Scandinavia trip- and the COST

We love Scandinavia, but it is expensive. I remember one year we were in Portugal and later Norway.
A beer in Portugal was less than one Euro, a similar beer in Norway was about 8 Euros.

Still, going there is great, Our last trip to Norway was an amazing cruise up the coast visiting 6 ports and amazing fjords up to the North Cape.
Lodging and meals were provided on the ship, except for lunch, and it was a fantastic trip. Sweden was not as expensive as Norway.

Unfortunately Scandanavia is indeed very expensive. In my experience, Norway is the most expensive (possibly the most expensive country to visit in the world- at least one of them), followed by Denmark, then Sweden. I think Finland was similar to Sweden, and then Tallinn was a bit less expensive than that. If you want to save a bit I might think about just Sweden, Finland, and/or Estonia. Altho of course it also depends on what you specifically want to see. Good luck with your planning!

The Scandinavian and Nordic countries are expensive.

Tallinn will be less expensive.

Do you have to go in summer when it will be most expensive?

Thanks for these reflections. Yes, we will need to travel in the summer as I work in a school, and my daughter graduates and will postpone beginning to work until after this trip, so June it is. Any cost saving tips? or just bite the bullet.

I was in Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Oslo in June. Scandinavia seemed to be at least 2 to 4 times more expensive than Southern Europe (the baseline I am most familiar with). I try to spend as little as possible no matter where I am, so my formula includes stays in Airbnbs, food mainly from supermarkets and 'kababerias', and public transportation. I only indulge in museum entry fees. All depends on what you want to do and the 'standard' you want to maintain. To me, $20,000 actually seems low for 3 people if including airfare and hotels in 3 to 4 countries.

After spending 3 weeks in Denmark, Sweden and Norway 2 months ago, my hubby and I would consider Norway near the top of our experiences. The "Norway in a Nutshell" fjord cruises were spectacular as was our time in the mountains. If we had to drop anything it would be painful but Sweden would probably have to wait.

First, IMO, practically any hotel under $300usd anywhere on Earth is a bargain nowadays.

Maybe narrow your focus to only 1 or 2 countries to save on transportation.

Do you require 1 or 2 rooms? Many hotels include a lavish breakfast that could tide you over until dinner time. Join a hotel rewards program like Thon Hotels and you can knock 10% off the rate. Quality Hotels usually have rooms for less than $150-$200usd in Norway. Don't overlook campgrounds and hostels. Many offer clean, comfortable rooms or cabins with private or shared facilities.

Good luck with your planning.

Scandinavia was a dream for me that I made it come true a couple of years ago. I also traveled within a budget and saved for it.
There are cheaper hotel options that I recently learned about. I think it's called Citybox something, It's like a slim down hotel experience.
But what I do to avoid higher cost is try to travel outside peak season, book hotel in advance (which usually is cheaper), and I do go for breakfast included. I stayed at Thon Bristol in Bergen, Norway (Thon hotels are generally great and somewhat good price). I had a hearty breakfast and could easily just nibble midday until dinner. I scouted cheaper restaurants and splurged in one nicer meal in each country I visited for dinners. Grocery stores and small market for a grab-n-go meal also helped keep within budget. Norway was by far the most expensive but my favorite. I also visited Denmark and Sweden.

I think which country to skip depends on what you want to see/visit, I wouldn't make a decision based on cost. Once you factor your must locations, then try to work the budget for it. Transportation between countries can also be a cost factor.

Honestly, finding a hotel room for 3 under $200 will be extremely hard, and I know more expensive if you get 2 rooms. It's hard even in the US! Best of luck, Scandinavia will be a great graduation celebration.

I have no Scandinavia experience and you probably already do this, but I've done well with Google flight alerts and booking less expensive flights after tracking.

Flight is another way to save. I booked a multi-city with arrival in Copenhagen and departure from Stockholm. It was cheaper than if I had booked roundtrip to/from Copenhagen. I booked separate flight at a low cost between countries. But there are trains and ferry options too depending on your itinerary.

I took a Baltic Cruise in 2019 leaving from Copenhagen.

Spent a few days pre-cruising and then sailed to Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn and St Petersburg, the last not being available any longer. I also no longer remember the order of ports.

Would you consider a cruise?

I remember the food in Copenhagen being shockingly expensive,

Also, I use booking.com. You can do research on booking.com without booking but not all hotels list with booking because of fees.

IMO, Scandinavia is probably the most expensive area of Europe to visit. The Baltic nations would be a better deal, by far. If her her heart is set on Scandinavia, perhaps narrow your plans. Congrats to your daughter (and her parents!).

I'm a little late to the party about lodging, but I would encourage you to think a little outside the box on that and to prioritize experiences over hotels, where hopefully you won't spend much time. I'm an older traveler, but have stayed in hostels a lot. Investigate whether you can get two private hostel rooms for a decent price. Your daughter would most likely really enjoy the experience, and you would find it tolerable for sure.

In Copenhagen in 2023 I stayed at the Steel House Hostel, a large and wonderful one, and I would repeat that experience.

In a week or so I'll be in Helsinki and will stay in Eurohostel. This will be the only time on this trip (as compared to both previous trips) that I have stayed in a "dormitory" style room where you are with other people you don't know. However, I was able to get a dorm in a three-person room with no bunk beds (having developed some slight mobility limitations since the last trip), so you might investigate that. In Stockholm, I will be in what I take to be the budget version of the Scandic hotel chain; this one is called Scandic Go, at Sankt Eriksgatan 20. See if either of these compromises would be acceptable. I love a fancy hotel room as well as anyone, and better than most, but lodging is where I'm willing to pinch pennies in order to see what I want to see and do what I want to do during the non-sleeping hours. I'm done.

Thanks for all of this information. I appreciate all the thoughts. We, for sure, have been saving, actually I am always saving for travel (I have an envelope in my draw labeled trip fund that gets money in it every paycheck). Travel is my achilles heal or life's passion (whichever way you want to look at it) And in fact, we travel often, I guess that is why I was so stunned at the cost. We were in NZ for over 3 weeks last year and spent 1/2 of what it looks like this trip will cost. The point about southern Europe, where we have also traveled quite a bit seems spot on and reflects my experience. I just hadn't realized the striking difference between there and the north. I will look at our options and then decide what we can make work. Appreciate you all

If you end up in Copenhagen, you might want to checkout this somewhat unusual, but fun and CHEAP meal, at Folkehuset Absalon: https://absaloncph.dk/en/food/

I found info on this place in the Rick Steves guidebook and had a delightful evening with delicious food. The communal meal is set up in a former church/current community center. You sit at long tables with other people and the food is served family- style (something like summer camp!) My tablemates included two other Americans, an Australian man with his adult daughter, a Chinese woman studying in Denmark, and a Danish man. So interesting. It was a really enjoyable evening, in a neighborhood away from the tourists. The food was delicious! They also sell inexpensive food earlier in the day. You could even eat there more than once. The Chinese woman said she comes there “all the time.”

Hi, I am in Norway right now, and yes, it is enormously expensive, but as others have said, there are ways to keep the cost down. We have stayed at the Thon hotels, which give you a discount if you book more than one hotel, and they are very nice and very clean. Most of them are in city centers, so also convenient. We stayed at the Thon Hotel Opera in Oslo, the Thon Hotel Alesund in Alesund and are now at the Thon Hotel Rosenkrantz in Bergen (a fabulous city!).

And I would also suggest what the others did, which is to make the most of the free breakfast. You will find that it is quite extensive, and there is a lot of food. For what it's worth, the hotels I've been staying in will make up a lunch for you for a pretty reasonable price. That might be an option as well. We have also shopped in grocery stores instead of eating in restaurants every night. In fact, tonight we went to a REMA 1000 near our hotel (a Norwegian grocery store) to choose our dinner. They had a lovely salad bar, so we took those back to our hotel and ate there. The cost was around $20 (as opposed to the $100+ it would cost for a sit down meal).

For what it's worth, Iceland was more expensive than Norway, although Norway is pretty close. Sweden was less expensive (but still pricy), but I will also say that Norway is worth it. It's definitely the most beautiful country I've ever been to. I would highly recommend not leaving it off your list.

Hi there, I guess you need to consider how important these specific places are to you - Tallinn will definitely be less expensive than the others. Personally, I think Norway is majestic and I would hate to see you cut that out, if you have a choice - Why not skip Finland, (also expensive and less fantastic IMO) unless you're taking a ferry to Tallinn from Sweden? My other thought is consider going as soon as the daughter graduates, it might be a tad cheaper for accommodation than later in the summer.

I'm not sure what your reference is for thinking +$200 for a hotel room is exorbitant, perhaps compared to NZ, but it's easy to pay that in any big city in the USA! Norway is quite expensive, but IMO Sweden is still modestly priced for meals (outside of the main tourist areas). I regularly have a set lunch (only served M-F) here in Uppsala, an hour north of Stockholm, for about $18. Example - Fish with potatoes & salad, beverage AND dessert! You wouldn't find a decent lunch for that price in the Bay Area of SF. (Look for set meals posted in the window.) We've also enjoyed smaller cafes in Stockholm for less than $20 pp for lunch, (M-F), more for dinner of course. Good luck with your planning!!

Our trip in the fall of 2023 (not June, so I can’t offer what difference that might make in price) included Denmark and Norway. We stayed in Airbnb’s the whole time, which let us stay in city centers relatively cheaply, and fix breakfasts without having to get dressed, and make many of our other meals ourselves. In Norway, 7-11’s are actual grocery stores, not just convenience stores.

Norwegians have discovered tacos … sort of. Boxes of Ortega taco shells and other Ortega products (no Old El Paso).line the shelves at grocery stores. Fridays are national Taco Friday across the country, and I think Sweden does that, too - cheaper than some other alternatives, whether you make your own, or line up at a Mexican restaurant. But the tacos could be weird … Norwegians like feta cheese and kiwi fruit in their tacos!

We ate out occasionally at lunch (often expensive), had cake and tea a few afternoons (reasonably inexpensive), and splurged for one dinner in Copenhagen (worth every penny). In Bergen, Norway, we found a sit-down Korean restaurant that was outstanding, and very affordable. Not “Norwegian,” but good quality, and we had two dinners there.

We flew from the U.S. to London on British Airways, but then flew on Norwegian Air within Norway and Denmark (Trondheim, Bergen, Oslo, Copenhagen) - cheap, fast, and easy. Not sure what other countries they cover, but look at them as possibilities that might help you move around, depending on where you go.

We also rented an electric car in Bergen from Hertz (Norway has hugely embraced electric cars), which got us discounts on ferry tolls in Fjord Country and didn’t require paying for gasoline, but it did require time to locate and charge at charging ports, using the charging station network that Hertz recommended. We needed to sign up with the Elton app, and use only their charging “pumps,” and some other charging companies weren’t available to American tourists there temporarily.

lisafjord,
Sandancisco's comment about hotel prices is right on. $200.00 per night in the summer in almost any European city (and for 3 people!) is a bargain. I would easily expect almost double that in Scandinavia. Do a little research on Booking.com, for instance, just to get a rough idea of lodgings prices. I would compare hotel prices perhaps to New York City prices.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Like I shared, we do travel a lot. We stayed in Paris and Florence, 3 summers back, and were in lovely places for around that amount, but we did book the trip with a company so maybe that is part of the difference. Rome over thanksgiving for $1300 a person (hotel and airfare) and we were there for a week in a great hotel in Trastevere. So it is possible. In the states, we usually stay in Airbnbs and can always find something more affordable in big cities (New Orleans particularly comes to mind where accommodations are very expensive). That all said, you have offered me lots of ideas, and I already registered for Strawberry hotels and Thon, so hopefully we find a way to make it work. Norway sounds like a must and I think we will just have to figure it out. Really appreciate all your input.

I do agree with Cyn that if you rent a car, I would definitely go with an electric car. We rented one for our Norway trip, and it was wonderful. Unlike Cyn, we were not limited to one specific charger but could go wherever we needed. We found that several of our hotels had overnight chargers that we could use for a minimal cost. If we didn't have those, then there were so many charging stations along the way; even in remote areas.

I downloaded about four to five apps including Tesla, Mer and several more, and never had a problem finding one. It made it so much more affordable because I wasn't having to pay for expensive gas. A typical cost to get the car fully charged was around $20. Much, much cheaper than gas.

And for what it's worth, my daughter, who was doing most of the driving, and I had never driven an electric car before. It was simple to use. You simply get in the car, and as soon as the driver is in the driver's seat, the car turns on. Charging was also easy. I asked AI ahead of time, gave it the car information, and it explained the process fully. It was simple to charge after that.

Mardee--We too enjoy the Thon hotels and have used them for packable lunches. I don't remember the cost off the top of my head, but it was very reasonable and they gave us a paper bag and had us just take what we wanted fro the breakfast buffet, and then they gave us bottled juices. That was such a time saver for us! Plus wee got what we wanted and would eat vs wasting food.