Sweden, Helsinki, and Tallinn - need your suggestions

When is this trip? And what leads you to this itinerary? What are you interested in and what do you want to see and do?

But in general I think you should go back to the drawing board. When are your flights in and out of Stockholm? You don't spend much time there. And 3 days in Lund and 3 days in Kalmar is a bit much if you only have 16 days.

I covered that ground last year, except for Tallinn. Unless you've been to Stockholm before, you are severely shorting the city that has the most sightseeing options. I agree with Badger than with this trip length and breadth of itinerary, you could trim Lund and Kalmar by a day each. It's not that you couldn't find anything to do in those areas, but Stockholm is a beautiful city with a lot of interesting sights spread over many islands; it just takes more time to see than a place like Kalmar.

I agree. More time in Stockholm. I've been twice and I may be going back.

Thank you for the quick replies. I forgot to mention that we have relatives in the northern part of Sweden. We've been to Stockholm many times and visited cities close by and Glasriket but never got a chance to visit the southern part of the country. We will be in Stockholm around end of July and plan to visit the places mentioned till 2nd week of August.

So the goal is just to see southern Sweden? You don't mention anything about your interests and what you are looking for, so this will be very general advice.

But, remove a day each from Lund and Kalmar. And don't rent a car in Kalmar, it's much easier to get to Växjö by train. And when I think about it, don't go to Växjö, Karlskrona is a much more interesting town to combine with Kalmar. Also, skip the day trip to Malmö and make a trip to Ystad instead.

Add the two days you now have left to Gotland and Visby. Maybe take a day from Helsinki and add a third day on Gotland. (Personally I think it's easier to plan nights than days.) Regarding day trips from Tallinn, consider Tartu, Narva or Pärnu.

Although I liked Malmo more than Badger does, I'd agree that Ystad will probably please a tourist more.

The glass museum in Vaxjo is quite good, but that's a special interest of mine and may not be important to you (though you did mention the Glasriket area). I can't compare Vaxjo to Karlskrona because I didn't have time for the latter.

Visby is really lovely. Lodging there is expensive (and tight) in the summer, perhaps especially on weekends. There are ferries from several access points, at different times and frequencies, so do some research to see how you might fit that into your itinerary. Lodging costs being what they are, I'd favor an early ferry over and a late ferry back, but that might mean a night spent in a town that wouldn't otherwise make the cut. I was able to walk every street in town during a 36-hour (one-night) stay in Visby. I didn't have a car, so I made no attempt to see the rest of the island.

I absolutely agree with Visby. It is a UNESCO world heritage site, and totally lives up to that billing. I don't use the word stunning lightly, but am sure I used it several times in my voyage log for that day.
I was there on a day trip from a cruise ship, so can't comment on lodgings. We had had a port talk on board, but if anything that undersold the city.
However I did pick up the island bus timetable and the transit is surprisingly comprehensive. There is even a preserved railway on the island.
I felt that I could have spent quite a few days there, just using transit- but I suppose if you are used to using transit you adapt to it and can see the potential.

Although I liked Malmo more than Badger does, I'd agree that Ystad
will probably please a tourist more.

There certainly are things to see and do in Malmö, I'm not saying you should avoid it. But with the time available there are better places to go in my opinion. And without knowing anything about the OP's interests, we can only give general advice.

I can't compare Vaxjo to Karlskrona because I didn't have time for the
latter.

Karlskrona was founded in 1680, so is a rather new town compared to others in the area. But it was for the start meant to be impressive, and for a while was the 3rd largest city in Sweden (after Stockholm and Riga). It has been said that the king planned to move the capital from Stockholm to Karlskrona, but I don't know if that is true or just a rumour. Parts of the town are on the Unesco world heritage list since 1998.

There are ferries from several access points, at different times and
frequencies, so do some research to see how you might fit that into
your itinerary.

That wouldn't be too hard. Take the ferry from Oskarshamn, a bit north of Kalmar, to Visby. Then you can fly from Visby to Tallinn, or take the ferries. Whichever option you choose, one change in Stockholm is needed.

Thank you all for considering our plan, taking the time to give advice and for giving excellent and very thoughtful itinerary suggestions.

Our amateur trip planning skills kept leading us through Stockholm (and staying the night) too many times (not the RS way.) It is a city we both love and have explored---Skansen, Gamla Stan, Vasa Museum, and Stockholm's Archipelago being some of the highlights. We wholeheartedly agree with your suggestions to not miss this most splendid European city!

Our original plan was to see the southern parts of Sweden people talk about and that we've never been like Goteborg, Kalmar, Malmo and Oland. We both enjoy the historical and cultural merit of the places we wish to see which are representative of the awesome Swedish spirit. This is why, thanks to your wonderful suggestions, we've added Ystad (we are also both fans of Henning Mankell's character Wallander so there's an added bonus there!), Karlskrona and Visby on our itinerary and removed Malmo and Oland. Consequentially, Visby is now our flight route to Helsinki.

Thank you also for inspiring us to skip the car rental in the south of Sweden. You forced us to learn and explore the public transportation options. We discovered a network of options that suit our needs!

Best regards,

Frederick

I think the tourist office in Ystad sells a pamphlet covering some of the Wallander-related sights, perhaps organized as a walking tour.

It's possible similar information is available on line for free.

For your trip, it makes sense then to not spend too much time in Stockholm and instead focus on other parts of Sweden.

Gothenburg, Kalmar and Öland are all worth visiting. So is Malmö, but it would not be on the top of the list and I still think you can skip it. Apart from Ystad having a charming old town centre, it can also be combined with a visit to nearby Ales stenar, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ale%27s_Stones And yes, Öland is nice, but Gotland is a better option I think.

One night stays are not ideal, but given your new plan I'd suggest that from Lund you take the train to Karlskrona and stay there for a night, then continue by train or bus to Kalmar and stay there. In this case I think two one night stays can be worth it as it saves a bit of backtracking compared to staying in one place and do a day trip. And from Visby you should fly to Tallinn, and then continue by ferry to Stockholm via Finland. The ferries from Helsinki are a bit better compared to the ones from Tallinn in my opinion.

Have you considered stopping in Jönköping? It's one of my favorite Swedish cities and a central mid-point between Stockholm and Gothenburg, however, not on the main route. The train station is centrally located to museums. There is a short bus ride to the flagship IKEA (this was fun to visit), the countryside is just gorgeous, and it's the city with the most churches in all of Sweden. The architecture is gorgeous. I was fortunate to study in Sweden and I love this city.

Thank you again for all of the ideas presented in this thread. We've considered them, rearranged our plans to implement them, and now feel a sense of confidence with our current plan. We've learned a great deal through this process and your outstanding ideas have helped guide our decisions.

We have a new question concerning train travel in Sweden. We have some experience (well, just one actually) with the SJ trains coming out of Stockholm as they cancelled our train to Kalmar last summer. We arrived early to Stockholms centralstation and saw our train was cancelled (the dreaded word for Sweden's travellers "inställt"). No notice, no apologies, the SJ office was closed, and the task to get our money back was not simple. In the end, we walked away from that experience with the initial feeling that we will never trust SJ trains again. Well, here we are planning our trip and we decided to give the SJ trains another chance! :)

We wonder if it is best to pre-purchase train tickets, especially for popular runs like Stockholm to Göteborg? We plan to take the train from Stockholms centralstation to Göteborg towards the end of July and wonder if we should buy our tickets ahead of time or just show up at the train station and purchase them there. Any suggestions you have will be much appreciated!

I think you'll find the tickets to be cheaper if you buy them now. (Go to the SJ website and compare fares for tomorrow vs. late July--or as late as tickets are currently available.) But there's always a risk something will come up to derail or alter your trip in the meantime.

I bounced around Sweden for several weeks last summer but can't remember whether I ever ran up against any sold-out trains.

We arrived early to Stockholms centralstation and saw our train was
cancelled (the dreaded word for Sweden's travellers "inställt"). No
notice, no apologies, the SJ office was closed, and the task to get
our money back was not simple. In the end, we walked away from that
experience with the initial feeling that we will never trust SJ trains
again.

Sorry to hear about that. But if I would never trust any mode of transport where I've suffered a cancelled depature, my only option for future travel would be to walk. Sometimes trains are cancelled, but in my opinion, based on thousands of train trips in Sweden, it is pretty rare. Still annoying when it happens though.

Unfortunately SJ has closed their ticket offices, but they usually have staff at Stockholm central station that are there to help people. If you can't find someone in an SJ uniform, there are bunch of ways to contact SJ and ask to be rebooked.

We wonder if it is best to pre-purchase train tickets, especially for
popular runs like Stockholm to Göteborg?

Yes, trains may sell out. And SJ uses dynamic pricing, so a ticket that costs 250 kr bought in advance might cost as much as 1500 kr if you buy it the same day.

We have a new question concerning train travel in Sweden. We have some experience (well, just one actually) with the SJ trains coming out of Stockholm as they cancelled our train to Kalmar last summer. We arrived early to Stockholms centralstation and saw our train was cancelled (the dreaded word for Sweden's travellers "inställt"). No notice, no apologies, the SJ office was closed, and the task to get our money back was not simple.

In general SJ uses text messages for traffic info. I have two emails (both more than a week before trip) but a lot more texts from them about delays, cancellations and other problems. Since text messages might not work to foreign numbers, it is a good idea to search for info a few time before the trip. https://trafikinfo.sj.se/en
Between Stockholm and Gothenburg you can also travel with MTRX or Flixtrain.