The Cal-look Lounge

allright i want some info about nice places to visit in the week after the SCC. if it happens that i can get there and keep the car in one piece, i really would love to visit the country a bit more and see some cool places. anything about culture, nature, forests, fjords, vikings, hobbits, are what not is OK. i have seen some beautifull pics off the westcoast, but no specific places. and can we cross there with a (cheap) ferry or do we need to get back to the bridge in Sweden?

nice places on the way back is also good as we have one week to get back, but it will be in smaller trips.

thank you all 

You should drive over to the west coast! specifically Stavanger. We have it all this year. The culture, beeing european capital of culture 2008. The fjords, the mountains, the beaches .. everything and all within one hour drive.

If you decide to do so, you can tag along with us, or any other people from that area going to SCC.

http://www.regionstavanger.com/

Nicolas, you really have to take a look at http://www.visitnorway.com! :)
There is so much to see, and hard to choose.
Klick on Oslo http://www.visitnorway.com/en/Articles/Norway/East/Oslo/Scenic-Attractions/ and you will see there is plenty to do there.
Klick on Sørlandet http://www.visitnorway.com/en/Stories/Norway/South/Sorlandet/ if you like to see the fantastic coast.
Klick on Hardanger http://www.visitnorway.com/en/Stories/Norway/West/Hardanger/ if you like to see the mountains.

(http://www.visitnorway.com/ImageVault/Images/id_1424/conversionFormat_13/ImageVaultHandler.aspx)

With all due respect for Stavanger - I love that town, but if you want the most amazing fjords and scenary, I would recommend Geiranger (http://www.geiranger.no/english.html) further north- its on Unesco's World Heritage List. The fjords/scenary there iare all amazing post card material.

If you have a week, you have time for Geiranger AND Stavanger tho.

I would suggest you go straight from SCC to Oslo (45 minute drive), if you want some viking culture, the Viking ship museum is open until 6 pm on Sunday. Right next to that museum is the folk museum, a huge open air museum on Norwegian cultural history. Lots of exhibits and buildings, including traditional houses from the last 1000 years, including viking houses, a medieval stave church  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stave_church) up to a turn of the century town house - torn down and built up brick by brick. Close by is also the Fram museum  (http://www.fram.museum.no/en/) - a polar museum if you are interested in the polar explorers Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen and the Kon Tiki/Thor Heyerdahl museum (http://www.kon-tiki.no/Ny/Dok_eng/e_start.html)

If you are on a budget, Coch's Pensjonat  (http://www.cochspensjonat.no/englishindex.html) is the place to stay in Oslo- from 440 kroners for a single room (590 kr for their best rooms with fridge, kettle, bathroom and TV). It's a budget guesthouse smack in the middle of the best part of Oslo, located in Bogstadveien, the main shopping street on the West side. Right across the street is the Royal Castle, walk through the park for five minutes and you are downtown Oslo. If you want a standard hotel, there are lots of them for around 800-1000 kroners per night (shave off one zero and you have the price in £)

From Oslo you can drive directly north to Geiranger (425 km), experience the fjords etc (even the drive there should give you some good scenary). From Geiranger, drive south to the city Bergen (http://www.visitbergen.com/default.asp?) (370 km). The famous wharf/fish market in Bergen has been almost untouched since the 11th century (and on Unesco's World Heritage List too), visit composer Edvard Grieg's home or do a million other things you like.

From Bergen you can go to Stavanger - the oil industry capital (I am sure Trond can recommend lots of things to see/do there). I can promise you, the drive from Geiranger-Bergen-Stavanger will give you the most spectacular scenary/roads you will ever see.

From Stavanger you can get a ferry to the Northern tip of Denmark (you are returning to Belgium, right? If not, there are also ferries to the UK). When driving south through Denmark, I would recommend the beach on the west side where you can drive (and camp) right on the sandy beach.

thank you allready!!!

i will start to look that a bit up on the map and see what can make a good trip. might not be able to see everything that i want to see, as i have my little dude with me and driving all day is not an option. but i do want to go and see some off these things.

we will be coming off the ferry at stavanger on 13th august then driving to oslo if anyone is doing the same.

I will be the guy with the camera taking pictures of you then :-)
... but we are not going until the 14th ourselves

we would be happy to go with you if you wanted company?  I am sure we could find something to do in stavanger for an evening plus we will be loaded up with beers from the ferry duty free shop....

Not a good idea on the beer front,from what i remember you are only allowed 24 cans per person imported into norway,they will confiscate the rest :o

cheers richie

thanks for that - darn!

You can bring 1 litre of up to 60% alcohol per volume, plus 1 and a half litre of a beverage with up to 22% alcohol plus 2 litres of beer.

Alternatively you can bring 3 bottles of wine instead of the quota mentioned above, or you are allowed to bring with you 5 litres of beer if you only bring beer.

For tobacco the limit is 200 sigarettes (10 packs)