My Favourite Port

Having travelled a lot with work and on my holidays I constantly think, wow, I wont be able to beat this. This last cruise was no different. I knew the Fjords would be spectacular from seeing programmes on the TV but nothing could prepare me for the beauty of Skjolden which was my favourite  port on my Cruise.

We arrived into Skjolden early on Wednesday morning. The Cruise Director had given us loads of information on his update the evening before so we knew that Skjolden was situated at the inner most point of the Sognefjorden, which is the longest and deepest Fjord in Norway. Its over 200km in length so we actually arrived at the Fjord around 1 am and took hours to sail down it.

Skjolden is a tiny village with only 200 people living there but it is so pretty I would literally pack up and move there in the morning. The weather on the cruise so far wasn’t great but the weather gods were surely looking down on us that day as the sun was splitting the sky and it was lovely and warm.

The ship docks right in the village so it is just a quick skip and a hop to the most picture perfect place. This is exactly how I pictured Norway to be. There is a cafe, visitor centre, small bar and a small supermarket there so you are able to pick up some souvenirs.

Excursion wise the below are the most popular places to visit from the port:

• Jotunheimen National Park
• Sognefjellet National Scenic Route
• Feigumfossen Waterfall
• The Norwegian Glacier Museum
• Nigardsbreen Glacier
• UNESCO World Heritage – Urnes Stave Church

Royal Caribbean have some fantastic excursions including rib boat trips and paddle boarding so there is as much or as little to do there as you wish.

As standard in Norway the cost of things are on the high end. A bottle of water or lemonade was 30 NOK or £3 each, Tea/Coffee was 40 NOK or £4 and a beer in the small but very charming pub was 90 NOK or £9. To be honest it was a bit steep for a slightly warm can of Carlsberg – but when in Rome and all that.

Skjolden was the most gorgeous place (have I said that before) and now in traditional annoying holiday way, below are some of my photo’s from the port 🙂