Sweden Itinerary for July 2027

So 6-7 nights beyond your 4 nights in Stockholm?

yes, that's correct TTM.

We recently did the Stockholm-Copenhagen part of your trip. To get from Stockholm to Copenhagen, you basically have two options:

• the SJ Night Train. This won't be for everybody, but I love night trains. You leave approx 11 pm so you get a full last day in Stockholm, and get into Malmo approx 7 am so you get a full day in Malmo/Copenhagen. When buying your ticket you specify Stockholm-Copenhagen, but the SJ Night Train doesn't go through to Copenhagen, so you have to change at Malmo. From Malmo to Copenhagen there are Oresundstag trains every 15-30 minutes. There is also a private company's night train, that does go all the way to Copenhagen, and on to Berlin, but service is not as often and I have no personal experience;

• the SJ Fast Train. There are several services a day, taking about 4 1/2 hours, again connecting in Malmo. These are high speed tilting trains. I have heard of people getting seasick on the tilting trains, but my and my wife could barely feel it.

Both can be booked through the easy-to-use-in-english SJ website.

Tammy, I really liked Kalmar. I arrived by train from Copenhagen and stayed two nights. I rented a car for the day and drove around the southern part of Öland, and got back in time to walk around the town in the evening. Then the next morning I toured the castle and visited the cathedral before catching my train for Stockholm. Kalmar Castle, from the outside, is one of the most photogenic castles anywhere.

Uppsala is an easy day trip from Stockholm.

I didn't go to Gotland, but it looks like you can go to Visby from Stockholm (train/ferry combination) and from there to Kalmar (ferry/bus combination). Here's a post from earlier this year that you might find helpful: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/sweden/visby-and-kalmar.

Do you want to do this by public transportation?

Thank you for the replies so far. Yes Laura, we would prefer not to have to rent a car.

I’m not a lot of help - just asked mainly for clarification to see if it prompted anyone else. I was In Uppsala for 2 nights in December and it’s a cute little town. It IS close enough for a day trip if you decide you don’t want to change locations. But there’s enough to see for a relaxed 2 days.

I took the fast train Stockholm to Copenhagen, with a change at Malmo back in 2018.

I haven’t been to Visby, but would like to go. I found Carlos’ report from his visit to Visby, if it helps. (You may have already seen it.)
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-stockholm-gotland-sweden-aug-2024

Sounds like fun! I'm glad others chimed in about trains to & from Stockholm. You can fly from ARN to Visby, it's a quick flight but my MIL prefers to take the train / ferry to get there from Stockholm. It would take longer but it would be very scenic. We did rent a car to tour around a bit, but Visby is a lovely mostly, medieval walled city with a great, small museum that could easily take up 2 nights. I wondered if you might like to add a night to Stockholm instead of staying there 3 nights? There is SO much to see & do in Stockholm.

Assuming you would fly from Bergen to ARN. You mentioned elsewhere spending a night in Uppsala, you could come directly from ARN (quick 18 min train ride, train station is in the next building) or go into Stockholm first, either would work if you're going back to ARN anyway. We prefer to stay at the Radisson in Uppsala, lots of other hotels of course, but this is our favorite after multiple visits before moving here, it's next to train station & has a COOP grocery store & nice coffee shop just outside front entrance. Even my Swedish SIL stays at the Radisson when she needs a hotel here for a few nights.

I was also going to mention Carlo's excellent TR to Visby, here's one by Mardee on Stockholm with some good info about transport - https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/3-nights-in-stockholm-the-adventure-continues.

Good luck with your planning!

I would probably do the following

1) Fly from Bergen to Stockholm (Arlanda -ARN)
2) Either go to Uppsala for a couple of nights before Stockholm or stay in Stockholm and visit Uppsala as a day trip
3) I would take the ferry from Nynäshamn to Visby. Nynäshamn can be reached by commuter train (pendeltåg) using the same pass you use for local Stockholm transportation. The port is short walk from the Nynäshamn train station. It takes about an hour to get from Stockholm to Nynäshamn and the ferry takes about 3 hours. Alternatively, there is a ”boat bus” that you can book to go between Stockholm and the port. https://www.batbussarna.se/en/kop-bussbiljett/destination-gotland
4) From Visby to Copenhagen, I would probably fly. SAS has seasonal flights from Visby to Copenhagen. Another option would be to take the ferry to Oskarshamn, take the boat bus to Kalmar, and then take the train to Copenhagen. I would only do this if you wanted to stay overnight in Kalmar.

Thanks for the shout out TexasTravelMom and Sandancisco! :-)

I flew from Stockholm to Visby and spent several nights there and was well worth it! Especially when there are no cruise ships in port you basically have most of the town to yourself which is a really magical experience.

As for logistics I'm not 100% sure, but once you get to Visby (fly or ferry), it seems like you might just want to take the ferry to Oskarshamn. From there you can take public transport toward Kalmar/Växjö and then the train down to Malmö, and from Malmö you can easily continue by train to Copenhagen.

Kalmar itself is worth a few nights on its own.