Driving in Norway: Slow Roads, Long Tunnels and Ferries That Are Part of the Highway

Each twist of the road opens a new view: Øksfjorden, Finnmark. (Photo: Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0)

The first thing to know about driving in Norway is that it takes longer than you think — and longer than your navigation app thinks, too; online maps get the distances right and sometimes the times wrong. Norway is wider than Britain and about the size of Germany, but far longer from south to north. Its northernmost county, Finnmark, is wider than Denmark, and crossing it is a longer drive than London to Glasgow. The main road, the E6, runs some 2,600 km; driving the whole of it takes about a week.

What makes it slow is the land. The coast breaks into islands and fjords, mountains and glaciers rise behind it, and roads are mostly confined to valleys and shores. Getting from one valley to the next means a tunnel, a mountain pass, a ferry or a long detour. Most roads are ordinary two-lane roads with little traffic, a typical limit of 80 km/h, and in many parts an honest average nearer 60.

The reward is the reason to drive at all. In the cities a car is more trouble than help — good public transport, costly parking, and one-way streets in the centres of Oslo and Bergen — but Norway's great sight is its landscape, and a car reaches the corners trains and buses do not. Traffic is among the safest in the world: 2020 had the fewest road deaths since the Second World War, with ten times the traffic.

Roads often follow narrow valleys. (Photo: Jygre, CC BY-SA 3.0)

How long it takes

Fill the tank early: in the thinly peopled north, the next petrol station can be more than 100 km away, and a jerry can is worth considering.

The roads to know

• E6, the spine: from Sweden via Oslo to Kirkenes in the far northeast, through 10 of the country's 19 counties — four or six fast lanes around Oslo, a narrow two-lane road in remote stretches.
• E39, the western fjords: Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen, Ålesund, Trondheim — some 100 tunnels, floating bridges and 8 ferries, and still the shortest way between those cities.
• E18: Kristiansand and the south coast to Oslo and Sweden, mostly wide motorway.
• E16: Bergen to Oslo by way of Voss and Flåm, then on to Sweden.

The Hardanger Bridge on roads 7 and 13, opened in 2013. (Photo: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Tunnels and ferries

Tunnels are part of every Norwegian drive, most of them in Western Norway and Nordland. The E16 has more than 60, making up 15% of the road; the E6 more than 80; the E39 more than 100. Most are 1–3 km, lit and sometimes narrower than the road outside; some, especially under the sea, are steep. Each has a name — give it to police or firefighters in an emergency — and long ones count down the kilometres to the exit. Overtaking in a two-lane tunnel is dangerous and often forbidden. Never enter at a red light, and keep the radio on.

In a fire, call from the tunnel's emergency phone, which tells traffic control where you are. In a one-way tunnel never turn round — leave the car with hazard lights on and walk to the nearest emergency exit; in a two-way tunnel, drive out if you safely can, otherwise walk out away from the smoke.

Ferries — well over 100 crossings on public roads — are part of the highway: the crossing carries the road's number, and there is usually no reasonable way round. You cannot book; cars queue on arrival, and there is almost always room. On main roads boats leave 2 to 4 times an hour by day, crossings usually take 10–30 minutes, and a car pays roughly 50–300 kr (a motorhome double or more). Many have a café on board.

The scenic routes

Almost any road in the west, the mountains or the north is scenic, and eighteen National Tourist Routes — 1,850 km in all — are singled out, with viewpoints and rest stops built for visitors.

Trollstigen. (Photo: Stefan Krause, Germany, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Hairpin roads gather in the inner fjords around Åndalsnes, Geiranger and Stryn: Trollstigen, perhaps the most famous; the Geiranger road, with even more turns; the Lysebotn road above the Lysefjord, with 27 hairpins. On any steep descent, use a low gear and let the engine hold the speed — brakes can overheat until their fluid boils.

Øvre Årdal from the hairpin road to Tyin. (Photo: Foledman, CC0)

Sognefjellet. (Photo: Ximonic, Simo Räsänen, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Winter changes everything

Snow can fall on the passes in late April or late September; when it is below 10 °C at sea level it can be at or below freezing at 1,500 m. From October to April many roads lie under ice or packed snow for months. Every winter, main roads are blocked for hours by foreign drivers without the skills or tyres for them, and police turn many away.

• Tyres: in winter (from November 1) any tyre needs at least 3 mm of tread; in summer 1.6 mm is legal. Nordic winter tyres, studded or not, are strongly recommended.
• Driving: don't rush. Stretch the gap to the car ahead from 3 seconds to 5–6 or more, and test the brakes often to feel the grip.
• Convoys: in storms some passes open only behind a snowplough. You wait at a gate, sometimes for hours; then follow closely with hazard lights on, never leave the line, and if it stops, stay in the car. Bring a full tank, a torch, a shovel, a tow rope, food, a warm drink and warm clothes.
• Closures: some passes shut for the season — Trollstigen October–May, Sognefjell and Geiranger–Langvatn November–May, the Aurland–Lærdal road November–June, the road to Nordkapp October–April — and others for hours or days in strong wind. Check the Norwegian Public Roads Authority's road reports the day you go, and ask locals.

"Stop. Wait for snow plough": a convoy waiting point on road 7. (Photo: Stefan.straub, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Animals are a hazard all year: roads are rarely fenced, and hitting a moose is very dangerous. Take care at dusk and dawn, at a full moon, at forest edges and in spring; expect reindeer in the north and livestock past a cattle grid.

Rules strictly enforced

Rules are much as in the rest of Europe, driving on the right, but enforcement is strict and fines are very high — cameras are common, police checks too, and the worst offences bring jail and the loss of a licence, visitors included.

Most foreign licences are valid for three months, and those from the EU, EEA and UK for as long as they are valid. Off-road driving is forbidden. Tolls are mostly collected automatically through AutoPass by photographing the number plate; visitors in their own car can register it for their stay.

The E6 in Nordland. (Photo: Ximonic, Simo Räsänen, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Sources

• "Driving in Norway" from Wikivoyage, by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changed: rewritten in hubnx's own words and condensed; phone numbers, sign tables, the glossary and itineraries left out; each photo under its own licence, credited in its caption. This page is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.