I am planning a trip for June or July this year to Norway and was told Denmark is the nearest place to get to for Christiansand from UK. I am happy to go commercial ferry or private hire if that is an option. Anyone know anyone who knows anything about getting to norway by sea
Give this a try, not used it myself but i've made enquires about the Gothenburg crossing and sounds ok, Dave
I've done Harwich to Esberg (embarrassingly in a cage) , and there was a good couple of dozen bikes. Three big groups and a few single/couples, good chaps. http://www.dfdsseaways.co.uk/ferry-routes/denmark/harwich-to-esbjerg/ It's an overnight trip, and you must get a cabin too. After that it's an easy drive over to Sweden (a couple more tolls / short ferries), then presumably you'd drive to Gothenburg and onto Norway. The ferry is unsurprisingly expensive, good steaks, decent beer (no ale), breakfast is well overpriced. I'd bring some food to snack in your cabin, and splash out on a steak for dinner. Edit: Oh, and watch out for Danish petrol stations: some only take certain cards, and both my Barclays cards wouldn't work on their machines. Bring cash in case!
If you're doing Harwich - Esbjerg you can get a ferry from Hirtshals to Kristiansand for about 35 euro, skipping out on 500km or so of Sweden. I'm planning a similar trip in a couple of weeks, had originally planned to go straight up from Frankfurt but instead taking a minor detour via Wales; rather than take the Harwich ferry I'm taking the Dover ferry to Dunkirk and riding up to Hirtshals over a couple of days. Time is in better supply than money for me though
I´m from Denmark, and grew up not that far from Hirtshals. There is a ferry daily to Kristiansand, operated by Colorline. The price is anywhere from approximately 300 dkr - 500 dkr. Without knowing it, I reckon the price goes up the later you order and the closer to the weekends you choose to go. The trip is 3 hours and 15 minutes. If you have a visa or any of the major cards, you should be just fine at the petrolstations I don´t know what bike you are riding, but if you want some fun at the beach, there´s plenty of opportunities for that, it´s even legal some places, like here: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=da&rlz=&=&q=r%C3%B8dhus+klit&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl (Where the pointer says A) Have a nice trip and let me know if you need help with anything. Martin
I rode up to North Cape a few years ago. The first three days were getting from central France to Copenhagen and from there to Oslo I took the overnight ferry to get some rest. It left in late afternoon and arrived Oslo the next morning. Dinner was great, nice smooth sailing and the last hour or so was through the beautiful channel to Oslo. Copenhagen is a really nice town, the locals are ever so friendly, and there are many sites to visit. Worth the detour IMO.
Mainly for lorries...but you could give it a try http://freight.dfdsseaways.com/dfds_ferries/north_sea_ferries/brevik_immingham_ferries/