Cruises to Norway’s fjords have massively increased in popularity in recent years as more and more Aussies have realised it makes for a great cruise holiday.
A Norwegian cruise offers everything you could want from a trip away; 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; 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 European 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.
European 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 snow bound. 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 sledding 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.
European 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? 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.
European Summer
By far the most popular time to travel to the fjords, (as shown by the amount 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 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 European summer months the sun never sets in Northern Norway!)
European Autumn
Another great time to cruise to Norway, (when is it not though?). Aussies won’t be used to the view – we have no 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 European summer months to cruise to Norway but has anyone been during the rest of the year?