In July 2024 we cruised the Norwegian Fjords with P&O cruises on board Iona. We loved the whole experience, from how seamless it was to board in Southampton to seeing the iconic fjords from our cabin’s balcony. But what I really struggled with in the run up to this cruise was deciding what exactly to do in each port and how much to pre book before our trip.
Frustratingly for us a family I found that many of the P&O excursions I’d have liked to do had an age restriction that meant our 5-year-old couldn’t join in. (These were mainly hikes and rib boat tours.) I also found many of the more family-friendly activities quite expensive for what they were and, in general, we like to explore independently as much as possible.
So, I got my research hat on and ended up putting together an incredible schedule that took in all the main sights at our own pace and for a fraction of the price of ship excursions.
If you’re cruising the Norwegian fjords in 2024, here’s exactly what we did in each port and all the information you need to book the same experiences.
Norwegian Fjords port guide
Stavanger
Iona docks right next to the Old Town in Stavanger and it’s a very easy and short walk to get from the ship to the town centre. We decided not to book any excursions for our time in Stavanger, saving our budget for later in the week, and just enjoying the opportunity to walk around at our own pace after a day at sea.
We started our walk in the Old Town where we admired the white wooden houses from the 18th century. From there we walked to colourful Fargegaten and grabbed a coffee at hipster coffee house Kokko Kaffebar.
While I window-shopped my husband and son visited the surprisingly interesting & interactive Norwegian Petroleum Museum (£12 per adult & £4 per child). If you have children this is a great place to come for them to let off steam as the museum has a fantastic free playground made out of old oil rig equipment and a big bouncy pit made from disused buoys.
I did really want to do this Lysefjord Sightseeing RIB Boat Tour to Pulpit Rock too but it had a minimum age of 6 so our son is not quite old enough yet.
Olden
In Olden there are 2 very popular attractions (namely the Loen Skylift and Briksdal Glacier) that you can try to do in one day if you have the budget and are good at time-keeping!
The ship docks a short walk from Olden but you will need to book a transfer/catch a bus to reach both the Loen Skylift and the Briksdal Glacier and unfortunately they are in opposite directions from each other. (The Loen Skylift is 10 minutes from the port by bus, while the Glacier is approx. 45-minute’s drive away in the other direction.)
What we opted to do is pre-book tickets and transfers for the Loen Skylift with Olden Adventures. (This is the same company that P&O use and it works out a bit cheaper to book directly with them.)
You will need to collect your pre-booked tickets from a stand at the port in Olden but they have no fixed timings so you can disembark and hop on the transfer bus whenever suits you. We had read that the queues for the Skylift get very long so we disembarked the ship as soon as the gangway opened (approx. 8.40), collected our tickets, hopped on the transfer bus, walked straight onto the cable car and were at the summit by 9.20!
Top tip: We ordered room service breakfast to enjoy while watching the Olden sail in which meant we could get off the ship quickly in the morning.
Tickets for the Loen Skylift with transfers from the port cost us £160 for 2 adults (children under 6 are free). It felt a little like an expensive gamble considering you could get up there and not see a thing. Luckily for us we had beautiful weather and the panoramic views from the top of Mt. Hoven were astounding.
There are a couple of trails and viewpoints you can explore at the top, as well as a cosy chic restaurant with floor-to-ceiling windows. I highly recommend the warm cinnamon buns from the cafe; they were worth the splurge.
There are also some more adventurous activities you can do up here like guided hikes and ziplines, but these aren’t suitable for young children, obviously.
The cable car itself, which is one of the steepest in the world, is far less scary than it sounds. It only takes 5 minutes to ascend 1011 meters and drop you at Mountain Station. The cabin’s fit 35 passengers and they do fill them up; my 5-year-old was pretty disappointed we were nowhere near a window. But it’s a very popular activity and I’m just glad we escaped the long queues. Because, sure enough, by the time we came back down at 11.30 there were hundreds of people waiting to get up there!
I decided not to prebook any tours to the Briksdal Glacier as I wasn’t sure how long we would spend in Loen and the excursion that appealed to us as a family (guided tour by troll car) was sold out weeks before our cruise departed.
I had hoped we might be able to jump on the very affordable local bus but there are only a couple of departures a day and we missed the last one while having lunch. We’d also missed the last departure of the Olden Adventures Briksdal Glacier Shuttle Bus (11am) but deciding we didn’t want to miss out on seeing the glacier entirely we booked their Open Top Glacier Sightseeing Bus instead. (Approx £25 per adult and £15 per child.)
I had read reviews that this open top bus tour was underwhelming because it doesn’t take you right up to the glacier itself but we were short of time and were happy to just have a glimpse of it from the viewpoint.
The commentary on board was interesting and we passed some beautiful scenery. On the way back we were able to get off the bus at Olden and make our own way back to the ship, passing beautiful wooden churches and a small swimming spot along the way.
If you’re reading this early enough in advance and have the budget, my top recommendation would be to book both the Briskal Glacier (either by transfer bus or troll car) and Loen Skylift directly with Olden Adventures. Book them separately as you get given a 10% voucher after your first booking that you can put towards the next!
Hellesylt
In Hellesylt we had an action-packed day exploring the UNESCO heritage listed Geirangerfjord. As I mentioned earlier, many of the P&O excursions that appealed to me here had a minimum age limit of 12, so I was delighted to stumble across a recommendation in a Facebook group for a rib boat tour run by a local company that took children from 3+.
Top tip – Join a Facebook Group such as P&O Iona Fjords 2024 or your cruise number specifically and find a wealth of information from other passengers who are also planning their trip.
We pre-booked this guided rib boat tour of Geraingerfjord for 10am and it was amazing – fun, informative and, crucially, suitable for a 5-year-old. I wasn’t sure what to expect but we had a very smooth ride that was more about sightseeing then thrill-seeking. I wasn’t worried about Miles at all who seemed pretty snug in his suit and looked confident on the saddle style seat.
The tour departs just a short walk from the ship and we disembarked early so we could explore a little of the fairy-tale-like town of Hellesylt before the masses.
It cost us £140 for 2 adults and 1 child. I’m pretty sure the ship excursions were priced around £100 per adult.
There was some confusion prior to our cruise about whether Iona sails Geirangerfjord or not. It was on our itinerary as a sail by but this is misleading as Iona doesn’t (or at least didn’t on our cruise) go into the more scenic sections of the fjord that you would see if she docked at Gerainger. I’m really glad therefore that we booked a Geraingerfjord rib boat tour that took us past the famous Seven Sisters, explained the history of the UNESCO heritage mountain farms and even showed us a mountain troll. (Miles highlight of the week!)
There are alternative options to see Geirangerfjord from Hellesylt including taking the public ferry to Gerianger, but I did notice the queues for this were very long.
After our fun boat tour, which took about an hour, I noticed a sign outside the Bonseye tour office offering 50% off last minute tours to their mountain farm. (It’s also listed as an excursion on their website under ‘Meet the locals‘.)
It turns out the Bonsaksen family (who run the Bonseye tour company) own a 2000-year-old mountain farm high above the fjords in Hellesylt and we had a lovely afternoon there, meeting the llamas, listening to the owner talk about life in the fjords, and snacking on hot waffles and tea with a sensational view.
A coach takes you from the port to the farm and back again and the whole thing takes about an hour. It’s a really lovely experience, especially with kids, and I’m glad we managed to snag half price tickets on the day. (It still cost us £66 for 2 adults and 1 child and I wouldn’t have wanted to pay more than that!)
Before boarding we took a little time to explore more of Hellesylt, including the beautiful waterfall that splits the town in two. I noticed quite a few passengers had stayed in Hellesylt, opting to swim and hike, and just soak up the beautiful scenery.
Haugesund
Our last port of this cruise was Haugesund and without being rude I wasn’t as excited about this port as others on the itinerary. Billed as the ‘homeland of the Vikings’, Haugesund seemed like quite a large, built-up town compared to everywhere else we had docked and none of the excursions offered by the ship immediately jumped out at me.
The place I was most keen to see in this region was Skudeshavn (seen above) and that was a 45-minute drive from the port in Haugesund. The P&O excursion to get there would have cost us over £150 as a family and included no free time to explore independently. Luckily, my husband jumped in to save us and found the details of a car hire company in the centre of Haugesund.
On the day we docked we all walked from the ship into Haugesund (approx. 20 minutes) and Miles and I did a bit of sightseeing while Justin went to the car hire office. About 15 minutes later Justin picked us up in a brand new BYD electric car that had cost approx. £75 for the day’s hire. (The booster seat was extra.)
Leaving the crowds behind we got straight on the road to idyllic Skudeshavn. We picked up a scavenger trail map from tourist information that led us to interesting sights around this historic harbour town and kept my son engaged for a whole hour. We also found some gorgeous little teashops here like Verdens Minste Kafe where you can stop for cake in their cottage garden.
We decided to grab some supplies from the supermarket and drove to our next stop, the white sands of Akrasanden Beach. There were just a handful of locals here and Miles had a great time digging, paddling and playing with some young girls despite none of them speaking each other’s language.
We also had plans to visit the Little Statue of Liberty in Visnes and the Rising Tides sculpture park (approx. 1 hour walk from the cruise port) but decided to stay longer at the beach instead.
As the car hire office was a 25-minute walk from the port, my husband dropped my son and I back at the ship and returned the car alone to save Miles’ little legs. He was back well before the on-board time of 4.30.
If you’re not keen on driving I found a 4-hour tour with Go Viking that goes to Skudeshavn, Akrasanden and Little Statue of Liberty. It would have cost us £140 for 2 adults and 1 child but was my plan b if we couldn’t get a car for the day.
You can also pre book car hire with Discover Cars if you want to guarantee availability.
I appreciate this is a wealth of information to process and not all our choices in port will suit every cruiser but I hope this article helped you narrow down the options at least. We had a wonderful time cruising the Norwegian Fjords with P&O but I think sticking to our own schedule and exploring independently as much as possible is part of what made the experience so good for us. That’s not to say the ship excursions aren’t amazing too, we just found we didn’t need to use them this time.
Do let me know in the comments if you have any questions about cruising the Norwegian Fjords as a family. You’ll find lots more info, including daily stories from this trip, in my highlights over on my Instagram @jayneytravels.
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