Arrival/departure cities for Scandinavia trip

For that plan my recommendation is to fly into Stockholm and home from Bergen or vice versa.

We have flown SAS to the Nordic countries a number of times. SAS' European hub is Copenhagen (CPH) making a CPH multi-city stop over easy with essentially no added airfare cost. SAS serves Oslo and Bergen and other Nordic cities. if you start the NiN from Oslo and end in Bergen, you could check into returning from Bergen.

For example: Stop over in Copenhagen then CPH to Stockholm. Land Stockholm to Oslo. NiN Oslo to Bergen. Return flight to states from Bergen.

This is fantastic advice! I have never flown SAS (live in Atlanta, so pretty exclusively Delta patrons), but for this trip it makes financial sense to book from JFK. I will check SAS.

We were thinking we might enjoy the overnight train back to Oslo, but I haven't researched it at all, so it might not be that enjoyable of an experience. If that winds up being the case, a flight home from Bergen might be in order.

I see that Rick recommends an overnight boat to Helsinki. We have enough time, but my gut tells me that this is a bit much for us with our two kiddos. Any thoughts on adding that excursion? Obviously it's tempting to check another country off the list, and who knows if we will ever make a trip that will make sense with Finland again.

We have done a Copenhagen stopover with Finland (arriving in HEL) being our destination. Flying to Helsinki then taking the ferry to Stockholm may be more efficient if you are trying to fit in a Helsinki FI stop.

I have not done the Helsinki-Stockholm ferry but have heard that the scenery can be great. The negative comments I have heard from Finns is that the ferry is a booze cruise.

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/cruising-in-scandinavia

Both Viking and Tallink Silja sail nightly between Stockholm and
Helsinki year-round. In both directions, the boats leave about between
16:30 and 17:30, and arrive the next morning around 10:00.

The fares are reasonable because many locals sail to shop and drink
duty- and tax-free. It's a huge operation — mostly for locals. The
boats are filled with about 45 percent Finns, 45 percent Swedes, and
10 percent cruisers from other countries. The average passenger spends
as much on booze and duty-free items as for the boat fare. To maintain
their tax-free status, the boats make a midnight stop in the Åland
Islands — a self-governing, Swedish-speaking province of Finland
that's exempt from the European Union's value-added tax.

Define "plenty" please.

We have flown SAS to the Nordic countries a number of times. SAS'
European hub is Copenhagen (CPH) making a CPH multi-city stop over
easy with essentially no added airfare cost. SAS serves Oslo and
Bergen and other Nordic cities.

SAS have three hubs, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo. And their routes cover most of northern Europe, and is decent even in other parts of Europe.

if you start the NiN from Oslo and end in Bergen, you could check into
returning from Bergen. For example: Stop over in Copenhagen then CPH
to Stockholm. Land Stockholm to Oslo. NiN Oslo to Bergen. Return
flight to states from Bergen.

As I mentioned, fly to Stockholm. Take the train to Copenhagen, overnight ferry to Oslo and NiN to Bergen, fly home from Bergen.

This is fantastic advice! I have never flown SAS (live in Atlanta, so
pretty exclusively Delta patrons), but for this trip it makes
financial sense to book from JFK. I will check SAS.

For flights to Northern Europe, SAS is a great choice. They use Newark however for their New York flights, but they have direct flights from Newark to both Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo. And they code share with some US airlines so you can probably book a ticket from Atlanta with them.

We were thinking we might enjoy the overnight train back to Oslo, but
I haven't researched it at all, so it might not be that enjoyable of
an experience. If that winds up being the case, a flight home from
Bergen might be in order.

From Bergen to Oslo you should consider the day train as the views are stunning. If you do that, fly home from Oslo instead.

I see that Rick recommends an overnight boat to Helsinki. We have
enough time, but my gut tells me that this is a bit much for us with
our two kiddos. Any thoughts on adding that excursion? Obviously it's
tempting to check another country off the list, and who knows if we
will ever make a trip that will make sense with Finland again.

It's hard to judge what's too much for you and your kids, but why not? Tallinn is also a good option for an overnight cruise. The cruises are extremely cheap and pretty nice, the views of the cities from the water and the cruise through the archipelago are also not bad.

Hey Jacey from a fellow Atlantan! Sent you a PM instead of posting a potentially lengthy reply in the thread about my 2018 Scandinavia trip.

I think you would do better with Copenhagen, then Norway, ending in Stockholm.

I think you would do better with Copenhagen, then Norway, ending in Stockholm.

Why?

I've taken a number of overnight trains and two overnight ferries. The ferries were much more comfortable. I actually slept on them. How much the drinking will affect the ferry experience I have no idea.

There is also an overnight ferry that runs between Oslo and Copenhagen. It's run by DFDS and is a bit like a mini-cruise ship. If that appeals, you could consider flying into Bergen, doing NiN ending in Oslo, overnight boat to Copenhagen and finish in Stockholm. We booked this ferry for our upcoming trip but haven't sailed yet so can't say if it's a "booze cruise" or not. I did notice they have a children's playroom on board. The first hour leaving Oslo is supposed to be very scenic.