scandinavia the basics

If you are traveling in the order indicated above, I'd suggest the overnight cruise from Copenhagen to Oslo. You're traveling at night and its a fun, though not cheap, experience. It's described in the RS Scandinavia book. You can start the "nutshell' from Oslo.
Good luck.

Eight or nine days is an extremely ambitious schedule as the distances are far apart. The itinerary below is for 8 or 9 nights and it very tight. It does not include your days travelling to and from the States.

Here is how you might consider doing this:

1) Fly into Copenhagen (2 nights in Copenhagen)

2) Overnight Ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo (1 night on ferry and 1-2 nights in Oslo)

3) Oslo to Bergen (1-2 nights in Bergen)

4) Fly from Bergen to Stockholm (2 nights in Stockholm)

5) Fly home from Stockholm

Personally, I think 8 to 9 days is really pushing it. I would want at least 3 nights in both Copenhagen and Stockholm.

I picked these dates somewhat randomly based on good fares on IcelandAir. Get yourself to NYC JFK where they fly from nearest you. They have the best fares and greatest flexibility to Scandinavia, plus you get to change planes in Iceland, which is easy and interesting;

Depart July 12th 8:35 PM from JFK, change planes in Iceland, arrive in Bergen, Norway at 12:20 PM July 13th.

Spend the rest of that day and all of the next in Bergen. Recover from Jet lag.

Depart early 8:00 AM for the Norway-in-a-nutshell package to Oslo. You will arrive in Oslo about 10:30 PM on the 15th.

Spend all day the 16th and 17th in Oslo (more to see than you would think) and take the overnight cruise the evening of the 17th to Copenhagen, arriving about 10:00AM on the 18th.

Spend all that day plus the 19th in Copenhagen (on the 19th you could consider taking the quick train trip to Fredericksbourg castle in Hillerod for a few hours - it's worth it, and it gets you a bit into rural Denmark)

Early on the 20th, take the train to Stockholm, arriving about 1:00 PM and spend the rest of that day, all of the 21st, and the morning of the 22nd in Stockholm - the most beautiful Scandinavian city.

Fly home from there 2:10PM departure on the 22nd. NYC arrival at 7PM

Airfare (not counting getting to NYC) $984/person including tax.

Other Airlines will not be as inexpensive or as easy to organize an open-jaw route. There are other dates, of course, but these were a good price. I can help you with others if you provide specific dates.

Your main problem is connecting Bergen with Stockholm - two wonderful places to visit with little in between. Flying between them works, but adds expence and hassle because the airports are far-flung and time consuming to get to.

If you can add an extra day, do a 24-hour layover in Iceland. It's facinating and easy with IcelandAir flights. This plan gives you close to 2 full days in each city and that's the best you can do, I think.

We did the Oslo-Bergen train, fly to Stockholm route Laura suggests. It was really nice, and we spent comparatively little time traveling (important on a short trip!) The train from Oslo to Bergen was a nice experience.

I'd side with more time in 2 places as well. Oslo in particular in opinion was worth 3 full days. Enjoyed it. =)

While Icelandair is an excellent choice for Scandinavia, it has been my experience that their options are not so good you don't live near one of the cities that they fly out of. You lose most of the savings and add extra time since you end up with at least two stops ... one in the gateway city and one in Iceland. If I only had 8 or 9 days, I would choose to take the most direct route possible.

Since you live in Pittsburgh, odds are the best route will be on Star Alliance carriers with one of the legs on SAS. There will be a number of options that only require 1 transfer if you fly into either Copenhagen or Stockholm.

I don't know about Bergen's airport, but I don't consider Stockholm Arlanda to be far-flung. It is 20 minutes on high-speed train to the center. The ticket is not so cheap, but there if you happen to be travelling on the weekend, there is a family ticket that is only slightly more than a single ticket. If you want to save money, the flygbuss takes 45 minutes and costs less. I've flown into or out of Arlanda probably more than 30 times. It is a very efficient airport.

The route that Randy suggest would also work well assuming that you can get a reasonably priced flight to Bergen.

Hello Joan. I travelled in those three countries, 14 days, in May of 2007. I think travelling at those three countries in eight days can be a pleasant and worthwhile experience, if the eight days is after your day of arrival at an airport at a Scandinavian country. I recommend : Fly to Copenhagen. Day 1 (The next day after the day you arrive at Copenhagen: be at Copenhagen . Day 2: Fly from Copenhagen to Bergen. Most likely, you will transfer at Oslo airport. (The prices for that airline trip are different for the various departure times, and the prices are different for different arlines). Day 3: Begin the "Norway in a Nutshell" trip -- Train from Bergen to Voss, Bus from Voss to Gudvangen, boat from Gudvangen to Aurland (at Aurlandfjord). At Aurland have overnight accomodation at Aabelheim Pension. Day 4: At about 9:15 A.M. get on the Bus at Aurland, going to Flam. Train from Flam, uphill to Myrdal (very scenic). Plan to be at the Myrdal train station for a very short time. Train from Myrdal to Oslo. Day 5: be at Oslo. Day 6: Express train from Oslo to Stockholm (6 hours, 30 Minutes). Day 7: be at Stockholm. Day 8: Train from Stockholm to Copenhagen. I went in the Express train from Stockholm to Malmo, and a quick train ride from Malmo to Copenhagen. If you want my suggestions for places to visit in Stockholm, send a Private Message to me.

I was in Stockholm this past summer and you are in for a really good time. I would suggest taking the overnight ship from Stockholm to Tallin, Estonia with Tallink. The prices are really good for the cruise, you get to meet locals, see the islands in the Baltic Sea, stop for 20 minutes in Finland (to keep the trip duty free), and you would get a chance to visit the Beautiful city of Tallin. Plus, Estonia is pretty cheap compared with Sweden, Norway, and Finland.

Cheers,

Evan