Family travel to Scandinavia

Sounds like a wonderful trip! I can't give you any specifics as I've only been to Stockholm and the hotel I stayed in was not suited for families (teeny tiny rooms).

However, given that European hotel rooms - especially anything affordable in Norway (very expensive, even for other Europeans)and Sweden - tend to be quite small and thus you'd need to get three double rooms (i.e. with two twin beds or one double bed), you might be better looking for B&B style places. There you might be able to get a suite of rooms or rooms in a wing of building, which would allow you more family space and be cheaper than three full hotel rooms.

Also, it sometimes works out cheaper to get a suite in a hotel for 3 or 4 people - if the suite has two bathrooms, the boys could sleep on the pull out/down bed in the living room, which could then be used as family space during the day. My parents I did that in Switzerland, and it worked very well.

Have fun!
Kate

Take a look at THON Hotels - a business chane that has great family summer and weekend rates. www.thon.no i think - or just google THON HOTELS - if they work for you sign up for their club card to get discounts - their web site has english too.

Also - make sure to get Ricks book on scandinavia asap and maybe also ROugh Guide or Lonley planet - which ever is newer - I had all three and just took the sections i needed.

I'd second the recommendation on Thon hotels. They are a Norwegian chain that has good quality rooms at good prices.

Make your reservation for Gotland early. I'd suggest that you contact the Gotland tourist board and see if they can help you out. I stayed in a private room there with a reservation made through them and it was quite reasonable, in the center of Visby, and nice. Also make sure to make your reservation for the ferry to Gotland in advance if you are going to be there for Medieval week. There is an overnight ferry from Nynashamn which you can reach by train from Stockholm and also a hydrofoil.

Another option that might be fun for your boys would be to take the overnight boat from Stockholm to Helsinki and spend two nights on the boat and one day seeing Helsinki. The boats are nice and very reasonably priced and you get to see the Stockholm archipelago which is beautiful.

Our first kid trip to Europe was Scandinavia as well. I can highly recommend Oslo and the Gableshus hotel. This hotel is NOT in the center of Oslo and at first I thought I had made a huge mistake. It is in a residential neighborhood near the Embassys - a 10 minute tram ride from Oslo center. They gave us a very large "family room" with the comfiest beds. They also allowed us to keep our car there for 2 nights while we did the Norway in a Nutshell train ride & Bergen tour. It was actually so pleasant to be outside the city and my kids loved the tram ride too.

Oslo was great. Be sure to visit the national gallery (the art museum) - this is where you will find Munch's "Scream" as well as his other depressing, but for my kids (also 9 & 11) very interesting pictures like "Dying Girl". We loved Vigeland Park (all the naked statues), the ski jump at Holmenkollen, Akershus Castle, and the museums just outside the city.

The Viking Ship museum in Roskilde was also a big hit.

I would also recommend the Thron Hotels - if you do check into them be sure to join their "frequent stayer club" as it did same us some money and given the prices in Scandinavia, every little bit saved is important. Joining their club is easy and doable online. We go to Europe every summer and while there take a RS tour. Scandinavia was one of the best for us.

Check out Rick's books for B & B's or homestays. We had great luck with an apartment for less than the price of a hotel room (a lot less). An apt would be a great way to go with a family.

To previous poster:
Munch's Scream was stolen - has it been recovered?

Hey Heather! Congrats! We went to Stockholm this summer and had a great time. We=grandma, sis-in-law, son 17, nephew 13, and neice 8 (and me). I booked our accomodations through a site called visit-Stockholm.com. For make the reservations there we received a card that gave us travel on all the local transportation, entry into most of the top sites and some other discounts. It was such a cost savings that Stockholm was our cheapest stay of the 6 countries we stayed in. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
A fellow Portlander.

Roskilde is in Denmark, so that would be a bit of trip from the cities mentioned in Sweden and Norway!

There is a viking ship museum in Stockholm which is supposed to be excellent.

Kate

Thank you, everyone! I'm making a master list of ideas, so I'll be adding yours to the list to check out!

Karen, I am so glad to hear that you had a good time taking your boys to Scandinavia. I had originally planned to take them first to Ireland and Scotland, but my mother really wanted to take them to Sweden and Norway (we're of Norwegian and Swedish descent)...and who could say no to a great trip with the grandparents too? We'll make wonderful memories! Any more tips you have would be welcome!

Linda, thanks for the offer of assistance. I'm glad to learn of the discount card for Stockholm.

To all: Have any of you been to Medieval Week in Visby? Is it worth it? It looked like something everyone in our group could enjoy--especially the kids. But I would sure rather attend a festival that is truly enjoyed by locals than one which is staged only for international travelers. Is Medieval Week authentically enjoyable?

Munch's Scream painting is acutally a series - there are several of basically the same thing. There is one version that is in the National Gallery in Oslo. There is a separate Munch museum also in Oslo but there were several of his paintings in the National Gallery besides the Scream. I believe the latest theft was from the Munch Museum.

And yes, forgot that Roskilde is in Denmark - we started our Scandinavian adventure in Copenhagen and drove to Oslo, then took the overnight ferry back to Denmark. That was another fun part of our trip - the different types of transportation that we used - from the Norway in a Nutshell scenic train, to the overnight sleeper car we used to get back to Oslo and then the large ferry from Oslo to the tip of Denmark.

Another tip for traveling with kids is to try to find physical/nature activities for them to do to round out all the city/museum stuff. We enjoyed swimming & biking on Aero Island as well as more swimming in the North Sea - cold but fun!

Heather, I haven't been to Gotland during Medieval week, but I don't think you can go wrong with a visit to Gotland. Visby is a great town. It is really charming without being overly touristy. There are also several nice beaches on the island. The water isn't too warm, but since you are from Portland, that won't be a surprise to you.

Oslo is beautiful and you will love Bergen - don't miss the train to Voss and the boat ride on the fjord. Use Rick Steve's Norway in a Nutshell.

Stockholm is beautiful..... and expensive. Take the boat rides to the outer islands... AND the VASSA museum is great. Queen's Hotel has lots of charm but I haven't been there for awhile.

Maude's is a very modern hotel close to a T-Banana (sp?) subway/train station and can get you down to the City Centre and Gamla Stan (old town)...Maude's is quiet and comfortable. Elevators too!

You're going to have such a good time!

The Norway in a Nutshell trip is a must! I'd REALLY recommend sleeping on the night train back to Oslo -- That would be so fun for the kids, but it's cushy enough for the grandparents, too! And it costs less than a hotel stay plus transportation back. When my husband I did that a couple years ago, a HUGE buffet breakfast at a hotel across from the train station in Oslo was included. There's a hotel chain with a rainbow for its logo that was inexpensive (relatively -- everything in Oslo is expensive!), convenient, and comfortable. It might be in the RS book. If you have a car, driving the Trollstigen (the troll road) is an adventure the kids will love, if you're in that part of the country.
In Stockholm, the Vasa ship and Skanska will be fun for the boys. We've always stayed with relatives there, so I don't know the hotels...

Thank you, everybody! We are very excited about our trip, but I have to admit that the costs of accommodations in Stockholm, Oslo and Bergen is starting to worry me...pretty expensive for six people! (Particularly because my mother, at times, has difficulty walking too far so we need easy access to transportation.) I did find a nice, very small B&B on Gotland Island that we've booked...so that part is set.

I'll check out Maude's. Thanks for the suggestion.

Any other ideas for accommodations are very welcome!

Heather

Hi Heather,
I would recommend Hotel Bondeheimen in Oslo- also recommended in Rick's books. It is a nice hotel in a great location- right off of the main street Karl Johans Gate and close to the T-Bane (subway). It's typical Scandinavian and fairly basic, but nice. As you're realizing, Oslo is expensive, but this hotel has some really good weekend/summer rates. They also have some large rooms (our family of 5 stayed in one), though I'm not sure how many of them they have. If you or your parents prefer quieter rooms ask for ones in the back. The main sights to see are: Akershus, National Gallery, Viking Ship Museum, Open Air Museum, Frogner Park, and the Holmenkollen ski jump- all are good sights for kids and adults. Akershus and the skip jump are a little more walking intensive, but your boys will love the virtual skiing machine at the Holmenkollen if it is still there. Be sure to try the soft ice-cream (soft is) sold everywhere. It's the best!

We travelled through Scandinavia for over a month with a then 8 month old and wanted accommodations that we didn't need to worry about disturbing others, which was a challenge.

While in Oslo, we stayed with Villa Frogner, which is outside of the city center, but literally across the street from Vigelandsparken, which is a must see, in and of itself. We did not stay at the actual B&B that they run (I've seen bad reviews on the B&B), but we rather stayed at an apartment through them that was fabulous. It was a bit suburban, but was perfect for us, as it had a full kitchen, full bath, living space/sleeping space....was a complete apartment. Not only was it nice to have the space, but we got a taste of living like the locals and shopping where they shopped, eating where they ate, etc.

We also really enjoyed the viking ship museum/con tiki museum outside of Oslo.

If you have anymore questions about family accommodations in Scandinavia or family friendly sites, let me know.

Hello Heather. I travelled in Sweden and Norway, in May of 2007. I liked it very much. At Bergen I recommend go to a B & B : Alf and Elizabeth Heska, at Skivebakken 17. Your parents can ride in a taxi car from the train station or bus station to that house (on the side of a hill). It has a kitchen in which the guests can prepare their food. No refrigerator. A room there costs less than half the price of a room in a Thon Hotel. An other place is the house of Marit and Hugo Dahl, at Trangesmauet 14. And, I recommend have overnight accomodation at Aurland, in the middle of the "Norway in a Nutshell" fjord trip, at the Aabelheim Pension.The rooms are old and small but pleasant, with a dining room for breakfast, in small white wood buildings that look like cottages.Aurland is a pleasant little village at the side of the Aurland fjord.Friendly Norwegian people there. In Stockholm: Stureparkens Gastvaning, at Sturegatan 58. All the places I mentioned are in the book "Rick Steves' SCANDINAVIA"

Wow! I am completely thrilled with the helpful responses I've been getting. I've got lodging booked everywhere now. We are staying at small hotel in Stockholm, at a bed and breakfast in a small village on Gotland (we'll travel into town for the festival), and an apartment in a classic wooden Bergen house not far from the wharf. So far, so good!

But right now I have a rather generic hotel booked in Oslo, and frankly it costs too much. So I am still looking for a good small inn or bed and breakfast. I've sent a request into Villa Frogner as suggested above...but just in case that doesn't work out, I'd love some other suggestions. The Cochs Pensionat is not available for our large party of six. Any ideas?

Thanks for all your help everyone! I'll be sure and return the favor after our trip!