10days in Scandinavia

Where are you flying home from?

For flights between the Scandinavian capitals and larger cities look at www.norwegian.com or www.sas.dk.
You can also get trains from Copenhagen to Stockholm or other destinations in Sweden, look at www.sj.se.
There is also a night ferry between Copenhagen and Oslo, look at www.dfdsseaways.com.

I studied abroad in Copenhagen. When my parents came to visit, they flew into Copenhagen and spent a few days with me, then flew to Oslo, spent a full day there, rented a car and went to the fjords based on the recommendations in the Scandinavia guidebook. They absolutely loved it and their photos were stunning.

On the other hand, Stockholm is a world-class city. It is a delight to visit. You don't need too many days there, 3-4 would give you more than enough time to see some of the big sights and do so at a reasonable pace. Same for Copenhagen, I'd say, though of course I'm partial :) Copenhagen and the surrounding area has many wonderful museums and castles to visit (I could name at least 5-6 of each without blinking, and am happy to recommend some), so if you'd like to more time in only a few places on this trip, I'd say give Copenhagen a solid 4 days.

Enjoy your trip!

We found traveling in Scandinavia to be deadly expensive. For example, 2 cheeseburgers, fries and cokes were $60 at TGI Friday's.
Our best bet was to take a cruise from Copenhagen to Warnemunde, Tallin, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm and back to Copenhagen. We then flew over to Oslo.

With only 10 days, you really have to be selective. Some options:

1) Focus on one country, using trains or a car to get around. See a mix of large and small cities and towns. Norway is usually rated both "most dramatically scenic" and "most expensive" of the three countries.

2) Hit the capital cities, with a few days for each. Fly between them. For the Oslo-Copenhagen leg you can take an overnight boat. There's an express train between Oslo and Stockholm.

3) Bergen, Norway was one of my favorite places in Scandinavia (along with Stockholm and ahead of Oslo). If you aren't taking the Norway in a Nutshell route, you can just fly there from somewhere else in Scandinavia. It makes a great place to start or end a trip, since it's geographically at the "edge" of the region.

Rick's Scandinavia book covers only limited destinations in each country, but it's a good start. He also has great budget tips for this very expensive area. Read this as well as other books to get an idea of what draws you.

Once you know what you want to see, you can then figure out how to connect them and modes of transportation. Also, while Denmark is not large, Sweden and Norway are - that's why they have a very well developed flight network. Trains do work, but on many routes flights are significantly faster (particularly in Norway, where mountains mean that trains have to go very indirectly). In addition to the old standby SAS, there are now budget airlines like Norwegian, so the flights can be inexpensive.

What time of the year are you gonna make this trip? If anytime from mid may to late august (best chances for good weather).

What about 3 or 4 nights in Copenhagen. If 4 nights you can maybe use one day for some exploring outside the city of Copenhagen. Denmark is small, so there isn't very long travel distances. At least if you stay on the Zealand island.

I really recommend the overnight cruise ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo (DFDS Seaways). It departures every afternoon (4:30 pm) and arrive in Oslo the next morning (9:00 am). On the travel day, you get a half day in Copenhagen. And on the arrival day you get the whole day in Oslo. So it's quite efficient, and much more relaxing than taking the train or a flight.

In Oslo you can maybe stay 2-3 nights (remember, you get the whole arrival-day).

From Oslo, you can take the one way Norway in a nutshell trip to Bergen, via Flåm and Sognefjord.
http://www.norwaynutshell.com/en/explore-the-fjords/norway-in-a-nutshell/
Maybe with a night in Flåm?

At last, you will arrive in Bergen for a overnight or two.

What about?
- Day 1-3: Copenhagen
- Day 4: Copenhagen, cruise ferry to Oslo 4:30 pm
- Day 5-6: Oslo
- Day 7-8: Norway in a nutshell, arriving in Bergen, in the afternoon on day 8)
- Day 9-10: Bergen

It may look a bit crampted, but this will give you 10 days without any boring transportation. Good luck with your planning.

We have about the same amount of time. We fly out of Stockholm.

This is what I am thinking so far.
Day 1 - Arrive Copenhagen. Don't know time yet. Will be coming from Amsterdam.
Day 2-3 Copenhagen
Day 4 - Overnight cruise from Copenhagen to Oslo.
Day 5 - Day in Olso
Day 6 - Norway in a Nutshell staying in Bergen
Day 7 - Fly from Bergen to Stockholm
Day 8-10 Stockholm
Day 11 - Fly to London

To many days in Copenhagen or Stockholm? Not enough time in Oslo?

Thanks for all the helpful information and great tips in beginning the planning of our trip. We may be back with more questions, but we appreciate all of you taking the time to respond!