Geiranger Private Tour: Options, Costs and the Shared Alternative

• Top choice Shared Dalsnibba tour from US$116 Duration3.5 hoursGroupShared tourStarts fromGeirangerRating4.61 from 2,636 reviews Check availability
• Private Dalsnibba tour from US$1,886 Duration5 hoursGroupPrivate groupStarts fromGeiranger, pickup includedRatingNo reviews yet See this tour
• Private day from Ålesund from US$1,084 Duration1 dayGroupPrivate groupStarts fromÅlesund, pickup includedRating4.85 from 8 reviews See this tour

Private tours in Geiranger, and who runs them

Private tours around Geiranger do exist, but none of them is the tour booked from this site. The widget on every page here sells a shared guided tour from Geiranger to Flydalsjuvet, Dalsnibba, Djupvatnet and Eagle Bend, from US$116 for 3.5 hours with an English-speaking live guide.^[1] The private alternatives come from other operators, and they fall into four kinds: a private vehicle with a guide, a taxi with a driver-guide, a chartered boat, and full private days that go to Briksdal or start in Ålesund.^{[2][3][4][9][10]}

On GetYourGuide, the private listings for the area include a five-hour fjord tour with Dalsnibba and the Eagle Road from US$1,886, a nine-hour private day trip to Briksdal from US$2,305, and a full private day from Ålesund from US$1,084. All three are sold as private group bookings, and each listing names a pickup.^[2][3][4] Locally, Norway Excursions sells a private Mt. Dalsnibba and Eagle Road tour from EUR 2,230, and Visit Geiranger runs scenic taxi tours from NOK 5,520.^[8][9]

If what you want is a Geiranger private guide rather than just a private vehicle, read who does the talking. The five-hour Geiranger tour lists a live guide in English, while the Ålesund day lists an English-speaking driver. The Briksdal day trip lists guides in English, Russian, Norwegian and Latvian, and the taxi tours use a driver-guide who speaks English and Norwegian.^[2][3][4][9]

What a private tour costs, and how the price is counted

The lowest private price in this comparison belongs to a kayak rather than a vehicle: a private double kayak rental on the Geiranger fjord starts from US$79 for three hours.^[7] For a private day with transport, prices start at from US$1,084 from Ålesund and from US$1,886 from Geiranger, and the private Briksdal trip starts at from US$2,305.^[2][3][4]

How the price is counted matters as much as the figure. Norway Excursions sells its private Dalsnibba tour as one private booking for 1 to 15 guests, from EUR 2,230. Visit Geiranger quotes its two-hour taxi tour from NOK 5,520 for a car of up to four people. The group bus excursions sold through geirangerfjord.no are priced per bus and per guide, and each bus takes 40 to 50 people.^[8][9][11] On the GetYourGuide private listings, check what your party pays at checkout before comparing totals.

Set against those figures, the shared tour booked from this site starts from US$116.^[1] The cheapest private day listed here costs more than nine times that. Where a private price covers the whole party, splitting it between more travellers narrows the gap, so that is the sum to do before booking.

The mountain road above Geiranger that shared and private Dalsnibba tours both climb

A private Dalsnibba tour, stop by stop

The private Dalsnibba tour from Norway Excursions follows much the same line as the shared tour. It leaves Geiranger uphill through hairpin bends to a photo stop at Flydalsjuvet, continues to the top of Mount Dalsnibba and the Geiranger Skywalk, stops again at Djupvatnet, and returns over the Eagle Road with its 11 hairpin bends. It runs 3.5 hours, the same length as the shared tour, and its price includes admission to Dalsnibba.^[1][8]

The difference is who fills the vehicle and which language the commentary is in. The private tour takes 1 to 15 guests and lists seven guide languages: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Norwegian. The shared tour is guided live in English.^[1][8]

Whichever you book, the mountain sets the calendar. The toll road to the top of Dalsnibba climbs from Djupvatnet, at 1,030 metres, through 11 hairpin turns at a 10% incline. It opens in the last half of May once the snow is cleared, and usually closes in late September, depending on the weather.^[12] Norway Excursions notes that in May the road may still be closed, in which case its Dalsnibba stop is replaced with a visit somewhere else.^[8]

Booking a private tour: Geiranger fjord by boat

A private Geirangerfjord cruise is the other way to have a guide to yourself. Visit Geiranger charters MS Bølgen II for a two-hour fjord cruise with the captain as your guide. The whole boat is chartered, it takes a maximum of ten passengers, and the operator recommends a group of no more than eight.^[10]

From Ålesund, a private cruise on GetYourGuide runs seven hours through Storfjorden into the Geirangerfjord, past the Seven Sisters waterfall to Geiranger and back again, from US$5,019 with an English-speaking live guide. It is the most expensive private option in this comparison by a wide margin, and it has no reviews yet.^[5]

Can a private tour meet a cruise ship?

Yes, with at least one operator. Norway Excursions picks up and drops off at the cruise terminal or at your hotel, says it adapts to the departures of cruise ships, and gives cruise passengers a back-in-time guarantee, for which it asks for the ship's name when you book. Guests are asked to be at the meeting point 15 minutes before departure, and its private Dalsnibba tour is available from May to September.^[8]

Visit Geiranger's taxi tours meet outside the tourist information in Geiranger harbour, or by arrangement, and run from 1 April to 1 November. If the road to Dalsnibba is closed, the taxi is rerouted towards the Eagle Road and Eidsdal, and the Dalsnibba road toll is included in the price.^[9] The three private GetYourGuide day tours collect you, so confirm the meeting place against where your ship comes in before you pay.^[2][3][4]

For a shorter call, the taxi tours come in three lengths. The 1.5-hour tour stops at Flydalsjuvet and Eagle Bend; the two-hour tour stops at Flydalsjuvet, the Geiranger Skywalk on Dalsnibba, Djupvatnet and Knuten Bridge; the three-hour tour adds Eagle Bend to those. The tours run in four-seater or eight-seater cars.^[9]

Private options that start in Ålesund

Two private listings begin in Ålesund rather than Geiranger. The private day trip to the Geirangerfjord runs a full day, collects you, and has an English-speaking driver, from US$1,084, and is rated 4.85 from 8 reviews. The private cruise runs seven hours by water, from US$5,019.^[3][5]

Among the private day tours listed on GetYourGuide here, the Ålesund day is the only one with any reviews; the five-hour Geiranger tour, the Briksdal trip and the private cruise have none yet. The shared tour's 4.61 from 2,636 reviews has far more travellers behind it.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

A Geiranger small group tour as the middle ground

Between shared and private sits a small-group shore tour to Mt Dalsnibba and the Eagle Road, from US$124 for three hours. It stops at Flydalsjuvet, at Dalsnibba with the Geiranger Skywalk, and at Djupvatnet, is listed as wheelchair accessible, and has an English-speaking live guide. It is rated 4.32 from 5 reviews.^[6]

That costs eight dollars more than the shared tour booked from this site, which runs 3.5 hours to Flydalsjuvet, Dalsnibba, Djupvatnet and Eagle Bend with an English-speaking live guide and is rated 4.61 from 2,636 reviews. Travellers score its guide 4.7, its transportation 4.6 and its value for money 4.4.^[1][6]

So the choice comes down to what the extra money buys. The Norway Excursions private tour adds a vehicle for your party alone, a choice of seven guide languages and a cruise pickup, but it covers the same four places in the same 3.5 hours as the shared tour.^[1][8]

Planning a private tour

1. Pick where you start

   Private tours start in Geiranger, or in Ålesund for a full day that collects you.^[2][3]

2. Check what your party pays

   Prices are set per booking, per car or per bus, so compare totals for your own group.^[8][9][11]

3. Confirm the language

   One private Dalsnibba tour offers seven languages; the taxi driver-guides speak English and Norwegian.^[8][9]

4. Match the Dalsnibba season

   The Dalsnibba road opens in the last half of May and usually closes in late September.^[12]

5. Give your ship's name

   Cruise passengers booking Norway Excursions name their ship to get the back-in-time guarantee.^[8]

What people want to know