Car Parking In Copenhagen, Stockholm, Bergen and Oslo

Just a few general statements, as I've never driven in any of these cities. Of the four cities you mentioned (minus Bergen, which I have never visited), your hotel is most likely to offer parking in Oslo. I'm not basing this on anything more concrete than a general perception, but of the three Scandinavian capitals, Oslo seems to be the most accessible for cars, and it tends to have more business class hotels that might offer parking. Although I'm not 100% certain, I seem to remember that Copenhagen places certain restrictions on driving within the center of the city. And you will notice, for a capital city, there's a surprisingly small amount of automobile traffic. Before you drive in Norway, make sure you understand the toll system, especially if your rental car is registered in Denmark or Sweden. It's the most non-intuitive toll system I've encountered anywhere else in the world.

One way to do this find a hotel in the suburbs that is on the subway line. If you decide to park inside the city, expect to pay for parking and for it to end up being very expensive. If you do a suburban hotel, you'll be able to store the car there (for free) and spend the rest of the time in the city.

To see a list of "park and ride" lots in the Stockholm suburbs, go to this website http://www.stockholmparkering.se/ Then look on the right side of the page where you will see the symbol P+T and the word "Infartsparkeringar". Clicking on that will show you a list of parking lots near train or tunnelbana (subway) stations. Unfortunately, this page only seems to be in Swedish, but you should be able to figure it out. "Avgift" is fee and "Max p-tid" is max parking time. "7-dygn" is 7 days and 48-timmar is "48 hours". At the bottom of the first list, there is a magnifying glass and the words "Alla infartsparkeringar i en kartbild". If you click on that you will see a map that shows the lots. One potential challenge. The automat where you pay will likely only take a chip and pin card so it could be a challenge if you don't have one. The website says that some automats take coins. There is a customer service email ([email protected]), so if you are interested in using one of these lots you may want to email them to check if you don't have a chip and pin card.

Thanks for the replies. One thing I should have noted is that our current plans are to stay within each city at hostels. I expect that most all hostels will not have car parking. Anyone with additional feedback? Thanks!

If you haven't already, you might try checking the hostels websites or emailing them about where to park. They probably can direct you to a convenient parking place. Keep in mind that parking a car for three days will be expensive, in addition to the cost of an unused rental car. Will you be dropping off the car in the same country as the pickup? If not expect very hefty foreign drop-off fees. And using any automated parking and toll machines will likely be impossible without a chip & PIN credit card. Andrews Federal Credit Union offers them in the US, or you could get a Travelex pre-paid card for a hefty 10% fee and stock it up for paying tolls and parking. Not trying to be a downer, just that many people are unaware of the challenges driving can offer in Europe.

You've got the ox behind the apple cart. 1. Figure out where you're going to stay. 2 Go there. 3. Ask them. 4. Do what they say. Life is pretty darn simple when you take it as it comes.
You'll wind up in the looney bin if you over-think everything.