Kirkenes Transportation

There are a lot of small tour-buses and taxis waiting for customers in the port of Kirkenes, every day when the Hurtigrutenship arrives. Most of them had been reserved, but some are also hoping to find some customers renting them for a private tour. On the total I think that is a good way to see Kirkenes and the surrounding area, any when you are a larger group, why not save some money that way instead of booking the expensive tours offered by the ship and follow your own ideas of itinerary ?
Trafic-jams are almost totally unknown in this part of Norway, so you will certainly make it back to the ship just in time.
The name of the bus-company doing the tours
for Hurtigruten in Kirkenes is:
pasvikturist.no

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E 105 / E6 is the road to Murmansk and as you can see, inscriptions are printed in cyrillic letters as well and I even saw a private car and camper from Germany, who was about to enter Russia that way, and he had driven all the way through Norway to get to this point by car.
You really need a lot of time to do so, the road looks quite the same everywhere when driving so far north, hotels are expensive and not easy to find, good restaurants are expensive and also quite rare.

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At certain dates Hurtigruten is taking your car free of charge from Kirkenes to Bergen, you simply have to book a cruise on that same ship. And the idea behind of this is certainly that they have a lot of packingspace on the way back, when they have unloaded all the transportation-goods in the different ports.
Unfortunately that does not work for larger motorhomes, because the cars are not allowed to be higher than 2,5 meters and not wider than 2,45 meters.
When you considder the costs for fuel and the boring roads and how many times you dont have to search for a hotel and restaurant, this might be a great way to explore Norway:
Driving all the way to Kirkenes in your own car and take the Hurtigruten back to Bergen.

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Kirkenes is the endpoint of the tour along the Norwegian coast by the famous Hurtigruten-ship and that is also the way that I got to this village at the end of Europe.
Hurtigruten are NOT a real cruise and in most ports you will stay for just about 30-60 minutes in the port, but here in Kirkenes the Hurtigruten-ships stay in port for a longer time, see the details below! The ship will open the gangway for passengers to go ashore and they will also start to unload and load all sorts of goods, cars, different articles from small boxes to giant machineries. In case that you like to see more of the places closeby, you have to book one of their excursions and join the ship again at the next port.
Cars can be taken onboard of a Hurtigruten-ship, when they are not higher than 2,5 meters and not wider than 2,45 meters.
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Hurtigrute will stay in Kirkenes daily
just 165 minutes between 10.00am and 12.45
so you have a choice between exploring the village yourself
or take one of the many excursions that are offered by Hurtigruten
You can start or end your cruise in Kirkenes, Hurtigruten offers also
hotels and extended stays in Kirkenes before or after each cruise.
Every day of the year one of the Hurtigruten-ships is coming to Kirkenes !

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The coastal steamer arrives in Kirkenes daily at 10AM. The ship will then turn around and depart at 12:45PM for the 5-day return voyage to Bergen.

Travelers have a variety of travel options and price ranges. You can take a full-up, 11-day "round trip" cruise, or a "half-round trip" (6 days north or 5 days south). Prices vary with time of year, class of cabin, car passage (yes, you can bring your car!), etc -- check the website for details.

For those with limited time and/or money, another option is to take a "port-to-port" trip. For our part, we took the 3-overnight trip from Svolvær to Kirkenes in the least expensive cabin available (NOK 400 per person, double occupancy in summer, half that off season). The website has a list of up-to-date fares and cabin options. For those living outside Scandinavia, your best bet is to email Hurtigruten directly if you want a cabin. Book well in advance if you're traveling in June or July.

Also check the website for the latest specials. For example, you can bring your car for free if traveling from Kirkenes to Bergen in 2007.

The main road through Kirkenes is the E6, which extends from Sweden through Oslo, then north and east along the length of Norway to Kirkenes. It even continues into Murmansk, Russia and beyond. We were doing the plane/train/boat type of trip, but that must be quite a road trip to take by car or camper. They might even make a TV show about it...

The most cost-effective way of getting from Kirkenes town center to the airport is the "Flybuss." The bus departs from the town center, about 100 meters from the tourist office. Hurtigruten passengers can count on a special flybuss that departs daily at 10:00 from nearby the dock. You can book the bus onboard the ship before you depart.

If I'm reading the schedule right, following departures from Kirkenes Hospital (and stopping at the AMFI mall, the Rica Arctic, the Myra grocery store, and the Rica Kirkenes within 10 minutes) as of February 2009:

Monday - Friday: 0955, 1110, 1530, 1830, 1930
Saturday: 0920
Sunday: 0920, 1500, 1830, 1930

(but you might want to double-check schedules with the Tourist Office, just in case... ;)

The bus departs the airport for Kirkenes more or less immediately after airport-bound passengers disembark and new passengers board.

One-way fare is NOK 85 for adults, NOK 42 for children under 16. Travel time is 15-30 minutes.

If you have an electronic ticket, it's not difficult at all to get your boarding pass. Just follow the touch-screen instructions, type in your confirmation number, indicate how many bags you are checking, pick up your boarding passes and bag tags, and hand your checked luggage (if any) to the attendant.