Discover some of our best tips for finding cheap accommodation and how to save money on food and transportation in Norway!
With its expansive fjords, famous archipelagos, and undeniable beauty, Norway sits at the top of many traveler’s bucket lists. Like many people who dream of visiting this country, we put it off for years because of the expense compared to other travel destinations. During our recent visit, we realized traveling here can be done affordably with a little planning.
Table of Contents
How to Travel to Norway on a Budget
Set a Daily Spending Limit
Set a daily spending limit and stick to it! This might meanstaying in a hostel, camping, couchsurfing, or cooking your own meals. Before my visit to Norway, people warned me that it wasn’t possible to find a hotel for less than $400 US per night, but I found plenty for under $100 US in the places we visited.
Eating at restaurants, on the other hand, is very expensive. We were able to stick to our daily budget by buying alcohol and food for lunch at the local grocery stores.
Read more: Lofoten Islands Travel Tips: Everything You Need to Know
Book in Advance
Hotels: As soon as you book your flights to Norway, you should start researching your accommodation. Many areas of Norway have limited accommodation available and the inexpensive hotel options tend to get booked up first.
Before booking your hotel check to see if your rate includes breakfast. Many hotels offer this included in your stay. We filled up enough at breakfast so we didn’t need much more than a snack for lunch, which made spending money on dinner a lot less painful. We recommendBooking.com to find affordable accommodation in Norway.
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Transportation:If you decide to skip renting a car, then booking your transportation in advance is recommended. If you do rent a car, look into credit cards that offer car rental coverage. The car rental insurance costs in Norway can easily blow your budget, but it’s not something you want to go without.
Read more: The Best Time to Visit Norway (Depending On What You Want To See)
Stay With Locals
This will save you money on accommodation and food. If you book an AirBnb with a kitchen, you won’t have to eat at a restaurant for every meal. Keep in mind that most hotels include breakfast, so make sure to take that into consideration when comparing prices on hotels versus AirBnb stays.
Couchsurfing is another option that I have not personally tried, but many travelers love it. I like to have my own place when traveling (I always book my own apartments when using AirBnb) and I’ve found it can be time consuming to try to find a Couchsurfing host, but it’s a great way to save money if you are on an extremely tight budget.
AirBnb Tip: If you sign up through our AirBnb link, you’ll get a free credit towards your first stay.
Travel in the Off Season
High season in Norway is May through August, when the weather is not too chilly. However, if you are traveling to areas where you can see the Northern Lights, then December through about March will be high season. The months of April and October are your best bets for lower prices on flights and accommodation.
Read more: Norway Travel Tips: Everything You Need to Know
Saving Money on Food & Alcohol
I was told that the locals rarely even eat at restaurants because it’s so expensive in Norway. We loaded up on healthy snacks at the supermarket to take with us on hikes and exploring by car. We also bought most of our beer at the Kiwi. Look forRema 1000 and Kiwi — these two stores are the discount supermarkets.
Similar to Sweden, drinks with an alcohol content of more than 4.7% can not be sold in Norwegian supermarkets. Wine, spirits, and strong beer are only sold at theVinmonopolet and their prices are not exactly cheap. If you drink hard alcohol, you might want to bring a bottle in your luggage.
Head for Asian or family-owned restaurants when you do eat out. These tend to be cheaper. Tips are not required in restaurants and remember to pay close attention to your bill because it’s common for gratuity to be included. If you do decide to tip, 5 to 10 percent is sufficient.
Read more: The Ultimate Guide to Norway’s Fjord Region
Drink the Tap Water!
The tap water in Norway tastes better than any tap or bottled water I’ve ever tried. Even if you are not on a budget, you should drink the tap water anyway.
Explore the Outdoors
Hiking in Norway: The best part about Norway, in my opinion, is the stunning natural beauty and luckily hiking is free! We spent almost every single day hiking and it was one of my all-time favorite trips abroad.
We spent a week in the Western Fjords and hiked in Geirangerfjord and Sognefjord. During our time in Alesund, we woke up at sunrise to walk the 418 steps up from town park to Aksla Viewpoint for a stunning view of the archipelago.
Camping in Norway:You can also pitch a tent in the wild for free as long as you are at least 150m from houses, you don’t stay more than 2 nights, you don’t require a campfire, and you carry all of your trash out.
It’s very expensive to buy camping gear in Norway, so I recommend bringing your own. We’ve come up with the ideal camping kit for travel which includes atinycamping stove,miniature cookware set, extremely warm sleeping bag, lightweight 2-person tent, Therm-a-Rest sleeping pads, and internal frame backpack.
Read more: The Ultimate Norway Packing Guide
Plan Your Trip to Norway
After years of travel and running this travel blog, we havecome to trust and rely on a few websites to help us find the best deals on flights and accommodation.
Flights:
- Going is the first place we check when searching for cheap flights. It searches hundreds of sites for the best fare and includes both standard and budget airlines.
Accommodation:
- Booking.com offers savings on hotels, apartments, and villas in 80,000 destinations worldwide. For apartment rentals while traveling, we use AirBnb. To get a credit towardsyour first booking, sign up through this link.
Do you love to photograph your travels?
Norway is an extremely photogenic country and one of the best travel destinationsto take stunning photos of your vacation. For travel photography tips, read our posts about how to choose the best travel camera, how to take great travel photos, and ourultimate packing guide for travel photographers.
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