Scandinavia..any difference between June and July?

Since it seems you're mostly sticking to the cities, the only real difference should be the operating hours of the tourists sites; they may close an hour or two earlier...not a big deal. June 20 is when the Summer Solstice occurs and it's major holiday in all of Scandinavia. Try and steer clear Helsinki around this time. I made the mistake of passing through on the weekend of the Solstice, and absolutely everything was closed for the for the entire weekend: every shop, restaurant, and tourist site. The place was deserted, got out of town very quickly and had to make some last minute itinerary changes:)

In Sweden, just about everything shuts down for Midsommar (starts on Friday and continues to Saturday - it begins on 24 June in 2011) so you may want to plan around this. One exception in Stockholm is Skansen which has some nice Midsommar celebrations. July is a slightly better time to travel, but June is fine also.

End of June is beginning av main tourist season. St John's Eve in Norway is June 23rd, this is no public holiday. On this day there might be some public arrangements, but most people go for private get-togethers after work. Weather may be rain, sun, snow in the mountains, chilly in evenings, or hot at daytime, depends a little on where you are. Thru the year the West has more rain than central East. Fjord country needs more than one day.

Thanks for the replies. I have some further questions about some of the fjords but don't have my book with me now. I'll do some follows up to get some of your recommnedations. Mike

I was on a Baltic cruise last year. We were in Helsinki around the solstice (Friday June 19, it was) and most of the sights were closed. Stockholm was quite busy the 2 days before. We were in St. Petersburg for the 2 days after, also booming. I recommend taking the ferry from Helsinki to Talinn and back - Talinn is lovely.

I've lived in Finland 20+ yrs. Grade school-high school students get out for the summer sometime May 30-June 8. I know many schools in Sweden also end that early. Some years warm weather starts on May 1 and lasts 3 months, but a lot of the time you can have pretty chilly weather right up (and even through) Midsummer. Amazingly often it's warm in May but ridiculously, determinedly chilly in June. July is always your best bet for shirtsleeves weather. On Midsummer even the biggest cities can be like ghost towns. Make like a local and go to the countryside to some event, or a cabin. Lots of rock & other music festivals all through June & July. In Finland the vacation month is July, not August. In August the weather could turn cold or at least rainy (getting steadily colder) at any time. Sure sometimes the weather is great in Aug. and often if it's nice it's fabulous, but lasting warmth and sunshine is as unreliable as 2$ watch once July is gone. Schools start sometime Aug. 5-15.

I was taken on a day trip up Geiranger Fjord one June from Alesund. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. 1000 ft+ waterfalls seemingly everywhere and the lovely village of Geiranger at the end. It was stunning. I took the Hurtigruten overnight from Bergen which was very scenic and enjoyable.