Scandinavia May/June 2012

I'd highly recommend the day trip to Tallinn. Lovely Old Town, cheaper prices, interesting post-Soviet milieu. It looks like the best way to do a day trip is on a Linda Lines fast catamaran. The potential downside is that those crossings are often canceled in rough weather. However the bigger ferries such as Tallink take 2.5 hours and only give you four or five hours in Tallinn. Start looking for the latest information and timetables a couple months before your trip next year. Good luck!

Is there some sort of codeshare between Delta and IcelandAir or SAS airlines? 'Cuz those are the only two that go Helsinki-Reykjavik unless I am mistaken. As for Copenhagen to Stockholm, the direct train is around five hours if I remember correctly, so it's just as fast as flying when you factor in all the flying-related nonsense. Many people have seen back country Sweden and enjoyed it, but keep in mind that (as you must already know) this isn't stone-building, centuries-old Europe. Back country Sweden will look exactly like any green area of rural USA, except with Volvos insead of Fords. I would subtract a day from Iceland and add it to Helsinki. In Iceland, Reykjavik is worth a day and any of the big package excursions into the countryside are worth a day. Unless you want to get really off the beten track, there isn't much else to do except drink. There are ways to streamline things a bit and include the Norway fjords if you are interested. But otherwise, your plan looks good...

I think your itinerary looks good (with the day trip to Tallinn, which I think is an excellent idea) with one caveat. If you have already been to Denmark, Sweden and Finland, why are you spending so much time there instead of going to Norway? Stockholm is my favorite city in Scandanavia, but Norway has the best scenery. You could visit Oslo (nowhere near as enjoyable as Stockholm IMHO, but worth two days), then head to Bergen (which I love) and see some of the fjords, which are fabulous. June would be a wonderful time to do that.

Definitely take the ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki and definitely take a day trip (or more) to Tallinn. The ferry's to Tallinn are not an issue, slowed in bad weather but not the extreme as previously reported. Since you've been already, you could consider more daytrips from Copenhagen and Stockholm. I liked the train ride from Copenhagen to Stockholm and it is beautiful (think Wisconsin or Minn.). But if time is a crunch, flying would be faster for sure.

I would also recommed fitting in Norway. We did 2 days in Oslo, 3 days two nights in Balestrand, 1 day two nights in Bergen and it was the favourite part of our trip (over Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen). I would suggest at least cutting Helsinki and/or Tallinn and trying to hit Oslo.

Another option is a Baltic Cruise. There's plenty of different itineraries, so you could fit in Riga, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Fjords, even Britain, and a few others. It's only a day in each stop, but you could tack a few days on the start and end of wherever the ship goes. We did one that started in Oslo and ended in Stockholm, so we didn't have to backtrack; it was great.

Any reason for Iceland to AMS then to the USA? You should be able to fly straight from Iceland to several US airports (not sure if direct to Phoenix is a choice).

hi everyone! Thanks for everyone's response....turns out we will be traveling elsewhere as I cannot get enough time off work. Also, the reason why we are going to those countries is because I have family there, my husband would like to see those countries, and there is a humorous rivalry between Sweden and Norway in my family...would love to go to Norway someday, though!!