Best way to explore Scandinavia

My preference is feet on the ground travel experiences (or views from a train). I would also prefer enjoying local breakfast and evening meals over a cruise ship dining experience. I also prefer slow exploration over a check off the list "It's Tuesday, it must be Belgium" experiences. But to each his or her own.

I would figure out how many days I would want to spend in each area, travel times between areas and balance the itinerary against my time and cost budget.

There are advantages and disadvantages to either option (as well as the third option, an organized land tour). To my thinking, nothing beats independent travel, but it can be stressful because you are responsible for all the logistics. If having your hotel room follow you throughout your travels appeals to you, and you don't mind being with a large number of people and being herded around your various ports of call and adhering to a tight schedule, cruising can be convenient and allows you to shut off part of your brain muscles.

I'm not sure a cruise is the best way to explore fjords. You can do this on an independent trip by booking a ferry or private boat tour.

Since planning is what keeps you going, and you have over a year before your trip, you would probably enjoy planning your own adventure in Scandinavia.

The Norway-in-a-Nutshell train/boat/bus route and other ferry stops along the Sognefjord are a popular way to include some fjord boats into a mixed-transport itinerary. See a suggested trip plan by car or by train and boat. Ferries to or from Stockholm include a nice view of the archipelago there. You can also do an overnight ferry between Copenhagen and Oslo, which beats a 9-hour train ride with connections. You can add efficiency by flying a longer leg in the mix, such as between Bergen and Stockholm or Helsinki. Find budget flights at www.skyscanner.com or explore multi-city flight plans with your trans-Atlantic airline.

P.S. Rick's Scandinavia tour starts in Stockholm and ends in Bergen, making it easy for you to extend your time at either of those ends of the route.

Do it on your own and leverage the ferries to get between locations on the Baltic. On my last trip to the Nordic region, I used the St Peter Line to travel between Helsinki and St Petersburg. You can spend 3 days / 2 nights visa free if you arrive and depart on St Peter Line ferry.
https://stpeterline.com/-/visa-free-rule

I did three weeks in Scandinavia in May 2016 with my husband. We flew into Helsinki, spent three days there, then took the 2.5 hour ferry to Tallinn. After two days in Tallinn, we then took the overnight ferry to Stockholm. After one day on our own in Stockholm, we took the 14 day RS Best of Scandinavia Tour. It was a really good mix of independent travel and traveling with a group. The tour was a lot of fun and was especially nice after a week on our own. We flew out of Bergen after the tour ended.

As always, you get the best advice from the RS forum! Thank you all for your input. I have lots to think about. I didn't know about not needing a visa for St Petersburg per Laura's suggestion. That is intriguing. And I do have time to figure out an itinerary. Thinking about everyone's comments I am leaning against a cruise. Again, thanks!!!

This can be answered in several ways dependent upon one's particular travel style and preference. I would use public transport...the trains, buses, and ferries for traveling in Finland , Sweden, Norway, ie doing it on my own.

-Hki - Stockholm ferry or, if you don´t like spending a night onboard, Hki- Turku train+ a nice stroll through Turku (the oldest city in Finland) and daytime ferry through the awesome archipelago to Stockholm is a MUST in summertime
-Ferry to Tallinn or St. Petersburg is a great option as well
-Geiranger fjord is the fjord number ONE, that´s a place to go
-Denmark - Oslo ferry is a nice one as well
-inland Sweden or Finland and thousands of lakes is worth going, eg Siljan Lake in Sweden or Savonlinna in Finland
-rent a car for a while: driving in Scandinavia is easy and relaxing as outside the capitals there are good roads, a lot of nature and no jams, basically..
-rent an island! one outside Stockholm, some in Åland between Finland and Sweden..
-Uppsala not far from Stockholm is a great old city as well
-I´d go to Lapland, to fjells..

In a million years I would never have thought to "rent an island"! I am guessing that ,as awesome as that would be, it's a bit out of our price range :) It would be a very cool thing to do though.

Starting at 370 e/ 4 persons it may be...:( for example http://www.silverskar.ax/en/accommodation/sviskar-solitude-you-chose-yourself Never been there myself, but that´s the most affordable GOOD place I found...

I thought the cruise we took in the Baltic was a good way to go. All the capitals face the ocean and the sea was how they were traditionally approached. Most of the cities in the Baltic are small enough, relatively few major sights, to see in one full day of sight seeing.

You could also do similar with ferries, but travel in the area isn't inexpensive. A cruise, for us, seemed both economic, convenient and comfortable.

Our 12 night itinerary started in Copenhagen with stops at Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg (2 days), Tallinn, Gdansk, Oslo and back to Copenhagen. We were able to fly direct to Copenhagen and stay 3 nights before and after the cruise. I felt Copenhagen, and the surrounding area, has the most things to see and do in Scandinavia so it's a natural choice to spend extra days before and after the cruise. Some of the cruises give you the option of boarding in one port and getting off in another - might be worth checking into.

I'd recommend vacationstogo.com They're an online travel agent. Their prices seem the same as all the other cruise travel agents (much better than booking directly from the cruise lines) but vacationstogo has, by far, the best search engine I've found. I've been on four (maybe five) cruises and booked at least three through vacationstogo with no problem. I'd use them again.

Brad, the itinerary you describe sounds amazing. What cruise line did you use? Thanks for the suggestion for the vacationstogo suggestion. I guess we really have to do cost/time comparisons, I know whatever we decide, cruise vs our own, it's going to be pretty expensive. But I think if we can swing it, the splurge will be worth it!