Please sign in to post.

City visit help: Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki

Hello -

I have one week and am starting in Copenhagen and have to return there for my flight home. I want to do a city tour of Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm and then back to Copenhagen. This will be in October.

Anyone have a suggestion on the best path (start in Helsinki and make my way west?!) to travel to these 3 cities? I know it’s an aggressive plan to try to do it in a week but that’s what I have and would love to see them all!

Thank you.

Posted by
11053 posts

I recommend you definitely drop Helsinki and stick to the three Scandinavian cities. You will be hard pressed to see all you want in Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm in one week. In fact, add more time or drop of these cities too.

Posted by
6175 posts

I hate to be blunt, but this sounds like a bad idea. It is way too rushed to try to see three cities in a week.

Posted by
9460 posts

Agreed that this is too much. One week is for two cities at the very most (and could happily be spent in any of the cities without any problem).

Posted by
118 posts

If you haven't booked your flight yet, book an open-jaw ticket. Way too much for a week of course, but if you want to do it I would use late evening flights to lose as little sightseeing time as possible. The best route is more dependent on flight timings than geography, Saturdays probably has the worst frequency so plan around that.

Posted by
14806 posts

If you really want to see all four cities in one week, I hope you realize you are only going to get about a day or a day and a half in each city.

I'm going to suggest something that doesn't get a lot of love on these boards but will give you an good overview of each city...the hop on hop off buses. One circuit will allow you to see the major sights, at least from the outside, and perhaps get off at a couple.

I happen to be fan of these and took the ones in Copenhagen, Oslo and Helsinki. I didn't do the one in Stockholm because I had plenty of time there and public transportation took me everywhere I wanted to go.

Fly between the cities. Trains/Ferries will take too long. However, there is an overnight ferry between Copenhagen and Oslo that might work for you.

If you haven't purchased your air tickets, look at an open jaw routing.

Posted by
26833 posts

I don't recommend doing what you propose, but if you must, there are overnight ferries between Stockholm and Helsinki.

Posted by
7 posts

Thanks Frank II ! Your post has been the most helpful!! Nice to hear from someone with ideas that might work! Only live once! 😁

PS. I have a whole week in CPH (for work) so will have covered it. I’m only trying to see Helsinki, Stockholm and Oslo. I have Copenhagen covered!

Posted by
2700 posts

You could fly to Oslo. Spend two nights there, three at the most. Fly to Stockholm and spend three or four nights there. Take the overnight ferry to Helsinki, spend the day, then take the overnight ferry back. That will give you a good taste of Finland. Fly or train back to Copenhagen for your flight home (unless you are able to fly out of Stockholm). You could also do this in reverse, depending on flight and train schedules. I would allocate the most time to Stockholm. It is stunning!

Posted by
7595 posts

Drop Helsinki. Stockholm is worth 3 days.
There is a lot to see in Denmark. Not sure you have time to see any Norwegian Fjords.

Posted by
14806 posts

Don't drop Helsinki. Luckily, there isn't as much in Helsinki as there is in the other two cities. Two nights and one "full" day will be fine..

Fly to Helsinki from Copenhagen. From Helsinki, fly to Stockholm. Then fly to Oslo. It's the fastest and gives you the most time in those cities. Try to get early morning flights. They aren't long and with early morning flights you get most of the day to sightsee.

With the short time you have, remember this is going to be a "highlights" tour rather than something in depth.

If you can squeeze it in, look at Norway in a Nutshell. It can be done in one long day and is worth it. It goes from Oslo to Bergen and you could fly back to Copenhagen from Bergen. It would be a shame to visit Norway and not see some of the Fjords.

Posted by
6175 posts

I still think this is a bad idea, and you really should drop one city. But if you insist on doing this, do not fly. Use overnight transportation to save time. Are you planning to do it this October?