Back in February I took off for a quick trip to Norway. When you’re living the DINK life, you can see a billboard advertising $99 flights to foreign countries and take them up on the offer! Norway was a place I had been wanting to visit for years. You should go there too… but be aware of the cost!
I left on a Sunday and returned on Thursday, so it was four nights. I reserved an AirB&B, only took transportation from the airport into the city and back, and cooked almost all of my meals. I’ll be using the exchange rate at the time of my trip which was $1 US = 7.78 Norwegian krone.
Total Cost: $622.28
Flights
| Retail Cost | Miles Used | My Cost | |
| Norwegian, Economy, SWF to Bergen, Round Trip | $244.20 | 0 | $244.20 |
Yes, it is
What was most appealing about this flight was that it left from a small, formerly domestic airport an hour from my house and went directly to Bergen. No stopovers, and no need to travel to a big city airport! Little Stewart airport in Newburgh, NY, suddenly started offering these cheap economy flights to Europe on Norwegian Air (while also re-branding themselves as “New York Stewart International,” to give you the impression that it’s near New York City, ha ha).
You know us. We’re usually using frequent flyer miles to fly business class internationally. But this was so much of a bargain, I was willing to endure subpar food and zero legroom. (Marge was unable take time off from work, so I took the trip solo)
Leaving from Stewart was so easy, it felt more like going to a bus station than an airport. I parked directly across from the terminal, breezed through security, and was quickly off to Norway. For someone who usually has to take several trains over several hours, and then ride a shuttle for 20 minutes before even getting to the airport, this part was refreshing.
The flight was… well, let’s just say it got me there. It was full on the way to Norway, but mostly empty on the way back.
Accommodations
I stayed in the most gosh dang adorable place in all of Bergen. It is a tiny house, formerly located on the island of Sotra, and probably built in the 1600’s. It was moved to its present location in the Skuteviken neighborhood in the 1700’s, and its owners claim it to be the smallest house in Bergen. There are some small houses around, but this one really might take the cake.
There are beds enough for four people, but I think that would be a squeeze. But it was utterly perfect for me as a single weirdo American. Everything you need was all there and within reach. It felt super cozy. A tiny living room with a tv and fireplace, tiny kitchen with just enough cooking and eating utensils, and bedrooms wedged up under the roof. There’s probably a lesson there about simple living, but I did clearly did not learn it because I’m still living in my 2,000 square foot house full of stuff.
Indeed, it did cost $83 a night, but since I had 50,000 Arrival points on my Barclay card, I was able to offset the total cost of the stay, since each Arrival point is worth a penny credit against any travel expense. That was a welcome travel hack on this expensive trip.
Transportation
| Cost in $USD | Miles Covered | |
| Skyss Light Rail, Airport to Bergen (Return) | $9.49 | 22 |
| Avg Cost Per Mile | 43.1 cents |
The only transportation I took was from the airport to downtown, and reverse on the way home. I cleverly stopped at the Fantoft Stave Church on my way back to the airport, then got back on the train at the next stop. That way I didn’t make another trip just for the church. Other than that, I walked everywhere. That includes up a mountain that most people climb via a $12 funicular.
It might not be fair to compare Norway to the other countries we’ve visited, since I only used the Skyss round trip once, but I will anyway! Thailand was $0.11/mile, Japan was $0.33/mile, Peru was $0.79/mile, Switzerland was $1.16/mile, and Turks & Caicos was a wallet-busting $2.13 per mile. Norway actually compares pretty favorably!
I should note that the Skyss train charmingly plays a different song as you arrive at each station. And for those of you who are into the whole Norwegian Slow TV thing, here is a video of the tram going into Bergen:
Food
| Meal | Price in Krona | Price in $USD |
| Meny – Grocery Store | 564.44 | $72.55 |
| Kiwi – Grocery Store | 297.26 | $38.21 |
| Meny – Grocery Store | 372.35 | $47.86 |
| Trekronen, Roadside Sausages | 65.00 | $8.35 |
| Airport Cafe – 2 Trips | 174.35 | $22.41 |
| Vinmonopolet – Beer | 230.00 | $29.52 |
| Total Food Cost | $218.90 | |
| Average Cost Per Day, Per Person | $54.72 |
Seeing as how expensive this place is, I definitely tried to fill my days with groceries for eating. The only things I ate out were a reindeer sausage with lingonberry jam at Trekroneren, a snack and coffee at the airport while I waited for my AirB&B to be ready, and more airport snacks on the way back because Norwegian doesn’t feed you.
To keep culturally relevant, I was reading Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky, and basically made cod for dinner every night. I had been watching episodes of New Scandinavian Cooking and made their recipe for Bergen fish soup, which lasted a couple meals.
But other than the coffee ($5.30 for about a pound) groceries were not cheap. The cheapest dozen eggs was $7.00, and the two little containers of cubed bacon were $7.50. The fiskeboller (fish balls) were $5.00. My single potato was $1.32. And this was some of the cheapest stuff in the store.
But it was all high quality, and I got to try a lot of Norwegian foods. For example, the one steal – Leverpostei – which was $2.30 for a medium tin. I have a feeling this will make me a laughingstock among Norwegians, but I loved this liver paste! It looks like its marketed to children, but I don’t care. Look at that sandwich with leverpostei, gorgonzola cheese and dill on spelt bread. I’m sure it’s a horrorshow to many (and to my breath) but this pushed all my flavor buttons. I also tried a bunch of candy and cookies (chocolate spread Nugatti and marzipan bar Gullbrod being favorites).
But forget about alcohol. Norway owns a monopoly selling any beverage over something like 4.3% alcohol, so you have to go into a special vinmonopolet for even pretty standard beers. I bought three bottles of beer at the vinmonopolet and spent almost $30. I’m currently brewing five gallons of hefeweizen, and the ingredients cost me the same amount.
Compared to our other trips around the world, Norway was just plain damn expensive, and I spent more on food here than anywhere else. Compare the $54.72 per day here to Thailand ($8.29), Peru ($13.67), Japan ($17.20), Switzerland($25.42), and even Turks & Caicos ($36.61) was cheaper.
Haakon’s Hall
Recreation
| Price in Krone | Price in $USD | |
| Maritime Museum | 90 | $11.57 |
| Haakon’s Hall | 80 | $10.28 |
| Bergenhus Festningsmuseum | FREE | FREE |
| Fantoft Stave Church (Closed) | FREE | FREE |
| Total Recreation Cost | 160 | $21.85 |
I filled my days with a lot of hiking, exploring neighborhoods, window-shopping, watching the Winter Olympics, and cooking while listening to Razika and Casiokids, but I did get out to some cultural attractions. I kept them limited because these were also very expensive!
The Maritime Museum is basically on the campus of the University of Bergen. It is a little light on the Viking artifacts you’d hope to find (there were a few boats), but had good exhibits on naval battles and life as a merchant marine.
Haakon’s Hall is part of the Bergenhus Fortress. It’s an enourmous medieval stone structure straight out of Game of Thrones (see above). It’s been hit by fires, but has been beautifully restored. Your tour starts in the basement, in an area renovated into a dining hall. Bergenhus Fesningsmuseum is the free military museum. A great exhibit on the Norwegian resistance during Nazi occupation, and another displayed all of the military uniforms worn at Bergenhus over the centuries.
I also stopped off at the Fantoft Stave Church, a recreation of a church that was burned down by a Norwegian metalhead arsonist in the 90’s. It was closed so I couldn’t go in, but it was so worth it to see one of the few iconic stave churches in the country.
Look, don’t touch, and definitely don’t buy
Miscellaneous
| Price in Krone | Price in $USD | |
| Meny – Food Gifts | 317.41 | $40.80 |
| Rost Gift Store | 158.48 | $22.79 |
| Ting Gift Store | 177.30 | $20.37 |
| Fretex – 2 Records | 40.00 | $4.84 |
| Airport Duty Free | 303.73 | $39.04 |
| Total | 996.92 | $127.84 |
I did an unusual amount of shopping on this trip, so… wow, this category was a killer. Normally, we don’t spend anything on gifts. This time, I felt slightly guilty enjoying Norway all on my own, so I wanted to bring home some things. I got more coffee and snacks and leverpostei at the grocery store. I got Marge a very Scandinavian design bauble. I bought myself two records at the Fretex (Salvation Army), and got some alcohol and candy at the airport duty free shop. I always skip duty free, but seeing how cheap the aquavit and beer was there compared to the vinmonopolet got the better of me. If I had just skipped shopping all together, I would’ve brought this trip’s cost just under $500.
I visited a home furnishings store called Illums Bolighus which was stocked with the most unbelievably perfect Scandinavian design furniture, and there was absolutely nothing in there I could imagine myself buying. It was almost all preposterously overpriced for me. I could see myself maybe, maybe, buying some coasters or some fabric for curtains. But otherwise, it’s fun to go in these places and look, as if in a museum.
But can I tell you something? Despite all this absurd expense, I am dying to go back to Bergen. This might most closely resemble my ideal vacation spot. One of my favorite spots I’ve visited is Mürren in Switzerland. It’s a little mountainside village with all of the amenities, but from your doorstep, you can go on a mind-blowing hike with stunning vistas, then return to your villa for some cheap wine, pasta, and Eurovision on tv.
Bergen has way more amenities, restaurants, and cultural stuff than Mürren. But still, right from downtown, I could walk up a mountain and basically reach the peak in a half hour. You could work an office job here, then climb a mountain on your lunch break!
Although, the cheapest bottle of wine I saw in each place shows that Mürren ($2.50) has Bergen (don’t even want to think about it) beat hands down in the price department. But Bergen is also the gateway to the fjords, so there is much more exploring and eating of fish I need to do outside of the city, so I’m sure I’ll be back.
