We would like to travel from Copenhagen to Oslo, but take the long way around going through Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, then Norway. I'm having trouble connecting the dots with trains and buses. Has anyone done this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Posted by
San Francisco
14976 posts
Hi, I've only taken the trains throught Germany, Sweden, and Poland. You could take a combination of trains and ferries. Ferry connections exist between Germany and Finland (Travemünde and Rostock to Helsinki), Sweden and Poland, Germany and Norway (Kiel to Oslo), Germany and Lithuania...Kiel to Klaipeda (Memel), Germany and Sweden.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
The Man in Seat 61 has lots of information on getting from England to all these countries without flying. By looking at his pages, you will learn about trains and boats between the countries, as well. For instance, here's England to Latvia; the map shows lots of routes in the countries you asked about, to get you started: http://tinyurl.com/mnhu8l7 On the left of that page are his links for other countries. I've read (but have no personal experience) that between the Baltic countries, buses are more useful than trains. This is particularly true if by using the bus, you can avoid going through Belarus, which requires a visa. For train schedules, you can use the Bahn website for all of Europe (it only has prices for trains in Germany). Here's Rick's tutorial on how to use it: https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/online-schedules
Posted by
Dallas, United States
707 posts
We've taken the bus from Tallinn to Riga to Klaipeda, LT (they also go to Vilnius, Warsaw, & Berlin). They were very good, comfortable buses. See: http://www.luxexpress.eu/en/ Also, we've gone by train from Vilnius to Warsaw. Trains change near the border because, as I understand it, the track gauge is different in the two countries. The train was fine, but a bit slower than what we'd been used to in Central Europe. Tickets for the bus were purchased the day before; for the train several days though it may not have been necessary. Let me know if you have other questions. Have a great trip! PS. We are just down the valley from you.
Posted by
Atlanta
3262 posts
Not sure about the Germany/Poland connection but last summer we did the following: Bus (Lux Express) from Vilnius to Riga. Bus (Lux Express) from Riga to Tallinn. Air Baltic from Tallinn to Stockholm.
Overnight ferry (Tallink Silja) from Stockholm to Helsinki. The buses were comfortable, Air Baltic was fine, and the overnight ferry trip was lots of fun!