What to do 3 days in between Stockholm & Copenhagen? Visby, Gothenberg or Oslo???

Had decided to fly vs ferry (is it just a big party?) as have airbnb already in Stockholm but airfare tripled for 9pm flight. Still OK for 7 Am next day. Fly? Ferry? What to see in Helsinki Finland for 1.5 days too

Take ferry. Not one big party. Best way. Don’t fly.

I much prefer the ferry to flight when traveling between Helsinki and Stockholm. You get to sail through the beautiful archipelago as you come into Stockholm. It is less expensive too if you take into account that you save the cost of a hotel night. Weekends can have more of a “party” atmosphere but I’ve never had trouble sleeping on the ferry. Avoid the cheapest C class cabins that are below the car deck. I prefer eating in one of the restaurants rather than going to the buffet.

What month are you visiting? Accommodations can be hard to get in Gotland in the summer so Visby might not be an option at this point.

Well, I definitely would not choose Oslo to visit between Stockholm and Copenhagen because it's somewhat out of your way. And while it's a nice city, I think that you'd be better off visiting Visby, which is supposed to be absolutely beautiful. I have not been there, but it's pretty much in between the two, and it's on an island as opposed to just going to another city. You'd have a different experience there.

My choice would be with Visby if you go during the summer, most just see it as a Baltic cruise stop, but once the cruise ship leaves it really is magical, many times I had Visby's historic medieval back streets all to myself to explore.

I went in August 2 years ago and the weather was perfect, here's my trip report + photo album: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-stockholm-gotland-sweden-aug-2024

Thank you all so much fire your input. It is easy to get carried away when reading about these places and somehow forget about travel time, etc.

Visby is also a stepping stone between Stockholm and Copenhagen- in that you don't have to return to the same port by ferry.

From Stockholm you sail from Nynashamn, and heading to Copenhagen there is a ferry south to Oskarshamn, both of which are rail connected ports.

I agree that Visby is a good choice but if you are visiting in June or July of this year you may have trouble finding a place to stay. You never said what month you are traveling.

Yes, I forgot to mention, we're going next week. We had plans made for between Stockholm and Copenhagen but are reconsidering. And yes, Visby quite full...
So, somewhere, someone mentioned the fjords in Norway, so, not certain about that either but...

Yes, don't fly between Finland and Stockholm, the ferries are a better option. They save you a hotel night and you get some great views of the Stockholm archipelago. There might be some parties going on, but the ships are huge and if you don't want to join the parties it's easy to go somewhere else. And as mentioned, avoid the cheapest cabins.

If you're going next week Visby might not be an option, it's hard to find a place to stay there in the summer on short notice. Other options can be Kalmar with maybe a day trip to Oskarshamn. Or Norrköping, a charming town on the rail line between Stockholm and Copenhagen. Eksjö and Västervik are also great options on the mainland.

After Helsinki and Stockhom, we decided to do something more back to nature. Visby was busy w Almedalen Week, where "journalists, politicians and lobbyists socialize."

I became rather fascinated w the fjords while exploring what to do in Scandanavia and couldn't let go of seeing the fjords over another cobblestone street city. Bergen was a nice surprise, too. I really got hung up on whether to do the "Nutshell," trip... the bus, train, ferry to here and there plus the names of the fjords became so confusing. I did know I wanted to see the Nærøyfjord.
At the last minute, decided to book the

https://www.norled.no/en/ out of Bergen

thinking it covered more fjords and less trains...
I didn't realize until we were on the ferry that the Nærøyfjord leg was not part of the trip!
We ended up backtracking and took the train from Flam to Voss to catch the ferry the next day back to Flam, which included the Nærøyfjord!!! I met a guy from Australia who was traveling back and forth on train, bus and ferry just to see the fjords!
Thank you family for giving up a day in Oslo to make this happen, not to mention the last minute schedule juggling that my daughter managed to finesse to include a night in Voss in the last hotel room available. It was meant to be, however, as she ran into 2 of her Hyrox friends on the train and in Voss! It's a small world!

The Sognefjord was beautiful w idyllic villages and homes along the shore; the Nærøyfjord, a
majestic, peacful, zen-like experience and so worth the effort not to mention the added expense to see it. Having to wait a day added to the excitement. The weather was better as well. An added bonus, we were here because my daughter was representing the USA in Hyrox World. Therefore, she had not spent any time researching fjords. Helping me reschedule seemed to increased her appreciation and anticipation of seeing this God given natural phenomenon! My husband enjoyed it as well.

I'm from the Jackson Hole, WY area aka, Grand Tetons so tried to imagine a Scandinavian seeing that natural wonder for the first time as a comparison.