Best of Scandinavia

I went on this fantastic tour in May 2022 and we arrived 3 days early to Stockholm and stayed 2 days after in Bergen Norway. There is so much I left undone in Stockholm like a boat cruise around some of the islands and the royal palace. We did take a day trip to Uppsala, the University town, which was fun. Bergen offers a funicular to great views of the harbor. I would definitely go back to Copenhagen and Oslo, Norway. The city of Oslo has tons of things to do. I think I would suggest going from Bergen to Oslo for a couple days after your tour.
The 2025 May tour dates are filling up quickly and I would advise signing up right away. You will be amazed at this tour, I was!!

We have booked.

We are arriving a day or two before the tour begins and would love some ideas on the best way to spend that time.

Would also love to hear from anyone who might have stayed a day or two longer after the tour ended. Are there additional things we might want to see nearby that the tour might not have included?

Judy,
Great suggestions. Our posts crossed as I was still typing my reply…..

This is exactly the guidance I’m looking for. We are very excited about this upcoming tour. We were scheduled to have done this one back in September, but had to cancel because we’d booked months prior and the dates ended up falling during our move to another state. Our house sold and the quick closing set things in motion.

This will be our 6th RS trip and each one becomes our new favorite.

Any other ideas are welcome!

How did people fly there?

We are arriving a day or two before the tour begins and would love
some ideas on the best way to spend that time.

A few days in Uppsala or a couple of extra days in Stockholm is not a bad option.

It’s been a while but we arrived 3 days early in Stockholm. We took a boat tour but wished we had taken the one out to the palace—more variety of scenery. We spent at least part of a day at Scansen and enjoyed it. At the end we spent an extra day in Bergen, the did the Norway in a Nutshell back to Oslo before flying to Italy. We went in August and days were getting noticeably shorter. It was a beautiful tour.

Yesterday June 22, 2024 was the last day of my RS 14 day Scandinavia tour ending in Bergen. It has been a wonderful tour and excellent guide. The only disappointment was the lack of more detailed information for Day 12. The itinerary only describes 2 hour scenic Sognefjord. No mention of any other fjords such as the Naoroyfjord or any other towns en route from the mountains on Day 11 to Bergen. Before leaving Seattle we purchased the Norway in a Nutshell tour from Bergen to Oslo which includes Flam Railway, Bergen Railway and the Naoroyfjord tour thinking it would be an entirely different fjord than what is on RS tour. If only the RS writers had included more information for the Day 12 itinerary we could have figured out that it’s all the same fjord tour. It’s the exact same fjord tour! On the RS tour you ride boat from Flam to Gudvangen. On NIN from Bergen you ride train to Gudvangen and ride same boat to Flam. Sognefjord apparently includes Naoroyfjord or maybe it’s just all the same fjord with two different names. I think a more clear, detailed description in itinerary would be helpful and appropriate.
In Bergen though post tour, the funicular is awesome! Lots of hiking trails at the top and beautiful views. Ticket included in tour. Lots of shopping. In Oslo the National Museum is excellent. And the Flam Museum was very good. Oslo Hotel is very good and great location. Enjoy your trip!

We are taking the RS tour in August too. We booked NIN from Bergen to Bergen after our tour RS tour ended. We are taking the train to Voss, bus to Gudvangen, cruise through Naeroyfijord to Flam and take the Flamsbana Railway to Myrdal, and train back to Bergen. Do you find our trip a redo or just an overlap? What town did you spend the night in before your cruise? Your post sure caught our attention. We are hoping the overlap is so amazing and small that is will worth the time on the NIN. Thanks for you opinion.

I took the NiN from Bergen to Oslo after the tour last August. My thinking was that if the weather wasn't great the first time I would have another chance. As it happened, the weather was great on the tour day, and overcast and rainy on the NiN. The Flåmsbana train was great, though.

Jen, I’m doing right now what your booked for in August except I’m going to airport when I get to Oslo and not back to Bergen. I’m overnighting in Flam and tomorrow Flam Railway to Mrydal, then switch to Bergen Railway to Oslo. I’m looking forward to Bergen Railway to Oslo but I think fjord cruise is the same fjord but traveling opposite directions. RS fjord tour Flam to Gudvangen. NIN fjord tour Gudvangen to Flam. My original posting was meant to point out the fjord tour overlap. Train of course is not repeated. But like someone else mentioned you could have entirely different weather from one day to the next on a fjord tour. So different photos I guess. The RS Day 12 itinerary Sognefjord fjord is confusing and vague in my opinion. It should have some mention of the Naoroyfjord and Aurlandsfjorden fjords since that’s the area covered on RS tour. And help people better informed decisions on their travels.

We had the opposite of Liz—our RS tour on the fjord was cool and drizzly but our NIN day was sunny and glorious. I loved the NIN and found that it was enough different from our RS tour experience. We ate lunch in Flom and loved the railway up the hill (cog rail I think). My only regret was that it got dark too soon for the last part (it was late August) which wouldn’t be a problem in May.

We've booked this tour for end of July 2025. Our tentative plan is to fly into Helsinki for a few days, then perhaps go to Tallin or spend more time in Finland. We'll fly over to Stockholm. We haven't looked at post-tour options yet, but we'll probably spend a few days. Given the weather is similar to Alaska (my home state), I'd say the later part of May will be better than the beginning. We chose the end of July-start of August because coastal NC (where I live now) is like the pits of hell that time of year!