Norway in a nutshell is a fantastic way to see Norway’s natural beauty.  If you ever get the chance to do it, I highly recommend it.  I took the tour with my mother and brother over 5 years ago.  The weather wasn’t the best, but I can still say I have never seen anything more beatiful in my life than I did that day on the tour. 

Norge i et nøtteskall takes you through the breathtaking country by local train, regional train, tourist boat, and bus.  Some of the highlights include the Bergen railway, the Flåm railway, Nærøyfjord, Aurlandsfjord, and Stalheimskleiva.�  You see mountains, rivers, waterfalls, and beautiful fjords along the way. 

The Bergen railway is northern Europe’s highest altitude railway; it endures harsh weather for part of the year and thus requires extremely skilled technical expertise to maintain it and provide a safe, enjoyable experience for all who use it to get between Oslo and Bergen. 

The Flåm railway was one of my favorite parts of the trip.  It takes passengers from the mountain station of Myrdal down to Flam.  It is a fairly short leg of the trip, but the train travels slowly and makes several stops to really get good views. 

Once the train reaches Flåm, you have some free time to walk around until you board a tourist boat which sails through the Aurlandsfjord and into the Nærøyfjord, one of the narrowest fjords in Europe and also on UENSCO’s World Heritage List.  This part of the trip is pretty magical with the mountains surrounding you, views of traditional, picturesque Norwegian farms (if you’re lucky, you might see seals basking on rocks and goats grazing).

After the boat trip, the journey takes you by coach up the curvy, steep roads of Stalheimskleiva.  I remember looking out the bus window and seriously wondering if it would be possible to get up and down these narrow, steep, and extremely bendy turns.  Kudos to the bus driver.  This is the leg of the trip where you see waterfalls, including Stalheimsfossen and Sivlefossen.  From Voss, you can either go to west to Bergen or east to Oslo. 

The trip is not too expensive and it is completely worth it for what you get to see.  Before I sign off, I forgot the most interesting part.  At one of the waterfalls that we stopped at, a hulder emerged from the waterfall and was singing beautiful music.  She had a red dress on and donned a cow’s tail.  Huldrer are seductive forest creatures.  Needless to say, my 20 year old brother was impressed.  I had never before seen a cow woman pop out of a waterfall and belt out what sounded like magic fairy music.