Sea Kayaking In Ålesund

Posted By : georgetX3930PB
Great experience. All the dry equipment supplied. All explained clearly before leaving the shop.Gary +Antoine👏👏👏
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Posted On : 2024-04-18

Posted By : 353chesterc
HIGHLY RECOMMEND, the experience and the views are amazing!! The guides from Uteguiden were very friendly and helpful! We learned so much during our trip such as more about Ålesund and Norway itself. They were also flexible enough to change plans for our trip due to bad weather rather than cancelling the entire trip. I will definitely recommend this guide among the many others here and especially if you are looking for more outdoorsy activities! We took tons of photos and videos!
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Posted On : 2023-10-18

Posted By : Ingrid_K
Nikita was our guide and he was very patient with us, since for most it was the first time kayaking. Weather was challenging with some strong winds. He looked out for us and turned us back before it became too difficult to make it back safely. He then did a short walking tour to make up for less time in the kayak. It would have been nice to have gone out farther and seen more of the area around Alesund via kayak but that was beyond the tour company’s control.
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Posted On : 2023-09-12

Posted By : Annette_H
Wonderful way to see the city of Alesund!! Guide was very knowledgeable about the city’s attractions and history!!
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Posted On : 2023-09-01

Posted By : 604Canadian604
I was expecting a slow-paced tour of city from the inner harbour to get a water side view of the art nouveau architecture (as shown in the photos). This is not what we got. We left from next to the cruise terminal and paddled east where there was not much to see. There was very little narrative, as I would expect for a city tour. The one guide went so fast that it was hard to keep up. I felt sorry for the people that were lagging behind because we took off again as soon as everyone caught up. This was not enjoyable. At the end we were expected to wash out our life vests and spray skirts. It seemed we spent little time kayaking compared to the amount of time spent getting our gear, walking to and from the dock, waiting for everyone to get in and out of the kayaks, and washing our gear. On the plus side, the kayaks and life vests were in good condition. The other guide Nikita was very helpful and kind.
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Posted On : 2023-08-17

Posted By : Melodia931
It was a perfect day on the water- smooth as glass- so beautiful! The kayaking was not athletically challenging, and the experience made for a lovely way to see the city of Alesund and surrounding islands. Our guides were very well-versed in the history of the area and friendly, answering questions and offering recommendations. The woman at the desk in the shop was especially kind. Great trip!
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Posted On : 2023-08-14

Posted By : James_C
The biggest issue with this kayak trip is going around the city was not very scenic. It was fun Kayaking and the guide was nice had helpful but not much to look at. We kayaked to the industrial side of the town and was hoping to see a few more sites then just this. It may be that this all there was to see in Alesund. Might have been better time spent hiking to the scenic view instead.
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Posted On : 2023-08-09

Posted By : MrZukini
We booked this tour quite some time ago for our July/August 2023 Holland America cruise. It appealed to us as it was promoted as an "Art Nouveau" canal kayaking tour. Having kayaked many times in the Caribbean using sit-on-top kayaks, we figured this would be an ideal introduction to sea kayaks for a couple of older, somewhat out-of-shape adults. Should you follow our lead, have a realistic self-assessment of your fitness level. These are real-deal sea kayaks. You'll be sitting inside them, with a spray skirt fastened around the cockpit and a life jacket, and will need to maneuver into the cockpit from a sitting position on the dock. Extricating yourself from the kayak without going for a swim requires some strength and agility. Our guide had us transitioning from a sitting position with our legs stretched in front of us in the cockpit to sitting on a dock that's about a foot higher and parallel to you. That means you'll essentially be lifting your body weight with your arms to get your butt out of the kayak and onto the dock. There are no cleats or grab rails to grip onto for assistance, and the surface of the dock is perforated anti-skid metal decking (imagine a large cheese grater). Exiting the kayak was a challenging proposition for my wife with an artificial knee, and required the assistance of another guest and myself to help her get out onto the dock without getting dumped in the water. We were both scraped and bruised by the decking. My wife was in humiliated tears by the time she was safely on the dock. Returning home, we've watched a number of YouTube videos of how to get out of a sea kayak, and there are certainly far easier methods than that which our guide insisted we use. The area we toured was beautiful, but our tour was overbooked and needed to split into two groups departing from different areas. They ran short on equipment as well, requiring at least one of us to depart without a spray skirt, issuing waterproof pants instead. The whole prep for the tour was wildly disorganized, and we wound up leaving far later than the tour had been scheduled for. Our guide was nice enough, but tended to race ahead of the group, not paying a lot of attention to those struggling to keep up. I got the impression she was more interested in enjoying herself than actually acting as a guide for the group. It was also not strictly a canal tour, taking us out into open water. When a large boat came in at speed, creating some waves, it wasn't until some kayaks nearly rolled from the wake that the guide remembered to instruct us to point into the waves if we saw a large one coming. I'm a little surprised at the high praise given in other reviews, as our experience was a low point of our time in Norway. One would think they would have devised a debarkation area with a lower platform and grab rails to assist patrons. If the other guest had not been available to assist, I think my wife would have HAD to go for a swim.
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Posted On : 2023-08-03

Posted By : Benjamin_P
Don’t waste your money. Not as advertised. The listing shows single kayaks, however when we went in after a large cruise group, there weren’t enough so we were put into double kayaks. The kayak had a broken rudder, it was defective equipment. I got half of what I paid for. There were long delays waiting for the large group. I asked the tour operator for a 50% refund and they lied and said that the tour only included double kayaks and because Viator takes 22%, take it up with them. I will. If it’s not resolved with a full refund, then I am done with Viator. Do yourself a favor and just rent a kayak and get in the water. The tour only stated the obvious. Inexperienced paddlers made this a lackluster tour. If it had shown double kayaks I would not have booked. So frustrating. It’s very expensive to be in Norway in the summer. A waste of time.
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Posted On : 2023-07-27

Posted By : Benjamin_C
My cruise ship changed its departure time at the last minute and the tour operator does not make ANY refunds for any reason. Be careful booking this tour as if you feel weather or some reason out of your control you will not be refunded.
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Posted On : 2023-07-20