Ålesund, Norway: Part 1 - Day 1: Arrival and Aksla viewpoint

The summer holidays 2025 started in the beginning of July with a short getaway (5 days, 4 nights) to Ålesund in Norway. My friend was interested to see the fjord in Norway and she chose Geirangerfjord as it is one of the recommended places and I saw that it is a UNESCO World Heritage. So, I am sure that it is worth the trip. We booked the flight, accommodation and car rental in April. There is no direct flight to Ålesund and the layover is in Oslo. We took Norwegian Airlines. 

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 1

3/7 Day 1: Flight from Stockholm to Ålesund. Collect car. Went up to Aksla Viewpoint. 

Costs

(1) Flight ticket return Stockholm to Ålesund SEK3327. We shared a check-in luggage and a handcarry for SEK440 (including return), since I bought the Low Fare which allows only a small bag (30x20x38cm) to put under the seat. My friend got the Low Fare Plus which includes check-in and a larger handcarry (55x23x40cm) that can be put on the overhead cabin. 

(2) Car rental from Hertz for 4 days SEK5621 (shared between two). We included extra driver NOK168 (with 25% tax) and full insurance NOK912 (amazingly tax-exempted). It is really expensive as some of the itemized costs include 25% tax! The item that caught me by surprise was Location service surcharge of NOK599,63 (including 25% tax). From Hertz website: This is an extra fee charged at certain location (e.g., airports and railway station) to reflect the higher cost of providing services from these locations. WOW! This is so ridiculous! As if the rental costs itself is not sufficient. I wanted to choose a cheap car rental but the one I checked closes at 4pm and our flight arrives at 5pm. 

Accommodation

(1) Borg Sommerhotell for 4 nights including breakfast SEK4735 (SEK2367,50 per person, SEK592 per night per person). It would have been worth it if the trip to and from Ålesund town did not include NOK30 + 25% tax = NOK37,50 per direction each time!

 

Food

(1) Lunch at Panini in Årlanda airport - Pita gyros chicken SEK87, delicious cappucino SEK37

(2) Snack at Bit Union in Oslo airport - Pizza  salami and pesto NOK119 (SEK114,95)  

(3) Dinner at Hotel 1904 - Fish soup NOK268 (SEK260,32)

The Story

03072025 - We had an easy lunch at Arlanda aiport and I was pleasantly surprised at the affordability of the food in Panini restaurant, and the cappucino was unexpectedly good and relatively cheaper compared to other cafe! I was so shocked when I heard the price and amazed at the good taste! Plus it is not a small cup too! I took a photo because I needed to put this up.

We departed Arlanda aiport on time at 1315 hours to Oslo. It was a short 1-hour flight, arriving Oslo at 1415 hours. We had almost two hours layover in the airport. We bought a slice of pizza to share from a pizza kiosk, Bit Union. That is very convenient to buy a slice of pizza. Eating in the kiosk costs more than taking away. So, we took away and sat on the airport benches beside the kiosk. I thought it was funny. The picture is my portion of the pizza. 

The flight departed from Oslo at 1605 hours to Ålesund. It was on time too. It was 13 degrees in Ålesund. Goodness, how is that called summer? I brought my fleece jacket. I cannot believe I needed that during summer. I used it quite often during the trip too!

We landed in Ålesund at 1700 hours. The airport is really small. There is only one luggage belt. We went to the car rental counter and waited in line for 15 minutes. I read scary reviews on the car rental Hertz from Google that the company will charge damages that the driver did not make and the driver had to provide photos as proof. So, I was really worried and we took 30 minutes to check every spot of the car and took many photos! We got a hybrid car which was an advantage to us as we did not use so much fuel in the end. I did not understand how hybrid car worked in the beginning and my friend explained to me that the fuel charges the battery in the motor and the car uses the battery when it is charged so fuel consumption is not too much.

While driving through Ålesund town towards our accommodation, I saw that we passed 3 toll cameras and I was really concerned as I was unprepared for that. In my mind, I thought of the price and how expensive it will be. Eventually, I found out that if one drives through all 3 toll cameras within an hour, the price is equivalent to one toll NOK30 (not including 25% tax yet!). 

We arrived at our accommodation at 1910 hours about 45 minutes later as we took some wrong turns. It was nice to see that free coffee and tea is offered, and clean towels as well as toilet paper can be taken when needed, without contacting the hotel. It is a nice and clean room. I was surprised to see a Bible in the room, as I thought Norway is a secular country. Toilet is quite small and the shower is in there too. There is a water scraper in the toilet and one has to scrape the water down the manhole to keep the floor dry. The floor dries quite fast after a shower. The sink is outside the toilet and there is heated flooring outside the toilet so the wet feet and floor dries fast and feels warm. I like that feature. 

After checking in, we drove to Ålesund town and looked for dinner. We parked at an open parking lot that is free after 4pm on weekdays and no charges on weekends. It is called Parkgata 18B Parking. My friend found an expensive dinner spot. A restaurant in a hotel. I went ahead as I am here on holiday. I had fish soup. It was filling with 3 slices of bread. It is not a large bowl of soup.

There is even an actual fireplace in the hotel that is being used. This is not summer at all.

I suggested we go up Ålesund's town mountain, Mount Aksla. It is only 165 meters high so to me, this is a hill. A bit of research and I learnt that the easisest distinction between a mountain and a hill is that a mountain exceeds 600 meters. The air was cooling which made the hike bearable as I did not sweat at all. It was an easy walk with 418 steps, and took 20 minutes. The walk started from inside a park and there were clear signs on how to get up to the viewpoint. Many locals were going up too. Or they could be tourists. 

Step's number all the way to the top. 

Without reaching to the top, we managed to see some lovely views. I personally think the view from the top is not as good as the ones in the middle.

This is a panaroma photo.

The top!

Not many nice photos could be taken from the top as I caught photos of trees than the town's view. Probably I needed to stand on something or try another angle.

A map of the walking routes. We took one of the walking routes to get back to our car. We took the one that led us to Ragnhilda. It is a red-coloured route at the bottom of the map.

It was a very easy walk. Nice path. Lovely greenery. Funny carved trolls on tree trunks. Benches available too.

The walk down took me about 20 minutes. It was 10pm. We exited the greenery and entered into a housing area with a very steep slope. I walked on the steps next to the road in the beginning. 

We passed by a museum that is called the Miracle House that did not burn down during a great fire in Ålesund in 1904. It was told that the owner of the house was visited by an angel the day before to not leave the house. From the website Waldehuset, you can see the house standing lone among the burnt down town. The museum is only opened when requested. One has to contact the museum to have it opened. 

Then, we drove back to our accommodation. It was a good first day!