Help with itinerary Stockholm/Gothenburg/Paris?

1. No, but from what I've heard it seems pretty nice. As well as easy to reach and do in parts.

2. Yes, very much.

3. How much time do you have? I'd say 3 days is a minimum, but you can spend a week there if you want.

4. Where do your trip start? It's certainly possible to combine Sweden and Paris if you want to. But personally I don't think you should reduce your time Sweden. It also depends a bit on what kind of weather you prefer, in July there is a bigger risk of heat waves in Paris compared to Sweden.

Month and year? Just a note that Scandinavia can be very hot these days, and there is less A/C than in the USA.

Gothenburg is a very nice city visit. In summer there probably is no chance for the famous symphony orchestra located there. Liseberg Park is a very nice, very un-American "amusement park". It's not even very like Tivoli Gardens.

It is difficult to answer #4 without the day counts (and list of Sweden locations) you didn't provide. Getting to the airport an extra time is annoying, but Paris is a wonderful place to visit, repeatedly. I often think American posters here are too ready to make huge jumps in Europe as if they were trying a new Mall at home.

Thanks for the replies!

We have 14 days total from June 30 to July 16. Concert is July 8 so we will be on Stockholm then. Nothing else is planned and we are changing our plane tickets so basically starting all over from scratch.

Scandinavia can be very hot in the summer, but so can Paris be. With 14 days in total it is certainly possible to add a few days in Paris, but you can also use it to see more of Sweden. A few days on Gotland maybe? Or a trip to Dalarna?

I spent 38 days in Sweden last summer, so I'm all for spending your entire trip in that country. I had 12 days in Stockholm with no out-of-town day trips. (Badger tried to discourage me, but I had the courage of my convictions.) Stockholm is really a great city to visit. It has many interesting museums, attractive architecture from medieval to Art Nouveau, and a glorious setting stretching across many islands. I walked and walked, despite having a transit pass for seven days of my stay.

Other places I think might especially appeal to the general visitor are Gothenburg, Lund (near Malmo), Ystad in the south, Uppsala (north of Stockholm, a possible day trip) and Visby.

Visby is a very, very popular summer destination; at best lodging there will be expensive; at worst, it might be unavailable. That's something you should check immediately. Book something refundable right away and then decide whether you want to use it. A midweek visit might be cheaper. Logistically, Visby is a bit of a hassle. Be aware of the timing of the ferries from your planned embarkation point, because you might not be able to arrive early and leave late. You might want an extra night there because of the ferry schedule. I traveled from Oskarshamn rather than the port south of Stockholm, Nynashamn. By means of an early-morning ferry to Visby and an 8 PM ferry back, I managed to have over 30 hours on Gotland while paying for only one high-priced Visby hotel night. That gave me enough time to see Visby rather well, but I had no time for the rest of Gotland. Of course, I had to spend two nights in Oskarshamn, which otherwise wouldn't have been on my itinerary.

Thanks! Great ideas.

For the record acraven, I did not try do discourage you from 12 days in Stockholm. I will try to discourage people when I see really bad ideas when there is an objectively better idea to do things. But in your case it was more of a situation where the itinerary looked a bit odd and not how I would do it. But you considered my suggestions, which is what the forum is for after all. And in the end it was your trip so you should make the final decision

Visby is popular in the summer, and for a reason. But if you're coming from Stockholm the connections are much better, there are usually 4-5 daily ferries from Nynäshamn in the summer. And if you want to see the rest of the island you can save a bit of money by staying somewhere outside Visby. E.g. in Slite, a small town on the eastern coast.