venturewest

My wife and I are trying to figure out the best way to get around these cities in Europe. We will go in August 2010 and have never been to this part of Europe. We will have about 3 weeks and want to include Bergen and a cruise of the Fjords. Are we best to just fly from city to city or should we use rail or rental car for some of the connections? We like to explore off the beaten path if it is worthwhile, but also want to see the major city sights. We are also a bit uncertain of how many days we should allot for each of the stops along the way. We are 60ish but very active and don't mind packing a lot of activity into each day. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Soljet

I don't think it is possible to advise you on this. As I take it you are Americans you could easily do Northeurope and 5 cities in a car. Which would get you off the beaten track for sure. I shudder at the mere thought of doing it. I would go by air and possibly rent a car for a few days in Copenhagen. If you have more specific questions, I think it would be easier to help you.

crdtny

Last summer I left UK by Euro Star for Brussels where I got a train to Cologne. In the evening got the night train to Copenhagen and spent the day visiting the Tivoli gardens and the site of the Little mermaid. At around 10PM got the night train to Stockholm with a quick change at Malmo and also spent the day there. My next journey was the night ferry to Helsinki which was most enjoyable.I Spent that night in Helsinki and next morning got a train to St Petersburg...my journey continued to Japan overland via Siberia, Mongolia to the east coast of China where I got a ferry to Japan.
All the Cities visited are very safe, nice people and not that expensive if you are careful. I purchased my tickets all the way to St Petersburg from Deutsche Bahn in UK over the telephone. The ferry I booked direct with shipping agents.
I try to use Deutsche Bahn as much as I can for all my travel in Europe. For some reason or another they seem very efficient,friendly and help with discount offers.
I am in my sixties.

missDIVAstar

I am currently living in Denmark and can safely comment that getting around the Scandinavian countries is a mixed bag. For the first half of your trip it seems that flying might be the way to go. It is a pretty quick flight between Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Check into Norwegian air for tickets and daily flights. I love Amsterdam and Copenhagen but I would allot only about three days for each (maybe 4 in Amsterdam since it really is quite a lovely city). I will tell you that Amsterdam has a lot of sites to see but I don't find Copenhagen to be that site-worthy ... go more for the culture and the summertime experience. Moving on from Copenhagen you can take the train to Malmo (40 mins max) and then to Stockholm but I find that it might take you all day to get up there... Denmark is tiny but Sweden is much larger by comparison. Either fly (can also fly pretty cheaply through Norwegian) or opt to take the train but make some day stops through Sweden on the way up there. I haven't been to Sweden in the summer but again I can imagine that its really quite lovely. Maybe you could allot 4 days max in this region? 2 to travel via train in the region and 2 in the city itself? Like the previous poster I have also heard really nice things about the night ferry to Helsinki but not such good reviews about the city itself. It might be worth to stop there for the day however if it is a good connection to St. Petersburg.
If you have any additional questions about Amsterdam or the lower part of Scandinavia (CPH especially) don't hesitate to ask. Happy planning!