The winter school takes place at Hotel Alexandra
in Loen (pronounced Luan).
Loen is a rather remote place guaranteeing strong interaction between
the attendants of the winter school.
Sandane Airport
The closest airport served by regular schedules is Sandane airport.
However, it is only served by small propellor flights of the
SAS-subsidiary Widerøe. Some of you might want to use it, but
Sandane's capacity is too small to serve everybody on March 29 and on
April 3. Roundtrip fares to Sandane
from many central European towns cost around €400.
Hotel Alexandra offers a shuttle service from/to
Sandane airport. Driving time
from/to Sandane
airport is approximately 70 minutes at good wheather conditions.
Ålesund Airport
The closest international airport is Ålesund (pronounced
Aulesynn). It offers direct
service to Antalya, Bergen, Canary Islands, Chania, Copenhagen,
Glasgow, Helsinki, Las Palmas, Paris Le Bourget, London Gatwick,
Mallorca, Oslo, Riga, Stavanger and Trondheim. The Hotel Alexandra
offers a
shuttle service from/to Ålesund airport. The
journey from/to Ålesund airport is an extremely scenic drive that
takes approximately 200 minutes.
Bus transfer from Ålesund Airport We offer a bus
transfer before and after the winterschool on a first come
first serve basis which can be booked on the registration form. Our bus
will leave Ålesund airport on March 29 at 5pm for Hotel
Alexandra. It will leave Hotel Alexandra on April 3 at 9:30am. These
times have been chosen to meet flight connection schedules from the
major European hub airports via Oslo, Copenhagen or Bergen. In
particular, flights SK 4452 arriving 4:10pm, SK 2892 arriving 4:10pm,
and SK 4174 arriving 3:35pm on Sunday and flight
SK4453 departing 2:25pm on Friday. Upon arrival the bus
will leave at 5pm sharp in order to arrive in time for dinner at Hotel
Alexandra. If you are delayed, please send SMS to Prof. Geir
Øien at +47 934 55 408 indicating your name, your expected
arrival time and your flight number. Prof Øien will then try to
arrange for alternative transport for you. By car
Oslo and Bergen can be easily reached by ferry boats from Denmark, Oslo
even from Germany. Note, however, that driving within Norway in the
winter season is challenging and comparable to driving in Alpine areas
of high altitude. Some major roads are permanently closed during the
winter season, some others are worked hard to be kept open. Before
planning a trip and even the day before you start, please click here
to confirm that the road you intend to use is actually open for public
traffic. (Traffic information is given in Norwegian only. A web-based
free online dictionary is found here.)
Please plan a full day for the road trip from either Bergen or Oslo to
Loen.
Customs Regulations
Norway is part of the Schengen area, but not a member of the EU.
Therefore, you have to pick up your baggage and clear custom at your
first point of entry into Norway even if your baggage is checked
through to your final destination.
You can use the waiting time at baggage delivery to make duty-free
purchases right next to the baggage belts. Note that for connecting
flights you need to pass through security control again, so please have
your bottles sealed. More information on Norwegian customs
regulations is found here.
