Trip to Scandinavia this summer

Do you have a Scandinavian Guide Book yet? I got the RS one, which I ordered elsewhere on this web site, before we toured thru the Scandinavian countries. Good book. We go to Europe every summer for 13 of the last 14 years and found Sweden and Norway by far the most expensive countries we have visited with Bergen, Norway, the most expensive city we have visited. I live in Hawaii most of the year so am use to high prices but those are not nearly as high as in Bergen. We certainly enjoyed those Scandinavian countries and I hope you will too.

Scandinavia is an expensive area to visit but is so very worthwhile to see in my opinion. Planning is a must. Read as much as you can ASAP. Rick Steves' Scandinavia guidebook is a valued purchase. After doing your research, you can develop your itinerary. Eight nights in three cities will be too fast paced to enjoy such lovely cities, especially considering transportation considerations. Seven days visiting fjords will, in my opinion, be too much time given your overall vacation. See Norway in a Nutshell for a taste of fjords. Public transportation is very good and advance purchase tickets can save you a bundle. Also, some nice accommodations can be had at not totally outrageous prices. As for food, all accommodations I've stayed at in Scandinavia offered a healthy and hearty breakfast. Street vendors and salad bars in grocery stores along with meals at modest ethnic restaurants round out dining options for those on budgets (me). Great sights are mentioned in the various guidebooks, but a must see is Vigeland Park in Oslo.

You should consider taking an overnight ferry/cruise ship over to Helsinki from Stockholm. It's a very popular turnaround two day trip.

And the train from Oslo to Bergen is another really popular excursion. I understand that Norway is terribly expensive to drive a rental car through--maybe the most expensive country there is.

We were looking to go to Stockholm a couple of years ago. It's absolutely a world class city in every way. The city's located on a bunch of islands, and there are something like 2000 islands to the East. It's one of those places that's best traveled between June and October.

Thanks for your suggestions and comments. Yes, we have Rick's book. I have been investigating the Norway in a Nutshell as suggested and there are two interesting options - Hurtigruten and Norway in a nutshell and Geiranger and Norway in a nutshell. Has anyone taken these trips? If yes, did you add days to the various stops? Thanks

Hi Brian, I think I just answered one of your posts on train vs plane. Now that I see where you are going, I might suggest a slightly different route. You might want to consider flying from Stockholm to Bergen (or another west coast city) rather than traveling from Stockholm to Oslo. This way you can plan a route without backtracking.

For the fjords, you might consider renting a car as the options are somewhat more limited on public transit. You won't need one in the cities. I've visited the fjord region twice. The first time, I took the Norway in a Nutshell route r/t between Oslo and Bergen. This is easiest option if you don't have a car. The second time, we drove from Oslo up to Andalsnes and then made our way south via the trollstigen, Geirangerfjord (crossing on the car ferry between Hellesylt and Geiranger), stopping at the Briksdalsbreen glacier and then heading back to Oslo. If you have a car, I'd recommend you look into making reservations for ferries. We missed the last ferry of the night along our journey (we did this with no hotel reservations and just figured out route day-by-day).

Hi Brian,
I have created a free quiz-app for Android smartphones with questions on Scandinavia.
It is named scandinaviaquiz
Hope You have an Android device - becuase then this free app will probably be a nice companon on your trip.
You do not need to be connected to the internet when using it. Just questions on Scandinavia - and you can break your own records. Have a great holiday!
Here is also a link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=triginta.scandinaviaquiz
/Minal

Consider a Baltic Cruise. We flew into Copenhagen, stayed three nights, took a 12 day cruise (on Princess) that included Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Gdansk, and Oslo, then stayed an additional three nights in Copenhagen before flying home.

When you plan your trip, you'll find transportation around Scandinavia is very expensive (to a lesser extent so is lodging and food). I thought a cruise was a good option for seeing the places we wanted to visit in a way that was affordable. The Baltic Capitals are generally compact, so a one day visit works pretty nicely. We toured on our own except for St. Petersburg (two day stop on the cruise) where a guided tour seemed a better value than paying for a visa and still worrying about transportation, admissions, and translations.

If you rent a car, consider a Fjord Focus or Fjord Fiesta ;-) Have a great trip!