We are a family of 8 adults (aged 30-72) who have spent two weeks exploring France, two weeks in Italy, and two weeks in Greece over the past few years. The first two trips we planned completely on our own and found that VERY difficult. Consequently, we hired a travel agency based in Athens to plan the recent trip to Greece. It was infinitely easier to leave the details to the experts! Now, we would like to spend two weeks in a different way. Rather than staying in one country, we want to spend some time in the British Isles, then make our way to Stockholm, maybe visiting Copenhagen and/or Amsterdam on the way. Can anyone recommend a travel agency or tour company for that, maybe based in London? Or is this type of trip even realistic, given the distances? It's probably the last trip we'll take as a family, given the physical limitations of some of us, and seeing both Scotland and Stockholm is important. We just don't think we can navigate on our own.
Posted by
Uppsala, Sweden
7051 posts
It's very easy to combine Sweden and Scotland and to plan it on your own. No need for a travel agent to do that.
There are direct flights between Edinburgh and Stockholm, but adding stops is perfectly possible. You can travel via Amsterdam and Copenhagen if you like, but via Norway is also not a bad idea. Scotland-Bergen-Oslo-Stockholm could be a nice trip.
Posted by
8322 posts
We did four weeks in England and South Wales and didn't see all we wanted to see. I recommend sticking with either the UK or Scandinavia.
Both are wonderful. If you are going in to Scandinavia, go in the Summer. Sweden is nice but Norway is amazing. Consider visiting fjords on the Atlantic coast. We did it with an 11 day cruise out of Copenhagen. Cruise visited six ports all the way to the North Cape. We did two days in Stockholm prior to the cruise.
As for tour companies in the UK, check out Rabbies.
Also, Gate 1 Travel is a great tour company with fantastic prices. Check out their tours all over the World. Even if you don't use them, it will give you an idea of what you might want to do on your own.
With 8 persons, not sure if you can rent a vehicle that will take 8 persons with luggage. Taking trains are nice, but if you want to do the countryside, a car rental or tour would be great.
Posted by
Last Frontier aka Alaska 🏔️
3575 posts
I can totally understand wanting to use a travel agent. Not everyone has the time to plan trips for several weeks, especially with 8 people involved.
We used Brekke Travel based in North Dakota as they are experts in Scandinavia. We used them for our 2018 trip to Norway and were very pleased.
Posted by
OP
Cincinnati
2 posts
Thank you so much for your replies! This is very helpful!
Posted by
Uppsala, Sweden
7051 posts
You can of course use a travel agent if you want, but with the internet and the help of a forum it is very easy to plan a trip on your own.
Also, a travel agent is no guarantee that everything will work great, as a recent thread showed us: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/getting-to-from-hotel-north-of-london