Travel in Scandinavia

Hi Mary Lynn, We're just a few miles from you. We went to Scandinavia as a family of five in 2008 and had a great time. There is a brief synopsis of our trip here in an old blog (feel free to visit the rest of the blog and the new one - link near the top of the page - but this entry is the only one about Scandinavia): http://lee-reid2010.blogspot.com/2010/05/scandinavia-2008.html My first question for you is; Is there a reason you need to fly both into and out of Copenhagen? I ask because the distances involved are not small and it seems a waste of effort to return to the same city when you really don't have to. Most airlines make flying "open-jaw" into and out of different cities easy. In particular, IcelandAir, which serves us here in Minneapolis starting every May, practically designs their airline to do just that. http://www.icelandair.com/ If it was me, I would fly into Bergen, Norway and move gradually east like this (nights in parenthesis); Bergen (2), Norway-in-a-nutshell to Oslo (2), Night ferry/ship to Copenhagen (3), train to Stockholm (4), Silja ship to Helsinki (3), fly home from there. The Silja ship & Helsinki are often off people's tourism radar but virtually everyone I've ever heard from who did it was thrilled with the result. It's economical, too. Also, you could do the whole thing in reverse, and/or subtract nights in the city for a side-trip to a more rural area. Normally I like to stress an even balance between urban and rural, but in Scandinavia (except Norway's fjords) the rural areas look EXACTLY like rural Minnesota. I just did a quick search on the IcelandAir web site for an open-jaw flight Minneapolis to Bergen on May 19th and Helsinki to Minneapolis on June 2nd and it was $876 per person. I would snap that up in an instant.

Do you have RS Scandinavia Guide book yet? If so, good. If not I would suggest you get it as it has lots of good information that we used when traveling thru Scandinavia.

We have been to Scandinavia three times - once just in Denmark and the other two times only in Sweden. I have family in Sweden. The two times we were in Sweden, we landed in Stockholm and flew out of Copenhagen. During that time we took the train from Stockholm down to Kalmar and then drove to Oland Island (which we loved) and to the glass country. There are many wonderful historical towns/sites to see in southern Sweden. I don't have the perspective that others have shared here since we just focused on Sweden on these two trips, but I could share some wonderful sites if you are interested.

You should look into a Baltic Cruise. Many cruise lines have them and it's a great way to see a lot of countries/cities in a short time. Yes, it's only a day in each city. It depends on what you want to get out of the city. The airfare to each place and hotels in some of the cities are outrageous, so it's a great way to go.

Your travel options really depend on where you plan to visit. If you stick to the main cities, flying or trains are the way to go. As previously noted, distances are long between major cities and flights are cheap. The most common day trips from Copenhagen and Stockholm can be done by regional train. If you want to see rural areas or smaller towns, you'll need a car. And if you go to Helsinki or Tallinn, you'll want to take the ferry which is part of the experience. I also recommend flying open jaw. There is no reason to return to Copenhagen. Come back to us once you have set the places you want to visit and we can offer more guidance on your travel options.

Thank you so much for all of your ideas and suggestions. This is the first time I have posted on the helpline...it's a great resource! Once we narrow down our itinerary, I may be contacting you for more specific ideas. Thank you!

I think Randy's plan is excellent. We did something similar when we went, but spent more time in Stockholm because we have friends there. I would consider taking a day out of Helsinki or Copenhagen to spend a day in the fjords. We stayed in Balestrand one night on the way from Bergen to Oslo and really enjoyed it. I would also consider taking a day from Stockhom to take the overnight ferry to Tallinn. It's a great to spend a day in the old town and from there you could ferry to Helsinki.

The cruise idea is not a bad idea and is ideal for many. But flights between cities in Scandinavia can usually be had for resonable rates. And it you book hotels in advance, you can often get very good rates.