General train travel question for Denmark, Sweden, and Norway

Although Kalmar is a nice town/small city, personally I'd rather spend those days in Stockholm. Two days and a few hours isn't much time for such an important destination. Stockholm has a lot of sights, and they're somewhat scattered. It's spread across a bunch of islands, and the city is gorgeous. I like to include smaller cities/towns when I travel, not take trips that are nothing more than a string of large cities, but you do have Bergen at the end of the trip.

The components of the Norway-in-a-Nutshell trip can be booked by you at a worthwhile savings. It's not hard, but it's a long trip, and in some cases you won't have a lot of choices to fit everything together and complete the trip in a single day. One or more components could sell out, so it's not something to be left until the last minute. These are the pieces of the itinerary and how you can book them:

• Main-line train Oslo to Myrdal and Flamsbana Myrdal to Flam: Book on vy.no as a single trip. The Oslo-Myrdal leg has a variable price; the fare will increase over time. There can be sell-outs on the Oslo-Myrdal train, which could cause scheduling difficulties.

• Naeroyfjord ferry Flam to Gudvangen: Buy from NorwaysBest.com unless you can find a cheaper way to buy from the ferry company (I could not in 2022).

• Bus 950 Gudvangen to Voss: Pay the bus driver.

• Main-line train Voss to Bergen: Buy from vy.no if you want, but I don't think you need to rush to do that. I think this fare is fixed, and there seems to be plenty of capacity on those trains.

Your other train trips (none of which I've taken) probably all have variable fares. They are likely to become more expensive between now and late August. Check cancellation/change policies before deciding when to make those purchases, though. I'm not sure what the best timing would be. I take long, not-pre-planned trips that tend to hop from one smaller city to another, so I don't have a good feel for the sweet spot on the purchase of train tickets in Scandinavia. I think you'll get some more-specific advice from others.

Sunday August 25 train from Copenhagen to Kalmar Sweden

You have two options, Öresundståg direct or high speed train to Alvesta and change there to a local or regional train. The former has a fixed price, buy the latter in advance at www.sj.se

Tuesday August 27 train from Kalmar to Stockholm

Buy in advance at www.sj.se. Note that Kalmar to Stockholm requires a change and you have a choice of two routes, with a change in Alvesta or a change in Linköping. In my opinion the route via Linköping is a bit more charming and more scenic, even if it's often a bit (15-30 minutes or so) slower. If you can't see any options that include a change in Linköping, add Hultsfred as a via-station.

Friday August 30 train from Stockholm to Oslo

Buy in advance at www.sj.se

Monday Sept 2 train from Oslo to Bergen-Norway in a Nutshell

Follow the advice above, acraven knows what they're talking about. And yes, I agree that two days in Stockholm is a very short visit.

I suggest you cut down on Oslo. The Viking Museum is closed until 2027
and there's just not much else there. One night is enough.

Au contraire, there is a lot to see and do in Oslo. If you think the Viking museum is the only thing worth visiting I can really recommend a trip to Oslo because you've missed a lot.

Sunday August 25 train from Copenhagen to Kalmar Sweden

The direct train has a "group" discount if bought from Skånetrafiken, 1170 SEK for three. Use their app or their own ticket machines at Copenhagen central, close to the exit for track 1-2. The Kalmar Länstrafik app is even cheaper at 1155 SEK. Seniors over 70 gets a second discount from Skånetrafiken in Sweden but not in Denmark, if that applies you could split the ticket, for example buy one ticket Copenhagen-Malmö for 360 SEK for three adults and Malmö-Kalmar 607 SEK for three seniors.

Skip Kalmar and add those days to Stockholm, so much more to see and do there!