Sweden itinerary suggestions

I assume you know not all the places you listed are in Sweden. I'm wondering if you plan to drive everywhere, and if you are okay with the long distances, or would you think about leaving the car and traveling either by air and/or ferry for part of the trip?

I didn't spend any time in the Swedish countryside. I only visited Stockholm and Kalmar. I think Kalmar is worth a visit if time and travel distances allow, and use it as a base to spend a day exploring Öland by car.

In addition, I'd highly recommend either a day trip or, preferably, an overnight visit to Tallinn. Ideally, you'd arrive early morning, either on an early ferry from Helsinki or on an overnight ferry from Stockholm, and have all of the first day and most of the second day before departing on whichever ferry to you didn't take to arrive.

I think 4 nights in Stockholm, 2 nights in Kalmar, 3 nights in Helsinki, and 1 night in Tallinn would be appropriate. I haven't been to the other destinations on your list, so I can't make any recommendations about them.

Because of the long distances, and the need to get back to Gothenburg, I think it would be hard to hit all those destinations by car in 2 weeks.

I laid it all out on Google maps just to give you a rough idea of the driving distances and times you're looking at.

Thanks, Lane! And, yes, I do realize we are thinking about Norway, Sweden and Finland. Looks like ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki (and maybe Talinn) would be best option. If we leave Oslo to the end of our journey, we could drop car there, travel by train to Oslo and maybe fly home from Oslo instead of Gothenburg. Would save us some driving, at any rate.

If you intend to have the car for the entire trip, you'll want to be sure you pick up and drop off in the same country.

Is there a reason you can't fly home from Helsinki? Then you could do Gothenburg -> Oslo -> Lycksele -> Stockholm (drop off you car when you arrive in Stockholm) -> ferry to Tallinn -> ferry to Helsinki.

So the deal is we are doing overseas delivery on a new car. Shipping is free if we pick up and drop off in Gothenburg. Think it's $1K to drop off anywhere else in Sweden to ship back to the U.S. That's why we want to drive the car back to Gothenburg. We don't have to pay car rental or insurance so it's just a matter of putting in the time to drive "cross country."

Oh! That sounds exciting. Then by all means do the full driving route!

Check the map I linked to in my earlier post, and figure out how many nights you'd need. (Assuming clockwise)

Gothenburg - 2 nights
Oslo - 3 nights
Lycksele - 2 nights
Helsinki - 3 nights
Tallinn - 1 night
Overnight ferry - 1 night
Stockholm - 4 nights
Kalmar - 2 nights
Gothenburg - 1 night

Plus you might want a night en route to or from Lycksele. So that's right about 3 weeks. If you need to cut back, skip Kalmar.

Lane, do you think it would make any sense to drive Lycksele to Stockholm and leave the car there for a few days at a lot while ferrying to Helsinki and maybe Talinn. Then back to Stockholm to finish the loop?

Yes, I think that sounds like a good alternative. You won't need your car in Stockholm, Helsinki, or Tallinn, so parking it somewhere in or just outside Stockholm might make sense.

The ferry follows the same route through the beautiful archipelago outside Stockholm whether going to or coming from Helsinki or Tallinn. It's a very pleasant ride, and you can get a nice cabin if you want with a comfortable bed and private bathroom.

Hi Christine,

Since you have a car, I'd suggest driving from Göteborg to Oslo, spending a few days, then head northeast, back into Sweden. Lycksele is pretty far north and a long drive, so I'd make several stops along the way, maybe breaking the trip up into 4-5 hour segments. My first stop would be around Lake Siljan, in Dalarna, which is the heart of Sweden's Folk country. I'd stay a few nights in Leksand or Rattvik before heading up to Östersund (famous for the Swedish version of the Loch Ness monster - Storsjöodjuret).

Heading south from Lycksele, I'd drive along the Bothnian coast. Höga Kusten and Kustvagen are two especially nice drives. I'd stay the night somewhere in this area, maybe Sundsvall or Hudiksvall, before heading down to Stockholm. Ideally, I'd spend at least 3 nights in Stockholm, as it's one of my favorite cities.

As Lane suggested, I'd consider leaving the car in Stockholm for a few days and take the overnight ship to Helsinki. You could spend the day in Helsinki, then take an afternoon boat to Tallin and spend the night. The next day you can tour Tallin, then take another overnight boat back to Stockholm. Pick up your car, then head south to Kalmar for a few nights, before heading back to Göteborg to drop off the car and fly home. Ideally, you will have 3 weeks for this trip. Some of the places I listed would just be overnight stops to break the trip up (Östersund and Sundsvall or Hudiksvall, possibly somewhere about half-way between Kalmar and Göteborg). Other places listed warrant several nights, depending on how much time you have.

I recommend buying the Lonely Planet Sweden book, which has much more comprehensive coverage of Sweden than Rick's books. It will give you hotel and restaurant recommendations as well as details on sights in all these areas of Sweden. Rick's Scandinavia book will tell you everything you need to know about Oslo, Helsinki, Tallinn and Kalmar. I also recommend getting a good driving map, such as the Michelin Scandinavia map.

Hope that helps

Rich -- these suggestions are very helpful! Thank you so much. I really appreciate the additional "stops" along the way you provide. I'm also going to order Lonely Planet and the Michelin map. I'll shop Rick's site first before heading elsewhere. Thanks again!

you are welcome. I'd use www.viamichelin.com or google maps for plotting out your trip and the paper map as a backup. Bra resa!

just to add to the great advice you have already received from Lane and Rich, I would definitely stop in Dalarna, as it's one of the most beautiful areas of Sweden.

Dalarna will definitely go on the "must see" list. Thanks, Chris!

Another quick addition about the Dalarana region:

If you care to get a bite of the best crispbread Sweden has to offer (and to meet one of the nicest guys in the whole country), then while you are in the southern part of Dalarana stop for a few minutes in Stora Skedvi and look for Joel Lindblad's crispbread bakery (here you can find some more info abut him: https://story.visitsweden.com/meet-the-original-hipsters/). :)