Driving to Norway and Sweden
Hi, I am looking for advice from anyone who has driven from the UK to Norway and Sweden.
We are going through Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany.
We believe there are green zones in these countries, for vehicle emissions, which I believe a disc is required.
Were do you purchase these from, for your vehicle.
Also any advice on campsites/fueling,and food shopping ect would be great
Thanks
Chris .
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OK, so I am Norwegian, though I live in U.K.
There are lots of tolls on the Norwegian roads, it is a very hot topic in Norway at the moment. There are way more charges than the populous is happy with.
You can obtain a dongle that you fix on the windscreen and is linked to your bank or your credit card, that way the tolls are automatically paid.
I have not been in Norway with caravan since 2014, so you will need to check the latest regulations.
As far as I know, there are few tolls in Sweden, there are some around Stockholm.
If you get a dongle on the windscreen then it should work for Norway, Sweden and Denmark. And it often gives you a discount on the bridges in Denmark too.
Camping Sweden has a good website that tells you about all this, and is in English.
They also often have offers on various things like the bridge crossing from Denmark to Sweden.
Very much worth checking out
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We did this trip a few years ago, staying on the motorway through Belgium, Germany, Denmark etc didn't need any stickers.
Didn't have a problem finding sites, most towns seemed to have a one. ASCI don't list many sites in Scandinavia.
The following web sites are useful
https://www.autopass.no/visitors-payment - this relates to tolls in Norway.
https://www.visitnorway.com - Offical website gives lots of info.
Our trip is listed here though a while ago.
https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-together/your-stories/travellingpeacocks/norway-trip-2012/
Have a good trip, we enjoyed it and will go again one day.
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Judging from the title, you'll need to be able to hold your breath for a long time.
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Last summer we did a 9 week/7,000 mile tour of Scandinavia in our motorhome and would recommend this to anyone as the scenery is awesome with the opportunity of extensive free camping throughout Norway, Finland and Sweden. As our trip was in the summer, we had 24 hour daylight for a large part of the trip.We used DFDS ferry from Dover to Dunkirk then drove north via France, Belgium, Holland, Germany through to north of Denmark where we took the ferry from Hirtshals to Larvik in Norway. We drove the west coast of Norway via the fjords and islands until we reached the most northerly point in mainland Europe at North Cape, approx 650 miles north of the artic circle. We then turned east and returned via Finland, Sweden, Denmark etc.
There are numerous sections of toll road in Norway although the costs are quite low. With one exception, all of the toll roads we used were just cameras that snapped your number plate and then invoiced the registered keeper. This is not a quick process and it can easily take 3 months for an invoice to arrive in the UK. You don’t need to pre register for this but we chose or register our van with the appropriate authorities with a link to automatically debit our account with the charges. There are no toll roads in Finland or Sweden!
Campsites are plentiful in Scandinavia and reasonably priced although some are a little basic or rustic whilst Unisex saunas on sites are interesting! The ‘right to roam’ means that free/wild camping is OK and we found plenty of great overnight spots either on our own or alongside one or two other vans.
Food and drink can be expensive so our tips are:
Stock up on tinned/dry/packet foods in Germany or Denmark
Stock up on alcohol before you go. In Norway, Finland & Sweden, alcohol is expensive and if over 3% proof, it can only be purchased in a government alcohol shop where prices are strictly regulated
Shops are fairly plentiful with most towns having a least one supermarket. Lidl and Aldi can be found in the larger towns but we found REMA 1000 shops to be cheaper and more widely spread.
Most fresh fruit and veg is imported and expensive so be prepared to make use of frozen foods etc if you want to keep costs down
Fuel stations are also reasonably plentiful but opening hours can vary so I suggest you top the tank up when you get down to half full. Fuel costs are roughly similar to UK but do vary according to time of day and day of week.
Finally, don’t expect to travel anywhere fast in rural Norway so be prepared to take it easy. Speed limits are low, roads can be narrow and you will want to stop regularly to take in the views. Additionally, you will often find the road ending at a fjord so you have to wait for the ferries to cross over and pick up the road again.
Hope this helps.
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Rema 1000 is only in Norway and Denmark, Norway also has Kiwi and Bunnpris at the less expensive end of the market.
There are no Lidl stores in Norway, and as far as I know no Aldi’s either, but you will find them elsewhere in Scandinavia.0 -
We travel quite often to Northern Norway via Sweden & Finland twice/year] if you buy a Bropas for the Oresund Bridge [43 Euros] this will give you a 50% reduction for your travels along with a reduction on the Storbaelt Toll Bridge in Denmark, & 99% of the Toll Roads in Norway. So one return trip pays for the Bropas.
Just to inform you Norway has started a massive Civil Engineering project a tunnel from Northern Denmark to Kristiansand Norway the E39 north to Trondheim all new tunnels & bridges.
Stockholm should have nearly completed a one hundred kilometre city bypass but have sacked the contractors for faulty roof bolting so an unfortunate delay.
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