THE ABEL SYMPOSIUM 2011
Accommodation and travel
Accommodation
The conference and the accommodation will be at the KviknesHotel in Balestrand, very next to the Sognefjord. Rooms are reserved from June 19th through June 24th, so any extended stay need to be arranged. In addition, the extra charge for a double room is 1030 NOK/night with full board (contact us if you want to book a double room).
Travel
We recommend to book the flights as soon as possible. Please inform us about your travel plans when you have made them.
Please feel free to contact us if you need some help with your travel arrangements.
Arriving in Balestrand, can be achieved in many ways, however we recommend the two first options:
- Fly to Bergen.
- If you arrive on Sunday June 19 before 15.00, take the airport bus (or a taxi) to the boat leaving at 16.30 going Rysjedalsvika and then catch the charter bus we have arranged from there to Balestrand.
For those arriving later, but before 20.00, we will arrange a cars to Balestrand (along a scenic route). This will take 3+ hours.
For returning from Balestrand to Bergen on Friday June 24, there is a boat 07.50 - 11.40 and 16.55 - 20.40. There may also be an alternative possibility with a car Balestrand-Bergen for those who want to leave later than 07.50.
- Fly to Oslo, then fly to Sogndal airport. There are direct flights Oslo-Sogndal 13.35 - 14.25 and 19.40-20.30, and a flight with 1 stop 16.10 - 17.58. There are buses until 22.10, but we will also arrange minibus-transportation/taxi if needed.
- Fly (first to Oslo or Bergen, then) to Førde airport, bus to Førde, bus to Balestand
- Fly to Oslo, train from Oslo to Myrdal, train from Myrdal to Flåm, then boat from Flåm to Balestrand
- Fly to Bergen, train from Bergen to Myrdal, train from Myrdal to Flåm, then boat from Flåm to Balestrand
- Use Norway's highway number 1, the coastal express boat. For instance, fly to anywhere north of Bergen and on the coast, take the coastal express boat to somewhere else along the coast. Then take a boat or a bus to Balestrand.
Remarks on the different options.
1: Bergen airport, Flesland, can be reached from several international airports. There is a airport bus service to Bergen bus terminal (see schedule here). From the bus terminal you continue with a 4 hours boat ride, that operates on this schedule. It is approximately a 15 minutes walk from the bus terminal to Bergen Strandkaiterminalen, where the boat leaves from.
2: Sogndal airport has an airport bus service (60NOK, 20 minutes to Sognal center). See the airport bus schedule here. The bus from Sogndal to Balestrand operates on this schedule. The bus ride is approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes.
3: Førde airport has an airport bus service (approximately 20 minutes to Førde center). See the airport bus schedule here. The bus from Førde to Balestrand operates on this schedule.
4 and 5: The train between Oslo and Bergen train stops in Myrdal (see the schedule for the trains in Norway), where you can connect with the world famous Flåm railway for a spectacular 45 minute train ride that descends down into Flåm valley. You continue to Balestrand via the express boat (see the schedule here).
6: If you plan to do this option and feel lost, please contact us and we will try to help.
We advice to plan your trip in time, so that the tickets are available and you can get a reasonable price. Notice that several airports sometimes are called Oslo, namely (the main one) Oslo airport Gardermoen (OSL), and two smaller ones, Torp/Sandefjord (TRF) and Moss (Rygge). In this case, you can change airports using Torp express bus or Rygge-ekspress. Be sure however to have enough time: the airports are far from each other.
Also when time for plane change is calculated pay attention to the fact that even though Norway is in Schengen area, it is not in EU, so that luggage should be collected and then checked-in again after customs.
