When Ferrygogo asked UK travellers which direct ferry route they would most like to see return, one answer came out on top by a clear margin: a ferry to Norway. And the striking thing is that they are not dreaming about it alone. The same wish turns up in our reader comments, in the route’s long history, and now in the plans being discussed for a possible Newcastle to Bergen revival.
This is one of the clearest findings from Ferrygogo’s 2026 UK ferry travel survey, completed by 197 ferry-interested travellers. This article takes a closer look at one question: why do so many people want a direct ferry to Norway back, and is there any real sign it could happen?
Norway is the route people ask for most
Asked which direct crossing they would most like to see launched or return, 56.9% of respondents chose a UK to Norway route, such as Newcastle to Bergen or Stavanger. Nothing else came close. Widen it to Scandinavia and the picture is even stronger: for 74.6%, the single route they most wanted back was Norway, Sweden or Denmark.
That sits alongside the survey’s other headline: 74.1% said the lack of direct routes is one of the biggest barriers to taking the ferry more often, far ahead of price. Norway is the sharpest example of that gap. The route people most want is also one of the ones that no longer runs.
They are not just dreaming about it
If the survey were the only place this came up, it might be easy to dismiss as wishful thinking. But it is not. For years, the comments under our Norway and Scandinavia articles have said the same thing, in much the same words.
Readers describe driving long distances through the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark to reach Norway in a campervan, and wishing they could simply sail from the North East instead. People who cannot or prefer not to fly talk about losing an easy connection with relatives, family history and holidays in Scandinavia. Cyclists, dog owners and families often land on the same point: the connection used to exist, it made sense, and its loss made the whole journey harder.
That is what makes this result interesting. The demand is not loud or organised. It is just steady, and it has been there for years.
The UK lost more than one Scandinavia ferry
The Norway result also sits in a wider story. The UK used to have a proper North Sea ferry network to Scandinavia. There were direct passenger routes to Norway, Sweden and Denmark, including Newcastle to Bergen and Harwich to Esbjerg. One by one, those routes disappeared.
The old Newcastle to Norway ferry closed in 2008. The Harwich to Esbjerg ferry, the last direct UK to Scandinavia passenger route, stopped in 2014. Since then, UK travellers heading to Norway by sea have usually had to sail to the Netherlands or France first, then continue by road through northern Europe before taking another ferry from Germany or Denmark.
That can still be a brilliant road trip. But it is not the same as driving onto a ship in the UK, sleeping onboard and waking up on the Norwegian coast.
And now the idea is back on the table
The most interesting development is that the wish is no longer only coming from travellers. In early 2026, Newcastle City Council said it would look at ways to bring back a ferry link with Bergen, and the story was picked up by several travel and national media outlets.
It is not the first attempt. Back in 2022, Norwegian company Bergen Cruise Line announced plans for a Newcastle to Stavanger to Bergen ferry, with a hoped-for launch from 2026. Those plans have not turned into a bookable ferry service. Separately, there have also been plans for a new Netherlands to Norway route, which would not start in the UK but could still make Norway easier to reach by sea for British travellers.
None of this is confirmed and bookable yet. There is no operator selling tickets, no timetable and no vessel announced for a revived UK to Norway ferry. But taken together, it shows the idea is alive on the political and operator side too, not just in traveller wishlists. We track the latest in our update on the plans for a Newcastle to Bergen ferry.
Why Norway, and why by ferry?
Norway is a natural ferry destination from the UK. A crossing into Bergen or Stavanger would land travellers on the west coast, close to the fjords, instead of flying into Oslo or piecing together a long overland route through Denmark and Germany. For travellers in the North East, Scotland and northern England in particular, a North Sea sailing would remove a lot of driving.
It also fits what the survey says people value about ferries. 67.5% choose the ferry so they can take their own car, campervan or motorhome, and overnight sailings were preferred over day sailings by roughly three to one. A direct overnight ferry to Norway is exactly that combination: car packed, cabin booked, sleep onboard, wake up closer to the holiday.
That is the bit people sometimes underestimate. A Norway ferry would not just be a transport link. It would be a road-trip link, a campervan link, a dog-friendly link and a no-fly option in one.
It is not just older travellers feeling nostalgic
It would be easy to read all this as nostalgia from people who remember the old crossings. The survey suggests otherwise. Demand for a Norway route was actually highest among respondents aged 30 to 44: 68.4% of this group chose it, compared with 63.4% of those aged 45 to 64 and 48.7% of the 65+ group.
The younger sample was small, so this should not be overclaimed. But it does suggest the appeal is not only about remembering old routes. It fits the way many people now want to travel: slower, more flexible, car-based, dog-friendly, campervan-friendly and less dependent on airports.
The honest part: it is a dream route, not a bookable one
It is worth staying realistic. A direct UK to Norway ferry is still something to watch, not something to book. The route had a long life under several operators, from Fred. Olsen and the Bergen Line to Color Line and then Fjord Line, before DFDS ran the final years and closed the Newcastle to Norway service in 2008. The last UK to Scandinavia passenger ferry of any kind, Harwich to Esbjerg, stopped in 2014.
A revival would need more than a good headline. It needs a suitable ship, an operator, port agreements, border arrangements, year-round demand and a business case that works outside the summer holiday peak. Enthusiasm alone does not run a ferry, which is probably the least romantic but most important sentence in this whole article.
And it is fair to flag who answered our survey. Ferrygogo readers are already interested in ferry travel, and some arrive through our Scandinavia guides, so this is not proof that the whole UK is waiting for a Norway ferry. But it is a strong, consistent signal from exactly the travellers such a route would need to fill it, which is arguably the more useful thing to know.
How to reach Norway by ferry right now
Until a direct route returns, the realistic option is to sail from the UK to the Continent first, then continue north. That usually means a crossing such as Newcastle to Amsterdam, Hull to Rotterdam or Harwich to Hook of Holland, then driving on towards Denmark or northern Germany for a ferry into Norway.
It is not as simple as the old Newcastle to Bergen sailing, but with your own vehicle it can still make the journey part of the holiday. You get a ferry crossing, a road trip through northern Europe and then another ferry into Norway. Not bad, but clearly not the same as one direct North Sea crossing from the UK.
We set out the current options in our guide to ferries to Norway from the UK, and map the lost routes in our look at historic ferry crossings from the UK to Scandinavia.
What this really tells us
The Norway result is not a one-off quirk of one survey. It is the same wish, showing up in three different places at once: in the numbers, in years of reader comments, and now in the plans being explored on both sides of the North Sea.
That does not guarantee the ferry comes back. But it does mean that if it ever did, it would not be a gamble on demand that might appear. The demand is already here. It is just waiting for a ship.
Read the full survey
This article is part of the Ferrygogo UK Ferry Travel Survey 2026. The full research article covers missing direct routes, ferry comfort versus flying, overnight crossings, car and campervan travel and what ferry users want more help with when planning a trip.
Related Ferrygogo guides
- Ferrygogo UK Ferry Travel Survey 2026
- Ferry to Norway from the UK
- Plans for a Newcastle to Bergen ferry
- Historic ferry crossings from the UK to Scandinavia
- Ferry to Sweden from the UK
- Ferry to Denmark from the UK
Survey note
This article is based on Ferrygogo’s 2026 UK ferry travel survey, completed by 197 respondents between 4 and 31 May 2026. Figures are a share of all respondents unless stated otherwise. The survey was self-selected and answered by Ferrygogo readers and ferry-interested travellers, so the results should be read as a signal from people already interested in ferry travel rather than as a representative poll of the whole UK population.
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