25 Days in Scandinavia- Denmark itinerary help

If you are looking for a few nights between Kalmar and Copenhagen, consider Karlskrona, Lund and/or Helsingborg.

For a week in Denmark, you might want to focus on Copenhagen and spend 4-5 days there. But in my opinion you should not overlook Jutland. Maybe a visit to Legoland will be of interest to the children? There are ferries from northern Jutland to Norway as well. Or maybe take the ferry from Jutland over to Sweden and spend a night or two in Gothenburg before going to Oslo?

Thanks so much Badger. We felt like we really wanted to visit Ero (apology for not having correct keyboard). We are having a hard time figuring out the route and I would appreciate any tips. We were thinking of one of the amusement parks in Copenhagen but also will consider Legoland. I wish we had an entire summer there to visit!

Ærø? That's easy, take the train to Svendborg, look up schedule and cost at www.dsb.dk, and then take the ferry to Ærø. Tivoli or Bakken can also be great options for the children, I guess it depends on what they are looking for. But don't disregard Jutland, it is an underrated part of Denmark in my opinion.

This is all very helpful so thank you! Is there a particular area in Jutland that you would recommend? If it works for our itinerary, we may try to leave Ero and go toward Billind and then north and eventually ferry to Oslo…

That sounds like fantastic trip.
:

I recommend using https://www.rejseplanen.dk/webapp/?language=en_EN rather than https://www.dsb.dk/en/ for planning travel, since

1. It covers all forms of transport
2. It is easier to find the English version
3. There is also an app for your smart phone, so you can plan on the fly

Some ideas

In Copenhagen:

1. https://www.tivoli.dk/en
2. https://www.bakken.dk/english/
3. https://www.stromma.com/en-dk/copenhagen/
4. https://goboat.dk/en/

Personally I think Ærø is overrated. But it's your vacation.

If you want to skip Ærø, I recommend Samsø. Take the ferry from Kalundborg, but be sure to book accommodation in advance. Visit the worlds largest maze. Then take the ferry to Jutland. Either Hou - to take train to Billund - or Århus.

In Jutland: Visit https://www.legoland.dk/en/

Then go to Århus and visit https://www.dengamleby.dk/en/den-gamle-by/. It's a museum, but it is outdoor with short visits to old houses and shops. I also recommend Ree Park. It is by far the best zoo/safari park I have visited. It is a bit away from Århus with no public transport I could find, so you would need to hire a car :-(

All over Denmark (and the rest of the world) you can visit the trolls: https://trollmap.com/. Zoom in on Denmark and see if any troll looks interesting. If the directions are too complex (they are for me), most of the trolls are on Google map. You might even be able to visit a troll in your home country before you leave :-)

From Århus you can go by train to HIrtshals, from where there are several ferries to different places in Norway.

Thank you so much for all of this insight. We are familiar with most of your suggestions but learned of more options so I am very appreciative!

Frederikshavn Looks like an amazing port to leave out of also…

We are curious if it makes sense to leave Kalmar by train for Helsingborg, stay a night and explore and then continue to Helsingor. We would work our way down to Copenhagen and stop at both/either Frederiksborg slot and Fredensborg palace. Or if there are any better stops…

I agree that Ærø is a bit overrated, but it is certainly not a bad place to visit.

We are curious if it makes sense to leave Kalmar by train for
Helsingborg, stay a night and explore and then continue to Helsingor.

If you want to go from Kalmar to Helsinborg, yes. It is an easy train trip. You need to change in Hässleholm but that is an easy change.

Between Denmark and Oslo I'd suggest that you make a stop in Gothenburg if you have the time, it is worth it in my opinion.

Badger, do you have any favorite areas/islands/Peninsulas in Jutland? Many thanks!

Does it make sense to leave Copenhagen and take the train down to Svendborg/Ero for a few days and then make our way to Sonderborg for another few? Where would the best place to pick up a car? We realize one may be necessary for this portion of the trip. We have 3 nights in Vejle after as a base to see central Jutland and then will make our way north to Fredrikshavn.

This is just to tell you that I am so jealous of your trip! Enjoy!!!!

Thank you! It’s exciting and a little crazy… Here is our updated itinerary:

7 nights in Stockholm with day trips
3 nights on Gotland/Faro
1 night in Kalmar
4 nights in Copenhagen
2 nights on Ero
1 night in Ribe
3 nights in Vejle
3 nights in Gothenburg
and then back to Stockholm for flight out.
🤩

All in all it looks like a good plan. But maybe 3 nights in Vejle is a bit too much, I would spread them out a bit over Jutland. Two nights in Vejle for Legoland and maybe one night in northern Jutland, e.g. Ålborg or Fredrikshavn maybe? And perhaps add one night in Stockholm at the end before your flight home. As for your car rental question, it depends on where and how you want to travel by car. But for your trip I really don't see much of a need for car rental, apart from maybe for a day or two.

So then you just need to start booking what needs to be booked in advance!

Also, the name of the Danish island is Ærø. If your don't know how to type an Æ, you can replace it with AE. Replacing it with just an E is confusing and doesn't make any sense.

Thanks Badger! We don’t plan on actually visiting Legoland after all, and will use our Airbnb in Vejle (which is close to fjord and has horse back riding and mountain biking opportunities), as a base after exploring the coast by Ribe, to visit Arrhus, Ebeltoft and then make our way up to Fredrikshavn, hoping for a little northern coast time before the ferry over to Gothenburg.

We do have an airport hotel the day before we fly out of Stockholm, so we will journey back with plenty of time.

We’ve started booking our trains and ferries, and are very excited! Thank you for all the tips and please share any others you can think of along the way.

I apologize about my keyboard inadequacy and appreciate the information. In fact my husband just showed me how to change it to ÆrØ!!! 😊 I just need to figure out the capital letters now.

Also airport hotels tend to be rather boring. When is your flight home? Unless it is very early, another option is to spend the last night in Uppsala. A much nicer place and with frequent buses and trains to Arlanda.

And just so you don't end up on some expensive booking site:

• Ferry to/from Gotland: Book at https://www.destinationgotland.se/en (you can book a transfer bus from central Stockholm to Nynäshamn, or you can take the commuter train).
• Bus from Oskarshamn to Kalmar: Buy from the driver or using their (Kalmar Länstrafik) app. The app will save you a bit of money, but it is a fixed price so no need to buy in advance.
• Train from Kalmar to Copenhagen: Fixed price, can be bought in advance or in a ticket machine before departure.
• Trains in Denmark: www.dsb.dk is the national railway company. Trains north of Ålborg can be found at https://nj.dk . A good travel planner that includes all public transport in Denmark is https://www.rejseplanen.dk/
• Ferry from Fredrikshavn to Gothenburg: https://www.stenalinetravel.com
• Train from Gothenburg to Stockholm/Arlanda/Uppsala: www.sj.se

Thank you for all of these links! Luckily, we have researched and used the direct transportation sites.

That’s a great idea about Uppsala. Depending on the train travel from Gothenburg (tickets aren’t available yet), it may work to spend the night there instead of making a day trip out of Stockholm. Especially since we just found out we now won’t need to get covid tests the day before returning to the US.

Glad to hear that found the correct sites, I've seen too many tourists ending up on some booking site and paying twice as much for tickets as they actually cost. A small tip regarding the ferry to Gotland: Book a midday ferry and have lunch onboard. The onboard restaurant is not that bad, at least it wasn't before the pandemic.

Gothenburg to Uppsala is easy by train, although you have to change in Stockholm. Takes usually around 4 hours in total.

I think we will tag Uppsala to the end of the trip. Thanks Badger! How long do you think we’d need to connect from the high speed SJ train at Stockholm Central to the regional train to Uppsala? Can it be done in 7 minutes?

It can be done in 7 minutes, I've done it a few times in less time than that. But I would not recommend it with luggage, children and if you are not familiar with the station.

But, don't buy separate ticket! Visit www.sj.se and buy a ticket from Gothenburg to Uppsala and see what they suggest.