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When’s the best time to cruise Norway’s fjords?

When’s the best time to cruise Norway’s fjords?

Cruises to Norway’s fjords have massively increased in popularity in recent years as more and more people have realised that they don’t have to run to the warm sun of the Mediterranean for a great cruise holiday. A Norwegian cruise offers so much more; a unique culture to experience; beautiful scenery, (we can’t stress that point enough), amazing wildlife and depending on the time of year you cruise a whole host more.

Which leads us nicely onto the point of this article; with so much on offer in Norway, just when is the best time to go? As most cruise lines head to the fjords in the summer months it would be logical to think that’s the best time to go. However for those in the know cruising to Norway at different times of the year opens up a whole range of new possibilities.

Winter – Mention Norway and winter in the same sentence to most people and the first image that will leap to their mind is snow. Lots and lots of snow! Whilst this may be true, it’s not really the point. A lot of Norway’s coastal towns and villages can only be reached by sea in the winter months, the roads becoming totally snowbound. This means that during the winter months, all the supplies will be delivered by shipping companies like Hurtigruten. For a completely different view of Norway, you can book yourself on one of these ships to see ice hotels, huskie sledging and perhaps most importantly the Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights as they’re known. These ships may not offer the same amount of facilities as some of their bigger cousins but compare that to the chance of seeing the Northern Lights overhead and a winter cruise to Norway suddenly becomes a much more attractive proposition.

Spring – Cruising to Norway in the spring will be very similar to the summer months except for the fact that it will be that much colder. So why wouldn’t you just wait for the warm weather you ask? In our opinion spring may well be one of the best times to cruise around Norway. Winter will have just finished meaning all the streams, brooks, rivers and waterfalls will be roaring with the snowmelt, all the fauna will just be shaking off the winter months so there’ll be loads of baby animals to see and all the trees and flowers will be coming back to life and covered in blossom lending a completely different look to the scenery.

Summer – By far the most popular time to travel to the fjords, (as shown by the number of cruise ships that head to Norway in the summer), the weather is surprisingly nice with possible highs of 25 to 30 degrees. You’ll have loads of daylight to explore everything that Norway has to offer, from maritime museums to glaciers to troll haunted forests. It’s the kind of place where you won’t be able to stop yourself from taking hundreds of pictures of the scenery; it really is just that beautiful. If you head North far enough you’ll even get to experience the land of the midnight sun, (in the summer months the sun never sets in Northern Norway!)

Autumn – Another great time to cruise to Norway, (when is it not though?). If anyone reading this has ever been to New England in the autumn, (or fall as our American cousins would call it), then you’ll have an idea of how Norway looks around this time. It’s on the same latitude so the climates are similar. All the trees will just be starting to shed their leaves but before they do they’ll be losing their green colour and turning a hundred different shades of red, orange and gold. For a nature lover or a keen photographer, it can be an amazing experience. Although there won’t be as many cruise ships sailing at this time of the year you still should be able to pick through them for great offers.

We know most of you reading this will still be choosing the summer months to cruise to Norway but has anyone been during the rest of the year? What was your experience like? Would you consider going again at a different time?

Bulletin Editor

Editor and Creative Copywriter of Cruise.co.uk's bulletin blog, bringing you cruise news, tips and guides daily! - Contact: [email protected]

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