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Problems to plan a trip

  • July 21, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 64 views

Ola. We are planning a trip for November - December 2025 to Norway, and we are inspired by the proposed trip "Norway in winter", passing through Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Bodo. But using the planner it is impossible to visualize the journeys... for example Oslo-Bergen or Bergen-Bodo... Can anyone tell me why? and are there any train connection problems? because on the Norwegian site it seems that many journeys are replaced by buses.And final question: is it a good idea to plan “Norway in Winter” for this end of the year?Thank you very much in advance for the answers.
 

 

Best answer by BrendanDB

You’re too early, no worries.

Exact schedules will be avaibable about 2 months before departure in Norway. Most people using the train only maximum plan 2-3 months ahead by train, usually even a few weeks or days in advance. 

There’s also thee annual timetable change the second sunday of December (14/12), new schedules are probably not yet uploaded after that date. Some companies can be a bit late in that.

To get an indication of travel times and train services, just pick a random date next week. It’ll be probably very similar in November/December, just give or take a few minutes difference.

Best use https://entur.no to plan, and make your reservations a couple of weeks in advance. Maybe a bit more time in advance, if you plan to travel around the Christmas holidays to ensure seats in that busy period.

Getting all the way up north to Bodoe might be a bit dark. So you won’t see a lot of the landscapes, but you might get a chance for the Northern lights.  Anything higher up north than Trondheim will be very dark, also during the day. But if you take day trains, leaving at 8-9 you should still see the landscapes with a bit of daylight in Southern Norway.

I lived in Bergen, and end of December/beginning January you can expect a bit of light between 9h30 and 15:30, 10h and 15h if it’s grey weather. The higher you go, the less light you get.

2 replies

BrendanDB
Full steam ahead
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  • Full steam ahead
  • Answer
  • July 21, 2025

You’re too early, no worries.

Exact schedules will be avaibable about 2 months before departure in Norway. Most people using the train only maximum plan 2-3 months ahead by train, usually even a few weeks or days in advance. 

There’s also thee annual timetable change the second sunday of December (14/12), new schedules are probably not yet uploaded after that date. Some companies can be a bit late in that.

To get an indication of travel times and train services, just pick a random date next week. It’ll be probably very similar in November/December, just give or take a few minutes difference.

Best use https://entur.no to plan, and make your reservations a couple of weeks in advance. Maybe a bit more time in advance, if you plan to travel around the Christmas holidays to ensure seats in that busy period.

Getting all the way up north to Bodoe might be a bit dark. So you won’t see a lot of the landscapes, but you might get a chance for the Northern lights.  Anything higher up north than Trondheim will be very dark, also during the day. But if you take day trains, leaving at 8-9 you should still see the landscapes with a bit of daylight in Southern Norway.

I lived in Bergen, and end of December/beginning January you can expect a bit of light between 9h30 and 15:30, 10h and 15h if it’s grey weather. The higher you go, the less light you get.


Thank you very much for these interesting informations.