Travelling by road

Norwegian schools break up for påskeferie (Easter holidays) this Friday (March 22nd) so you can expect heavy traffic on the roads out of the big cities starting from Friday afternoon and continuing over the weekend.

Typically well over a million Norwegians take to the roads over Easter to stay in their cabins or visit relatives.

There is also likely to be heavy traffic between Maundy Thursday (March 28th) and Easter Saturday (March 30th), and again on Easter Monday (April 1st) as people return home.

The E6 in Gudbrandsdalen around Lillehammer and the E18 in Agder tend to see delays over Easter,

The Norwegian Public Roads Administration has yet to issue its traffic prognosis for Easter (we will update this article when they do).

Rail lines closed over Easter

As fewer people in Norway tend to take the train on public holidays, Norway’s track operator Bane NOR tends to schedule major track works for these times, and this Easter is no exception, although this year only one line is affected. 

Bane NOR is closing the track between Drammen, south of Oslo, and Stokke between March 23rd and April 1st, with the segment replaced by buses.

Air travel

This year, there are no strikes directly affecting airports or airlines in Norway, but industrial action in Spain and the UK might affect Easter travel if you are venturing abroad.  

Workers at airports in Valencia and Madrid, two of Spain’s busiest, have announced that they will strike over the Easter period. At Madrid-Barajas airport, the UGT union has called a strike by employees of the Platform Management Service (SDP) for Wednesday 27th and Friday 29th March between 7am-12pm.

At Valencia airport, flights could be affected between Thursday March 28th and Monday April 1st, between 11am-13am, when workers will walk out and protest outside the Terminal 1 building in Manises.

The Lufthansa airline struck a deal with ground staff on Wednesday, March 27th, averting the risk of strikes over the Easter holidays, which might have affected flights to and from Germany from Norway. 

Finally, border force workers at the UK’s Heathrow Airport voted on March 22nd to strike over the Easter holidays, although walkouts will not happen until after April 8th, so Easter travel will not be affected.