Funny enough, I saw recently a map of the European countries with the word Japanese people are associating each. There, for Norway the word was expensive. It is true also, that Norway is usually perceived in general as a very, if not at least, expensive country. Is that true? I will tell you what my standing point is, based on my now vast experience of travelling there five times, in total more than four weeks combined, in several locations. In short, I would say that Norway is not a cheap country, but not necessary an expensive one. And I will give you some examples and thoughts of why is that.
To start with, we spent there three New Years’ Eves, about which I have wrote already several times, plus we’ve been to Tromsø and Oslo separate, to enjoy the country at its fullest. For accommodation, for example, the prices we generally paid where between 100 and 250 EUR / night, and here there are more “catches” to be considered, so then I will put, in a chronological order our experiences.
2023; 12th – 16th of January: four nights stay in Tromsø
We managed to book at Smart Hotel four nights, for 130 EUR / night, mentioning that this is the smallest room we had, of only 9 m2, but very close to the city center. Indeed, the comfort was not huge, we didn’t have breakfast included, but in the next year, prices jumped to 300 EUR / night for similar rooms! At least they were cozy, even though small. The thing is that Tromsø is one of the only exceptions in Norway, which is generally more expensive during winter, than summer, because it is considered a perfect location at world level to see clearly the Northern Lights. We did fly in January to spare some significant costs, so we made it from Bucharest to the town, via Warsaw and Oslo, with LOT (the national Polish company) for 360 EUR / each. In total, for accommodation and main transportation we have paid 1,240 EUR for two. Does this look a lot to you?
2023-2024; 27th of Dec. – 3rd of Jan.: 4 nights stay in Tromsø and 3 in Longyearbyen
Almost one year from this point, we did manage to secure a brilliant New Year’s Eve stay in Svalbard, for three nights, at two locations, paying 190 EUR / night at one, and 250 EUR / night at the other (one night), and again in Tromsø, two nights before the trip to Longyearbyen, and after, where we stayed this time at a private accommodation, a small apartment, for around 130 EUR / night again. It was needed, but also wanted to stay in Tromsø, because flying from Bucharest to Longyearbyen required three connections, not only two. Flights price was more expensive, considering we involved two companies, and, actually, two itineraries, with New Year in the middle: 491 + 400 EUR / person = 1,782 EUR the transportation, from Bucharest to Longyearbyen. The first leg was reserved again with LOT (and SAS from Oslo), and second with Norwegian, a local low cost.
As well, alongside this, we can add the 530 EUR for accommodation paid in Tromsø, and 630 EUR in Svalbard, so a combined 2,942 EUR for two. This is what it takes to reach the end of the world, northern bound, in a very special time of the year. I won’t say it is necessary a huge expensive, given the experience, and given the fact that we basically need to fly 9-10 hours one way!
2024; 19th – 23rd of September: four nights in Oslo
This time, we headed to the capital city for the Oslo Marathon, a very niche, but also growing in popularity event, which I especially wanted to attend. The accommodation, in the center of the city, with a wonderful breakfast included, cost only 157 EUR / night. Is that expensive? Only two weeks before we stayed in Brasov, Romania, at a similar hotel, in much poorer conditions, for a very similar price! I honestly can’t find anymore the cost of the flight, but being operated by Lufthansa, and only to Oslo, it should not have been prohibitive. I think around 600 EUR / two persons, so a total of around 1,250 EUR for two for a four night with fabulous breakfast included in the heart of Oslo!
2024-2025; 27th of December – 3rd of January: 1 night Bodø, 5 nights Svolvær, 1 night Oslo
Our second New Year celebration was switched a bit south, but still in the… north, and in a fascinating location: Lofoten Islands. This is one of the most iconic touristic destination from Norway, but especially in the summer. However, during winter, the landscape is truly amazing, because of the snow and… blizzard. Blizzard that usually causes huge problems for planes, and in the end affected our trip as well. But to begin with, we needed to fly, again, in three legs each, to reach Lofoten, and we secured the trip with several aerial companies: Norwegian from Bucharest to Bodø for a combined fee of 680 EUR, Bodø – Svolvær; Leknes – Oslo for 558 EUR with the regional Widerøe, and Oslo – Bucharest with LOT (again) for 276 EUR. Then, the entire cost of the flights, for two, should have been 1,514 EUR.
Alongside this, the main accommodation cost 1,143 EUR for five nights in the most luxurious hotel, perhaps, from Lofoten: Thon. For 238 EUR / night we got… an apartment with 180ºC view and also the Norwegian fabulous breakfast. As well as we got in Bodø in the first night where we paid less than 100 EUR! In Oslo we should have paid 122 EUR for the last night, but we end up cancelling that, and staying more in Bodø for free, because our flight from Leknes to Oslo got called off because of the weather, so we needed to cross, from Moskenes with the ferry. In the end, we needed to purchase new tickets from Oslo to Bucharest, which cost us around 450 EUR combined with Norwegian air, so then we spent around 328 EUR more than budgeted, plus 170 EUR to take a taxi from Svolvær to Leknes, because the bus… broke down, before our flight being cancelled.
But I have covered the story here, so no need to develop more about the subject now, only about the costs. In total, for this nine nights, we end up paying for transportation and accommodation: 3,377 EUR for two. With 500 EUR more than we forecasted, but with additional two nights of stay. In the end, we ended up paying the most, but stayed the longest. And we should add that Widerøe paid for all the food consumed in the last three days, since we were stuck in Bodø.
2025-2026; 30th of December – 4th of January: five nights in Bergen
For the latest New Years’ Eve we’ve changed a bit the time frame, preferring to switch more of our stay in the effective New Year, and even southern, to the second biggest city, Bergen. In total, this vacation was, maybe, the cheapest: the return flight with Lufthansa from Bucharest to Bergen, with connection Frankfurt am Main, cost 1,170 EUR, while the accommodation was 508 EUR for five nights! Heimen Hotel is one of the best in the city, of course it is not the level of Thon, or Bondeheimen from Oslo, but sill better than Smart Hotel we booked in Tromsø, and ridiculously cheap comparing to… Romania, for example, for this time of the year. Then, in total, we paid 1,678 EUR, two persons, for flight, and accommodation with great breakfast!
10,487 EUR
Adding up our five trips to Norway, we paid, for 29 nights of accommodation (from which 21 with breakfast included) and flights (+ an unforeseen taxi) 10,487 EUR. Is this expensive for holidays in a country like this? You judge! And to be clear, Norwegian hotels have also other ways in welcome you: for example free all-you-can-drink coffee and hot tea, and also water. Just to mention, tap water in Norway is one of the best in the world, so in theory you don’t need to buy any, because most from the shop is anyway tap bottled water. There is no bad coffee in Norway! So if you don’t get free, and you might want to buy to go from the city / town, usually you can easily find one for 2-3 EUR. I don’t consider it that inaccessible. Now, speaking about quality, everything is of high quality in Norway. At least this was always our experience.
How much you pay for food?
The only bad significant experience was with laundry in Svolvær which got ruined, but paid for in the end. But when it came to food, at no point I felt a lack of quality, or any threats. Regardless if we ate a bun, sausage, or a New Year dinner. The food can lack some taste – very rare – but never quality / freshness. And we ate a lot of types, all over Norway. There is no such thing as bad food! Speaking about New Year’s Eve, a restaurant reservation for last night of the year with 3-4 courses and wine usually cost below 150 EUR / person. I am not sure if you consider it expensive, but in Romania prices are even higher, and I wouldn’t like to eat a New Year’s dinner in my native country, because I just don’t want to. 🙂 There is, however, a main catch, mentioned already in my articles: apart from Svalbard, there seems to be no restaurant in Norway opened after 23:00 / 23:30, so you have no chances to meet 1st of January at a restaurant. In Longyearbyen, I think the restaurant from Radisson is open, because there is nowhere to go anyway…
Excursions are top notch in Norway
If you want to eat a traditional pølse (sausage) from Narvesen, for example, the prices can range from 2.5 to 6.5 EUR, depending on the size / flavor. You might argue that Norway is not only about transportation, accommodation and food. It is true, but these, are mostly, the main concerns. As well, maybe, the excursions. Are they expensive? Again, I would say they are not cheap. Usually, you pay between 100 and 150 EUR for an excursion, and not only you get what you pay for, but in many cases you get more. So, for example, when we’ve paid for one in Lofoten, to go to Reine, we end up also admiring the Northern Lights, even if that was not included in the itinerary! For a cruise you generally pay between 60 and 80 EUR each, and, again, you see and learn a lot. The most expensive was the “Norway in a Nutshell” experience, at 310 EUR / each, but wrote about that here.
What to use in Norway
What is my rule? You will see it consolidate in the links I am leaving at the end of the article, to consolidate all the Norwegian experiences. But apart from using Skyscanner to identify to best connections, and then go to the airlines sites. The ones we used, as described already, were LOT, SAS, Swiss, Norwegian, Lufthansa, Air Baltic, and Widerøe, but KLM or Air France are also potential reliable travel partners, maybe even Ryanair. Regarding accommodation, Booking.com is always the operator we use for safety, and Get Your Guide to book activities. All the prices mentioned above include these services, and they are an excellent for safeguard your actions and to not pay ahead!
Alcohol is, indeed, very expensive in Norway and with a great reason!
One thing that can be particularly expensive in Norway is… alcohol! If you want a drink out, it is very seldom to find anything below 12 EUR / serving, and if you want to drink from a shop, well… that is even more complicated. From supermarkets you can get only beer, maximum 4.7% alcohol, but never cheaper than 2.5 EUR / serving, and never after 20:00 in weekdays, 16:00 on Saturday, and not at all on Sundays! If you want to drink home something stronger, then that is an even more complicated story, as the estate has monopoly, and opening times at the liquor stores is said to be between 10:00 and 18:00 at most, to trip you as much as possible (I am not 100% about this schedule, but so I’ve been told – never tried it out). So, indeed, it is very expensive you want to drink alcohol. And that happens for a very good reason!
Transportation, not cheap, not expensive
The healthcare system in Norway is (almost) free for all citizens, meaning that you would pay up to 300 EUR / year or so, and get unlimited care, but alcohol is believed to create historically more health issues, so if you get sick because of consuming alcohol, at least you have contributed already by paying a lot of money. The approach is not bad, and it seems that Norwegian, for more than 100 years, exchanged the social habit of drinking alcohol with drinking coffee. Hence the delicious and free (or vey cheap) unlimited coffee almost everywhere. Regarding public transportation, normally they can be around 3-5 EUR / trip with tram / bus / metro, 12 EUR return with a funicular, or 40 EUR return with a cable car.
Sauna accessible in Norway
Last, but not least, one thing we like so much to do is to book sauna when we go to Norway, and the latest experience, for a 2 hours sauna hiring, at private level, we’ve paid around 55 EUR. I find this price more than decent, since I am not aware for anywhere to be cheaper, and where it also gives you the possibility to plunge in the sea, to make a full cycle of hot and chilling! That is, in general, the way in which I see the prices in Norway. I am not sure if you share the fact that the country is not necessary expensive, but rather NOT cheap, but myself, I have seen more outrages prices in Geneve, for example, where you can’t find a fridge magnet cheaper than 11 EUR, or Cortina d’Ampezzo, where you pay more than 400 EUR per night and you can smell bakery in the morning… Not to mention the prices for New Years Eve in Romania, which are from another league.
In general, to calibrate the costs as best as possible in Norway, follow a couple of rules:
- Book a hotel with cancellation policy and as late as possible payment from 6-8 months advance, at least.
- Try and buy plane tickets with 2-4 months ahead (we recommend closer to four or more).
- Operate, if possible, thru a single airline, because if you miss a connection, like we did in 2024, when our flight landed late in Oslo, we got a significant compensation from the company, since you are entitled to ask for!
- Use always Booking.com and Get Your Guide, to have a safe cushion in case something is getting cancelled / rescheduled / doesn’t work as hopped for. It is generally harder to believe that people don’t cooperate when you book them thru a platform.
- This is not an article with pictures 🙂 but then, there are the links with all the full relevant experiences from Norway, just for you to consolidate your decisions / thoughts even better: