1 week in Scandinavia

Copenhagen is a three hour train ride away from Stockholm. It is a beautiful city: go a for a harbor tour, see Tivoli Gardens, and if you like Vikings the Viking museum at Roskilde is a must. We only had two days there and it was not enough time!

I wrote about the fjord areas yesterday and perhaps you can find those strings where I wrote and others about Norway. I have never been to Iceland but it would take away from time in Norway and Sweden and Denmark. It would be worth it if you were flying by way of Iceland. From Stockholm, I think you could easily get to the fjords by train or auto. They are about 100 miles West of Stockholm. I think! Correct me if I'm wrong. (see correction below!) What kind of places interest you the most? Scandinavia has so much to offer. Cities worth visiting include Bergen, Oslo, Trondheim, Alesund, Copenhagen (I'm partial to Norway since my maternal grandparents came from from Norway). If you like to spend time on a boat, Norway has a boat which takes you along the coast and into some of the fjords. You can take this boat for a day or 2 or 3 or more. There is one every day. You can get on at Trondheim. Somebody else will have to tell you about the wonders of Sweden. I slept through Sweden on a train twice. Norway has some spectacular train rides including Oslo-Bergen. Trondheim-Oslo. Dombas-Andalsnes. Ocean-going boats can travel many miles into several fjords. Geirangerfjord is well inland and probably the most spectacular. If you like to drive on switchbacks, the Geirangerfjord area is definitely for you. Molde has a jazz festival in mid-July. It is on a fjord near the coast with a spectacular view of snow-capped mountains to the South. It is another place to pick up the daily coastal boat, the Hurtigruten. Go to: http://www.moldejazz.no/2011/index.php?page_id=11470 http://www.hurtigruten.us/norway/ Also: http://www.fjords.com/

I was wrong when I said Stockhom is only 100 miles from the fjords. It is much further South than I thought. Train or auto from Stockholm to the fjords would probably take a whole day or a whole night. But worth it! Maybe even more than a whole day or whole night. I can't believe how far off I was when I said it is only 100 miles from Stockholm to Trondheim. It is 500 miles! There are places in Sweden that are less than 100 miles from Trondheim but those places are far North of Stockholm.

http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml offers trains schedules and fares for many European countries including Scandinavia. You can check out the RS website for Eurailpass info. Eurailpass deals are NOT always better tha the regular fares especially when you can get good deals on the regular fares. I hear that auto rentals in Scandinavia are expensive ... like everything except healthcare and education in Scandinavia. The train trip between Stockholm and Copenhagen is almost 6 hours. I guess I am not the only one who is thinking that Scandinavia is smaller than it actually is.

With only one week, you'll just be able to see a sampling of Scandinavia. You could do Stockholm, Oslo and Bergen with a little bit of the fjords, say, Norway in a Nutshell. You would see the most beautiful scenery in Scandinavia. Another option would be Stockholm and Copenhagen with a day trip or two. Roskilde is an easy and interesting day trip from Copenhagen if you like Viking ships. From Stockholm, you can take an overnight ferry to Helsinki or to Tallinn. Then you return overnight the next evening. Both of those cities are fascinating. Helsinki is very different from the rest of Scandinavia; it has been much more influenced by Russia. Tallinn has a fantastic old town and also the Russian and some German influence. The boat ride is really nice because you sail through the Swedish archipelago, which is beautiful (and the Finnish archipelago if you go to Helsinki). It's not that expensive when you consider, it eliminates the need for a hotel for two nights.

Overnight ferry trip to Helsinki that someone posted above is great. I had 1 week in Stockholm, where I stayed w/ cousins, and just under a week in Norway (Oslo, Norway in Nutshell and Bergen) and the overnight to Helsinki from Stockholm was a lot of fun. I took the Silja line. Clean, very efficient, reasonable, etc. (they make most of the revenue from the duty-free shops on board, so this keeps the cabin costs down), fun/realxing spa. You wake up in Helsinki, have the better part of a day to spend in that pretty city, then return to Stockholm that evening. I was glad I did it. Highlights, for me; Stockholm; Vasa Museum, Gamla Stan, City Hall, Djurgarten, Skansen, harbour front, boat cruise through the islands. Oslo; Thor Hyerdall Museum, Vigeland Park, Munch Museum, Viking Museum, Maritime Museum, Norwegian Resistance Museum and the ski jump just out of the city. And, of course, Norway in a Nutshell; spectacular!