My husband and I are planning a 14 day trip to Scandinavia. We are looking for FF flights and are hoping to travel late June/early July. Would you please comment on our itinerary and let us know if we are missing out on anything with our route (keeping in mind we cannot exceed the 14 days for travel). We usually get up fairly early and are happy to be on the go from day to night so whirlwind is something we are used to and can handle on most days. Just looking from those of you who have made this trip before if we have made the best use of our time with our route and short flights (we are trying to avoid trains and pay the extra to fly). The only hesitation I have is the boat to Oslo since we are taking a boat to Helsinki. Is it worth it to do both? Thanks for your help Rough Itinerary, not in stone yet: Day 1: Arrive in Copenhagen, sleep in Copenhagen Day 2: Copenhagen, sleep in Copenhagen Day 3: Coppenhagen, sleep in Copenhagen Day 4: Boat to Oslo, sleep on boat Day 5: Oslo, sleep in Oslo Day 6: Oslo, sleep in Oslo Day 7: Fly to Bergen, sleep in Bergen Day 8: Bergen, sleep in Bergen Day 9: Bergen, NIN, sleep in Bergen Day 10: Fly to Stockholm, sleep in Stockholm Day 11 Stockholm, sleep in Stockholm Day 12 Boat to Helsinki, sleep in Helsinki Day 13: Helsinki, sleep in Helsinki
Day 14: Fly Home Lastly, we don't want to shorten any time in Copenhagen and the short flights we take will most likely be in mid morning at the latest we hope.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
1525 posts
The one change I would make is to fly from Copenhagen to Bergen (assuming your FF miles will not enable you to begin your trip in Bergen, which would be the most logistically efficient way to start). That way you avoid the redundant boat trip. SAS airline has good deals when bought early. In this plan you would go Copenhagen (fly), Bergen (NIN train), Oslo (train or bus), Stockholm (ship) Helsinki. Otherwise, i think your plan is sound and the times reasonable given the 14-day limitation. I felt that Stockholm was the true gem of the capital cities. If there is any room to give it a bit extra time, I would do that. Enjoy!!
Posted by
Oak Park, Illinois
4535 posts
Overall it seems sound. I have not been to Oslo so take this for what it's worth, but 2 full days there seems a lot from what I've heard. I'd think about using a day in either Copenhagen or Stockholm. Hopefully others experienced with Norway can chime in. The ferry to Helsinki is well worth it for sure.
Posted by
Myrtle Beach, USA
12313 posts
The boat between Copenhagen and Oslo is a long one (probably leave 5pm and arrive about 9am), and not particularly special. I'd go with a flight for that leg. You might get a better deal flying home from Stockholm than Helsinki, in which case you could fly Bergen to Helsinki, then boat to Stockholm. The archipeligo going into Stockholm is worth seeing by boat either way. I usually price the different options before finalizing the itinerary.
Posted by
Oak Park, Illinois
4535 posts
Ragarding the solstice, reports here are that a lot of places close down. This may or may not be an issue in Copenhagen, but that would concern me more than the parties or staying up late. Also, a good way to save money in the Baltic is to reserve hotels early for summer travel. Many give really good deals in the summer but you typically have "no-cancelation" requirements. If your itinerary locks in, see what kinds of deals you can get.
Posted by
OP
Newport Beach, CA, USA
54 posts
Thank you all for great suggestions. Randy you were right that I do not have the option to fly initially into Bergen with FF miles so I chose Copenhagen as the next best solution for what we want to do. I will review all of your suggestions and probably end up making some changes based on them. I appreciate you all taking the time to help. I have another unrelated question about scandinavia. Our current plans might be to fly into Copenhagen the Sunday of the Summer Solstice (Midsummer's Eve) weekend. Would we want to avoid it altogether and fly in after the weekend, would we want to fly in a day or two before and participate, or is it a non event these days anyway? We are young mid 50's and like a late night out occasionally, especially if there is something cool going on but we are not huge partiers. Anyone experience that event over there or heard anything about it?
Posted by
Chico, California, US
59 posts
The boat to Helsinki leaves Stockholm late in the day and arrives in Helsinki the next morning, so one of the nights in that part of the trip will be a sleep-on-boat. Will that be the night of Day 11 or Day 12? If it is the night of Day 11, then I think you're spending more time in Helsinki than is warranted. My wife and I took that boat to Helsinki this past summer and spent one night in Helsinki before flying home, and that seemed about right. Stockholm is a spectacular city.
Posted by
Virginia, USA
5848 posts
If you are flying in on Sunday, I don't think you will be impacted by Midsommar. The events begin on Friday and continue through Saturday. Rather than fly from Oslo to Bergen, I'd suggest that you travel by train between Oslo and Bergen and do the Norway in a Nutshell en route. It looks like you are doing it as a round-trip from Bergen. If you did NIN en route, you might consider cutting one night out of Bergen and adding it to Stockholm.