After checking out of our hotel in Trondheim we hit the road around 11am. According to google maps it would take us about 7 to 8 hours to drive from Trondheim to our next destination, the city of Alesund. If you drive directly there, the ride can take you only 6.5 hours but we wanted to take famous Atlantic Road National Tourist Route. From all of the tour books, blogs, and travel sites I read they all spoke very highly of the Atlantic Road. Known for its twists and turns, bridges, and arches the Atlantic Road connects islands along Norway’s Western Coast.
It took us several hours and a short ferry trip until we paid the toll at the entrance to the Atlantic Road (350 NOK’s or approximately $58).
It wasn’t until about 20 minutes of driving after this did we actually get to the most picturesque part of the road. I knew we reached our destination when the number of tour buses and cars parked on the side of the road increased two fold.
From first site I was pretty much in awe to look upon the road in person rather than the pictures I viewed online. When your driving along this road with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the bay on the others, you realize how small we are in this world. After stopping at several of the best locations and taking some pictures we pushed on.
After a short time of driving the spectacular part of the Atlantic Road was gone and we were basically driving through coastal area farmland. I must admit from the articles I read I was under the impression that the Atlantic Road was a bit longer and had more road hugging the actual ocean. Maybe it was an example of too much build up and talk before hand. Also the tide was out so the waves weren’t really pushing against the road like I’ve seen in pictures. Someday I will have to come back during the fall when the winds pick up and the storms churn up the Atlantic. That should be lots of fun to see the waves crashing over the tops of the road as cars and trucks go by, just like in the video I found on Youtube.
After we got off the Atlantic Road we reached next ferry that would take us from Molde to Vestnes. This ferry was a little bit longer than our first ride and gave us an opportunity to stretch out our legs. When the ferry arrived in Vestnes we had another 1 hour of driving time until we reached our hotel in Alesund. After driving the whole day it felt good to finally arrive at our hotel the Radison Blu which was located right on the water. As a matter of fact the room they gave us had water and fjord views. We spent two nights in Alesund and had a really good time. We ended up meeting some really nice people on the back patio of the hotel. Two were from America, one was from Norway and two were from Germany. It was nice to relax outside with the great views while we chitchatted about our trips and lives.
The next day after enjoying a very nice free breakfast buffet we headed off to the 418 steps that led us up to the Aksla Viewpoint. I’m not sure if we actually walked up 418 steps but there were allot of them. We had heard that you could just drive your car up to the viewpoint but we figured what’s the point of that. It was very much worth walking all of those steps to the top. On the way up there were some fantastic viewpoints of the city, the surrounding fjords, mountains, and water. After climbing up to the top we were looking upon sites that we have never seen before. The landscape was very unique to both of us. There was a slight breeze and the sky was clear and blue all around.
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Beautiful!!
This is just breathtaking. I never knew about the Atlantic Ocean Road and it looking like this. It is such pretty scenery and the day was very nice out. I would love to take a trip to see this for myself. Thanks for sharing such pretty pictures.
WOW! These views are really amazing. Looks like a lot of twists and turns that are so well worth the ride. I would love to see the waves crashing into the road. So cool.
The scenery is just breathtaking! So beautiful!
Wow, that is beautiful. Another beautiful drive is down Highway 1 in California. We drove it all along the coast to the Red Woods. Was the most beautiful drive I ever rode.
this would be awesome to get to go there for me.,thanks for sharing this awesome post
What a beautiful scenic drive! Great way to clear your mind!