Help me plan my trip to scandanavia this summer

What places are you planning to visit? Kids that old should be able (and required) to help with the planning. Get some guidebooks from the library and sit down and make lists of what each person might like to see. The kids will feel more invested in the trip if they have a hand in choosing what they will be doing.

First, good for you for giving the gift of this great experience to your children. They are lucky. We took our children there in 2008 when they were 12, 9, and 5 and we had a great time. The question you need to ask yourself if just how much of Scandinavia to you want to see. It is possible to touch on each of the 4 main country's capitals and see a bit of the Norwegian fjords in two weeks, but only if you plan things very carefully. You can be a bit more free with your time if you stick to a smaller area like just Norway+Stockholm for example. You could spend a lot of outdoorsy time in the fjords if you enjoy being away from cities and in nature, or you could see one fjord in one day and spend the rest of your time in cities. It depends on what your preferences are. The one thing that is true about Scandinavia that is NOT true about other countries in Europe is that, aside from the fjords in Norway, there are not a lot of can't-miss-it sights outside of the capital cities. Nice, yes. Can't miss? Not really. My Plan A would be 3 days in and around the fjords, 2 days in Oslo, 3 days in and near Copenhagen, 4 days in and near Stockholm and 2 days in and near Helsinki (Silja overnight cruse ship/ferry between the two) My Plan B would be 7 days around western Norway fjords from Trondheim down to Bergen, seeing several fjords along the way, 2 days in Oslo, 3 days in Stockholm and two days in between the two in rural Sweden. The deciding factor would be how outdoorsy you are vs. city. One more thing; The capitals of Scandinavia all have wonderful museums and other interesting things to see, but their most charming feature, in my opinion, is that they are much more laid back and casual than the typical intense cities like London, Paris, Rome, etc. If you have felt overwhelmed in our burnt-out by big cities in the past, you might not feel that in the Scandinavian capitals.

For the kids/young adults, there are several good options. In Copenhagen is Tivoli of course. And an easy day trip is to Roskilde for the Viking Ship Museum. The cathedral there also has lots of cool royal tombs making it more interesting that your typical cathedral. In Stockholm is the Vasa Ship Museum which is pretty stunning. The Skansen is really interesting even for adults and older teens. And they might find the sculptures at Millesgarten more interesting that your typical art museum. And for sure take a boat tour of the archepelago (or the ferry to Helsinki or Tallinn). If you go to Helsinki, which I recommend, they might enjoy Suomenlinna Island and the market at the harbor. You should also experience a sauna. You might have to check on where, some hotels have them, and whether they have unisex or mixed (if that is an issue for your family). A day trip to Tallinn is also fun and easy.

Consider a cruise. By sea is the historical way people got around the Baltic, so all the main places are built on the ocean. We took a ten night cruise out of Copenhagen that stopped in Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg (2 nts), Tallinn, Gdansk, Oslo and back to Copenhagen. Check out vacationstogo.com. It's an online travel agency that specializes in cruises, the prices are as good as any other online source, their search engine is the best I've found. I've booked three cruises through them and never had a problem. It's true that cruises get "grayer" as the length of the cruise increases. This one I would call more gray than white, there were a decent amount of families (many from Europe or Asia) and cruise lines do try to have activities catering to teens.

We stayed 3 nights in Copenhagen on either end of our cruise and trained to Roskilde for the Ship Museum and Cathedral. We also trained north to Helsingor (the home of Shakespeare's Elsinore Castle) and further up to a really nice family beach - surprisingly the water wasn't much colder than the Pacific in San Diego. For our time in Copenhagen we bought 72 hour Copenhagen cards, it covers all transportation in North Zealund (including the "private" train to the beach) as well as a bunch of admissions. You can also buy 24 hour cards - pick them up at the airport TI and catch the train or metro (metro is faster unless you want to be at the train station downtown) directly from there. I think the kids will enjoy Scandinavia as much as anywhere. It really depends on what they like. Tivoli is just okay, a nice diversion (but won't wow a typical overstimulated American kid) - having grown up in San Diego and going to Disney, Zoo, etc. regularly, I didn't really get the raves about Tivoli. In the summer people take full advantage of the sun, so Copenhagen is a fairly lively place.

You might want to check out the itinerary for "RS 14 Day Scandinavian Tour" to see where that trip goes and its highlights to help in your planning. We took that tour and sure loved the Scandinavian countries but I found Sweden and Norway VERY expensive and I live in Hawaii with its high prices most of the year. Happy travels