esreed93

My friends and I are taking a three week trip to the Scandinavian area and don't know if we are cramming in too much to do for the time that we will be there. We are trying to figure out how many days to spend in each place and activities to do in each place.
Here is out tentative plan
Day 1: fly into Oslo; Spend the night in Oslo
Day 2: Go to Jotunheimen and we want to do the Besseggen hike but can't seem to find how much the guided tours are and what time of the day they start. We think we would spend the night in the park but don't know where if we are incorporating the hike; spend the night in the park
Day 3: Day in Jotunheimen- maybe do the hike this day?
Day 4: leave to go to Gothenburg; sleep in Gothenburg
Day 5: Spend the day in Gothenburg; sleep in Gothenburg
Day 6: leave in the afternoon to Copenhagen; sleep in Copenhagen
Day 7-8: Stay in Copenhagen; sleep in Copenhagen
Day 9: leave in the afternoon for Amsterdam; sleep in Amsterdam
Day 10-13/14: Spend the day in Amsterdam; We don't know how long to stay in Amsterdam or if we should split up the time and travel somewhere else before we go to Jonkoping.
Day 14/15-17: Arrive in Jonkoping;sleep in Jonkoping
Day 17: leave in the afternoon from Jonkoping to Stockholm; sleep in Stockholm
Day 17-21: Stockholm; sleep in Stockholm
Day 22: leave out of Stockholm in the afternoon back to the US

We have looked into Norway in a Nutshell and want to do something more than looking at scenery so that is why we were looking into the Besseggen Hike.
If you have any advice on where to go between the time we have in Amstermdam and Jonkoping, Sweden that would be extremely helpful. We are looking for some adventure activities that wouldn't be too expensive.

kja

In the absence of some relevant details (e.g., what time of year; your preferred travel pace, what things interest you), I would say that your proposed time frames for Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Stockholm -- 2.5 days, 4 or 5 days days, and 5 days, respectively, if I'm reading correctly -- seem generally reasonable to me.

Unfortunately, I have yet to see the other places on your itinerary.

Should be a great trip -- enjoy!

menachem

Day 1: fly into Oslo; Spend the night in Oslo
Day 2: Go to Jotunheimen and we want to do the Besseggen hike but can't seem to find how much the guided tours are and what time of the day they start. We think we would spend the night in the park but don't know where if we are incorporating the hike; spend the night in the park
Day 3: Day in Jotunheimen- maybe do the hike this day?
Day 4: leave to go to Gothenburg; sleep in Gothenburg
Day 5: Spend the day in Gothenburg; sleep in Gothenburg
Day 6: leave in the afternoon to Copenhagen; sleep in Copenhagen
Day 7-8: Stay in Copenhagen; sleep in Copenhagen
Day 9: leave in the afternoon for Amsterdam; sleep in Amsterdam
Day 10-13/14: Spend the day in Amsterdam; We don't know how long to stay in Amsterdam or if we should split up the time and travel somewhere else before we go to Jonkoping.
Day 14/15-17: Arrive in Jonkoping;sleep in Jonkoping
Day 17: leave in the afternoon from Jonkoping to Stockholm; sleep in Stockholm
Day 17-21: Stockholm; sleep in Stockholm
Day 22: leave out of Stockholm in the afternoon back to the US

You'll be all over the map, and need more than one day of travel to do your transfers. e.g. : Jotunheimen - Gothenburg: where in Jotunheimen, and by which means? In 2010 I did Bergen - Gothenburg by train, because there were no flights: had to take the overnight to Oslo, change there to a train to Gothenburg, arrived there early in the afternoon.

Same for your Copenhagen - Amsterdam - Jonkoping thing: why? You're traveling all over northern Europe and back again. That doesn't make sense. Also, Amsterdam is not "Scandinavia", but that's a minor detail.

My suggestion would be to skip Copenhagen and Amsterdam and focus on Norway and Sweden. You definitely have not enough time in Stockholm!

esreed93

Thank you all for your replies! We will be visiting Jonkoping to visit one of my friends extended family. We will be leaving August 15th til September 10th this year . We were going to try to head to Amsterdam to go since we would be on that side of the world and don't know the next time we will be able to go back, but if there are any other suggestions of places to go besides Amsterdam we are completely open to changing plans.

colduphere

We hiked Besseggen three years ago. If you click on my name you will find our trip report.

I am not clear on why you are looking for a guided hike. The route is very simple. But this may be helpful:

http://www.gjende.no/english/walk-besseggen/

You can stay at a lodge at either end of the hike, that is either Gjendesheim or Memurubu.

menachem

esreed93: Stockholm! You're spending not enough time there. Also Bergen warrants a visit.

kja

@ menachem: I'm curious -- why do you think that 5 nights is so terribly short for Stockholm that you mention it twice? IMO, 5 days might be a bit better for that magnificent city, but 4 days wouldn't be terrible.

esreed93

Thank you @colduphere! That was extremely helpful!

PalenQ

Are you renting a car and flying say to Amsterdam and back or taking trains?

Copenhagen I think could use more time - some wonderful day trips from there and the city itself has many neat places.

Trains are great in Scandinavia - if traveling on many check out the ScanRail Pass - also good on some boats and buses - for lots on trains check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Amsterdam can only be reached that quickly by flying of course - Amsterdam is my favorite city in Europe but I think just to fly there and back you could use the time better in say Copenhagen or Oslo where you have no time at all - arriving could be wiped out.

August2015

I realize you have a Jonkoping connection of extended family, but my first suggestion was to cut your stay there. We drove through Jonkoping and thought of sleeping there, because it was much cheaper than either Stockholm or Copenhagen, but it didn't seem to have much to offer in terms of sightseeing so we proceeded to Copenhagen. Let me know if you uncover something we missed in Jonkoping!