Bergen Harbor. Since we will visit Bergen in a few days for a non-cycling rest day, we were happy to simply get on the boat and sail north for our tour of the fjords!

Woody and Bulleye approve of the cabin, but preferred watching Norway float by from the inside of the cabin!

We set sail for Olden and would arrive early the following morning!

Day 2 - Olden

Today’s route includes a skylift ride (without bikes) to the top of the top of a mountain overlooking the fjord. Then back on the bikes for an out and back route to the foot of a glacier. Bundle up, it’s very cold! Here crossing the Loelva river.

We started in the shadows where the temperatures were in the low 40’s 🥶, but soon we found the Loen Skylift and took the quick ride to a fantastic overlook!

Great views and an even better giftshop! Debby was able to pick up a Marino wool cap and neck gaiter that we used often for the remainder of the trip!

With Larry and Kris at the Skylift parking lot. Layered up and ready to head to the glacier!

On the narrow glacier road. Deb was not too happy about me taking selfies with that RV behind us!!!

We followed this branch of the fjord toward the glacier.

I stopped here for this photo while Debby rode ahead. As I was catching up on a downhill section I was run off the road by an E-Biker that thought that by me ringing my bell and yelling ‘on your left’ as I passed meant that she should veer to the left. I avoided her by going off the pavement and bouncing through a ditch. Somehow I was able to stay upright, and get back on the road, even though my lock and lights went flying.

I was expecting a pinch flat, but unfortunately, the rocks dented the front rim! It was rideable, but cut the tire and put a wobble in the front wheel. Later at the ship I was able to borrow some tools to at least get the rim somewhat straightened out, and had no problems with it for the rest of the trip. At least it was a older spare wheel, and it will find its way into the parts heap when we get home!

I was within a hairs width of ending my trip, and gave the E bikers even more room when passing on the duration of the trip!

The glacier in the distance. The road narrowed into a trail. While Deb and Kris waited in the parking lot, Larry and I headed up the hiking trail. The trail ended here, so I turned back to find Debby.

Lots of small bridges on the hiking trail to the glacier viewing point.

We headed back on the road and stopped at a cafe on the fjord and enjoyed some coffee and the views.

No shortage of waterfalls in these parts!

This stack of logs was near the ship on a small trail that bypassed a tunnel. The views were great, and I always will take the long way around a tunnel, at least one that allows motor vehicles!

Our floating home waiting for us at Olden.

‘Ok, enough with the photos, can we get on the boat now. Yes Mema!’

Day 3 - Molde & Avery

Today’s morning routes will be a point to point. We will start in the port of Molde and ride across a peninsula as we race the Star Legend to the port of Avery on the other side. Our ship is the only cruise ship that has visited this port, it specializes in commercial shipping and oil service companies. Actually these industrial ports are usually the easiest to get in and out of on the bike.

As we headed inland we had a fair amount of climbing as we rode through rolling farms and beautiful summer homes.

This out building with a rusty roof looked interesting in a field of wild flowers. I told Deb to ride on while I u-turned to catch this shot. Another Santana rider also stopped and took a photo from the same spot!

Lots of livestock, most seemed very curious about the stream of cyclists rolling by. It was quite sunny, and we were looking for a place to take a break and have some snacks. My morning routine on the ship was to get two coffees and two ham and cheese croissants to go from the Yacht Club on the ship at 0600. We put the croissants in sandwich bags for a ride snack!

Many farms have small school bus shelters on the side of the road, this one looked relatively clean and spider web free, and with partial shade. It was a perfect place to stop for our morning snack!

Back on the road we continued through farm country until we arrived back at the Atlantic Ocean.

Many great views, with many commercial boat houses along this portion of the route.

The Star Legend on the Horizon making its was to our destination at the port of Avery.

This road is called the Atlantic Road. This road serves no commercial purpose, it was built as a scenic route, so most of the traffic was RVs and tour busses. The largest bridge in this photo was featured in one of the 007 James Bond movies!

View from the bridge!

We stopped for refreshments, but unfortunately, like many Santana trips the local store was overrun by the sudden and unannounced arrival of 250 or so cyclists! I was able to spot this shrimp/egg salad sandwich in the cooler and skip the long food preparation line. Especially happy we had our ham and cheese snacks earlier!

Almost to the port of Avery on the last climb of the day.

We must be getting close, with that oil terminal just ahead.

Indeed it was! We arrived just as the boat was entering the port. I dropped Debby off and headed out on the long afternoon route (riding it backwards).  Of course several Santana riders ‘helpfully’ told me I was going the wrong way !

Smooth quiet roads to a pair of churches about 6 miles away.

Newer church adjacent to the Kvernes Kirke.

This ancient reformation era church has been restored by a Lutheran historical society. The whitewashed walls contained artwork that was painted over, and then removed and partially restored. Note the ship in the ceiling and the baptismal font at the back.

The carved altarpiece is many years old (I can’t remember what the guide told us!), and included biblical and local representations. 

The ride back to Avery and the ship was beautiful, and very satisfying, especially when the opportunity to pass E-Bikes presented itself on this very wide road!

Day 4 - Nordfjordeid

Each morning all the bikes need to get from decks 7 and 8 to the dock. This morning Deb and I decided to help move them through the dining room. Today is our only tender day, meaning after the bikes are loaded onto a barge, we will head ashore on the lifeboats and find our bikes on the shore. It took two barge loads to get all the bikes ashore. Here Deb enjoys a hard earned coffee as we stack up the bikes in the dining room to be ready when the second barge arrives!

There was a last minute route added that followed the coastline of a fjord that ended at the small village of Torheim where the pavement ended. It was suggested for the afternoon, but we decided to ride it first. Less crowded and only a few other riders had the same idea, so we had it nearly to ourselves.

There were many beautiful cottages along the road and a few working farms. Nearly all of them had boat houses at the water level. This one had an enormous deck and room to enjoy the wonderful views.

I took many photos along the way, it seemed that around every bend the views were more stunning than the last, if that was somehow possible.

We brought along chips and sandwiches and found this nice spot near the water at the turnaround point. It was a fantastic route, which we dubbed the ‘Fjord to Nowhere.’

Headed back to the ship, Debby was ready to enjoy lunch and a relaxing afternoon on board. I decided to head out on the morning routes to check out the waterfall valley.

Bill had mentioned during the morning route talk that the recent great cycling weather (3 days in a row without rain) meant that the spectacular waterfalls may not be flowing. That combined with the requisite bus ride (boost) to get to the start of the morning routes made it a no-brainer to take ‘Fjord to Nowhere’ first then backtrack on a selection of the morning routes.

The route headed out of town and soon tilted up for a 1000ft climb to the high valleys. We were amazed at how similar the terrain in northern Norway is to the Salzburg area. Flat routes in the valleys, and climbs to head to the high lakes or adjacent valleys. In fact, if you replaced the fjords with wide farm fields and rivers, you would be hard pressed to see the difference!

Lake at the summit of the climb. Note the nice cabins on the lake!

As predicted by Bill, the big waterfalls were just dripping damp cliffs. The snow has long since melted, so these cliff waterfalls now only appear during and shortly after rains. That’s OK, I was happy to trade 3 days of perfect cycling weather in exchange for fewer cliff falls. Anyway, there are plenty of running streams and smaller waterfalls everywhere!

I started to head down to the next valley but regained my wits and wisely did a U-turn before losing too much altitude to head back to the ship.

Lots of small waterfalls from small tributaries along the way. My trustee steed taking a breather before resuming the climb.

Butter smooth pavement made for a fast and fun descent!

Is this Salzburg? The route took us through farms on the way back into town. I helped load the bikes back on the barge and caught the next tender boat back to the ship to call this a day!

Day 5 - Skjolden 

This was one of the most spectacular rides I have done on a Santana trip. There are many photos that show the diversity of climate zones starting at sea level and climbing to nearly 5000 feet in the course of 20 miles. the first 6 miles were relatively flat along the edge of the fjord.

Many waterfalls on the route. Rain is in the forecast, but not until early afternoon!

Entering the town of Fortun. The climbing begins about 300 meters past the Shell station.

The climbing start in rolling lush farmland before heading up narrow valleys to the high country.

It’s a steady 6-8% grade (steeper in sections) and the rain came in early and heavy along this section.

Now above the tall trees, more scrub and grass, and of course, countless waterfalls

First glimpse of the snowfields in the distance. The climb is steady 6-8% for about 10 miles, then as you get closer to the top, the steady climb is replaced with steep rollers in the tundra and snow lakes.

There are many car parks and hiking trails heads along the way. This is a national forest area and is very popular with campers and hikers.

High country tundra, very green, but still more climbing to do!

The sheep roam free, but they are easy to ‘spot,’ they are wearing bells and travel in small groups, usually a female and her offspring

Yes it was cold up here, at least the winds were calm. The bluish snow is covering a lake that has not yet completely melted

There was a series of ‘summits’ along here. Climb one, then a short descent, then another climb and repeat. This sign was one of many on the route calling out the altitude in meters.

Rollers to the next monument.

This monument was to 6 horsemen who perished in a snowstorm in the early 1800s at this spot. There were rock carins for each of them around this main monument.

This is Thomas (from Poland) and his girlfriend who were passing through in a RV. They offered to take my picture and we ended up spending about 20 minutes together sharing stories. They plan on renting an RV next year and driving Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica! I shared with them my cycling story on Route 66 from last year and shot him a link to my blog with my ride report!

Thomas took this photo as I rolled out and sent it to me later via WhatsApp!

Here is a video he sent as well:

Lots of deep snow drifts on the route! The sun actually peaked out from behind the clouds and the road was starting to dry out on the descent.

Took the time stop and take a photo 16th to show the scale of the drifts, some were even higher!

It was very cold on the descent, especially once I was back on the steep grades. More of a hand workout, on the brakes, then legs and lungs.

The village of Fortun appeared at the base of the climb, just as a band of heavy rain escorted me back to the ship.

Water from the snowfields was perfectly clear!

I arrived back at the ship, turned in my bike and went directly to the hot tub to warm up!

As is typical for our days in northern Norway, we had many miles of fjord sailing before hitting the open water of the Atlantic. This afternoon the rain cleared and we were treated to more wonderful views, and a rainbow that seemed to end right at our cabin’s balcony!

Yes, the pot of gold today was a fantastic ride that finished right here!

Day 6 - Bergen

After 5 days of perfect weather in Norway’s rainiest part of the country, we were not surprised by the rain in Bergen. In fact, it is the rainiest town in Norway. The fact that it was sunny 5 days ago when we passed through must have been an anomaly!

Historic (restored) facades in the harbor area.

Very slippery wet cobblestones in Old town.

Beautiful parks and cobbled streets. We were happy that there was no riding today! Well not happy, but OK to skip city riding on wet cobbles!

Composer Edward Grieg was born and lived here in Bergen. Marian Pease, my piano teacher recently assigned me one of his works to study (when we get home). She had no idea he was from here until we looked up some of his biographical information.

Parks and beautiful streets in the old town section of Bergen

We followed this instruction and split a reindeer sausage as an appetizer.

Our plan was to return to this Irish Pub for fish and chips when they opened for lunch. The fryer was broken so no fish and chips.

We stopped at this kiosk/tent for fish and chips and Deb had the mussels. For a tourist stop, the food was fantastic. If you do come to Norway, get ready for sticker shock. Every thing is expensive. Do stop here, but bring lots of $$$, that lunch was close to $85US!! But worth every cent!

Day 7 - Egersund

The Star Legend, from the top of the first climb of the day, a bridge!

Rain is in the forecast for the late morning and early afternoon. We headed out for the morning loop that would take us to a ‘short’ hike to a lighthouse. We arrived at the village and hike trailhead and found out the ‘short’ hike was 40 minutes each way in cycling shoes.

We said ‘no thanks, we’ve seen hundreds of lighthouses on this trip! We saddled up and did the short ride back to the ship. 

Plenty of steep punchy climbs on this ‘easy’ route!

Beautiful traditional homes and dry stack walls, next to modern almost abstract homes. At first glance I thought it was a railway overpass, but the house extends either way into the berms and looked very well appointed from the road!

A bit of a chill in the air, but we had the right gear and made our way back to the ship before the predicted showers arrived.

I decided to head out for the PM loop, billed as a hilly remote route through the back county. No sooner had I mounted the bike, when the rain arrived. I stopped and put on the rain legs and headed out. Most riders were racing back to the ship.

There was about 2-3km of climbing to reach a rolling plateau that featured in huge granite boulders, grass, moss, and livestock. These cows were facing away from me as I rode over the cattle guard in the distance. I stopped for this photo, none of them had moved! 

Lots of small lakes and ponds along the route.

The rain came in waves. You could see it lower in the valley before it arrived!

Beautiful wildflowers and lush vegetation, yeah, I think it rains here ALOT!

The first half of the loop was mostly uphill rollers, making the last half downhill rollers. Normally a time to really let it fly. But with the rain nearly flooding the road at times, I decided to take my time back to town.

The new Transitions glasses were perfect in the wet and low light conditions. I think it might be time for a new rain jacket. For a desert rat, this one has seen a seen many miles and inches of rain!

Day 8 - Arendal 

The rain is gone and the sun peaked out from behind the clouds. We went from the rainiest city (Bergen) to the warmest and sunniest in Arendal. Many Norwegians visit here to warm up!

Very few cruise ships visit this port, it has a very narrow passage, so only yacht sized ships like the Star Legend can pass. The town was so excited for our arrival, local school children performed music from the movie Frozen when we arrived. Apparently this town was an inspiration for the movie. When they completed the performance we mounted the bikes and started our ride. As a thank you, the ship invited the kids aboard for a tour and refreshments after we were gone.

The only problem was that ALL the riders left at the same time, and there was some construction on the bike path with some gravel sections. We decided to pull out of the crazy and ‘check our tires’ until most of the crowd has passed by.

We decided to take the longer morning loop, about 30 miles and once we were out of town, we rolled through rural areas with farms and quiet roads. We spotted a church off to the right and decided to go check it out and get a photo. Another Santana couple had also stopped. They were actually looking for it; it was the place where her great-grandmother was married. She had a print-out of ancestors and was touring the graveyard looking for family graves. Only now did I realize I didn’t actually get a picture of the church!

Back on 1.5 lane roads through the forest on the way back to the shoreline. We liked these roads, very little traffic and plenty of room for cars to pass.

Battle fortifications just behind our picnic table!

Debby spotted this table in a small park by the water and we decided to stop and have our sandwich we packed onboard. It was a very pleasant spot out of the wind. While we were there, we noted the fortifications just behind us!

The park had a number of fortifications along the shore. There was even a diving board and ladder at the edge of the water. A bit chilly today for a dip!

We were both feeling a bit tired, so we took a more direct route back to the boat and skipped the Fort Museum tour. It’s always fun going ‘off route’ because other riders that are off route, tack on to our train not realizing we are on our own!

We stopped for coffee, gelato, and a waffle before heading back to the ship to clean up and grab some lunch.

There is an elevator in a tunnel that takes you a wonderful overlook of the city, so we went there before doing a little shopping.

The tunnel to the elevator looks like it is often repainted with a base coat, then artists add their work. It looks like Pride Month is the current theme.

We were walking back and Debby mentioned that this part of the port area reminded her of downtown Annapolis MD. I said all we need is some good calamari, and literally at the next restaurant/sports bar calamari was on the menu. It was delicious.

Back on the ship at the evening route talk, Bill confirmed our stop in Aaalborg Denmark was scrubbed. High crosswinds would prevent our ship from safely navigating the narrow passage to the harbor. So instead we would sail directly to Copenhagen early. 

It made for a relaxing wind down to a great trip.We were able to hike through town, grab lunch, and head back to the ship to pack the bikes. 

Day 9 - Disembark Copenhagen 

Up early, put the bags in the hallway and board busses to the airport at 8:30

We are in the SAS light lounge at Copenhagen airport waiting for our flights to Salzburg.

This was a great trip, but we really can’t wait to get to Salzburg to visit with Mark and his family and the start of the second phase of our Summer in Europe!

Mema, Riley and Mark at the Salzburg Airport!