Ozarksbill

Latest itinerary looks good...about what we did several years ago. Except in our case flight Stockholm to Oslo. And ferry to Oslo. Yes, prices are a bit more in Scandinavia. Good luck

Sberg

You learn about the flying tips the more you travel. Always try to fly in and out of different airports if you are on the move.

Have you considered just doing Stockholm and Norway? You could land in Stockholm spend a few days then fly to Bergen ( we got flights for around $70 one way). Spend a day or 2 in Bergen, rent a car and drive around the region. We drove from Bergen to Balestrand, up to Luster, took the snow road over to Flam then drove to Hardanger and back to Bergen (spend 3 or 4 nights). Lots of hiking to glaciers, up to waterfalls etc. it was awesome! We took the car ferry from Flam to Gudavan only because the tunnel was closed due to a fire. We thought we saw much more spectacular scenery driving than on the ferry. Met some great people and did some great hiking. You could then fly back out of Bergen and spend your last few days in Stockholm . That way you get the best of both worlds with a little city and a lot of scenery. Driving in Norway and Sweden was very easy.

Scandinavia is beautiful. No matter what you do you will have a great trip!

bilboburgler

Copenhagen, you can be shown the city on bikes with a number of tour operators. I have not done that but it looks a good way to get around and discover stuff. You might do it by yourself, 3 spd bikes are easy to hire or your hotel may do you a freebie deal. Check out the bike use rules before you go, they are different to USA

traveler91

Hello trusted advisors:

Based on your feedback I am now between the previous itinerary posted January 15 and a new option which shortchanges Copenhagen with the idea of getting back to Denmark at a later date. It was not possible to take the suggestion to avoid Copenhagen altogether due to the fact that it is a critical transport hub, unless we plan to fly straight to Bergen and miss out on the scenic train, which I don't think we want to do. With that in mind, here is the second option, in bold the <b>things that have changed</b>:

Day 1 - land in Stockholm, maybe have time to see one thing or have dinner in the Old Town area
Day 2 - Stockholm (Choose 1 or 2: Museums? Drottingholm? Archipelago tour? Open air museum? Bike/sight see?)
Day 3 - More Stockholm (Next priority among what we didn't accomplish Day 2)
<b>Day 4 - More Stockholm </b> (Next priority from Day 2 ideas list, PM flight to Visby) COMPARISON: Option 1 was Sigtuna this day on the way to the airport, in this option we dedicate a little more time to central Stockholm/its immediate surrounds
Day 5 - Visby (see the architecture, bike)
Day 6 - More Visby, PM flight to Malmo. Dinner in Malmo
<b>Day 7</b> - AM train across the Oresund bridge to Copenhagen, see one or maybe two sites in central Copenhagen, <b>leave that night on ferry or flight</b>. COMPARISON: Option 1 had us spending 3 days in Copenhagen, here we are spending less than 1 day in Copenhagen with the idea to come back to Denmark in a future vacation
Day 8 - Oslo (arrive on the ferry or wake up there ready to go in hotel after flight night before, whole day in Oslo)
Day 9 - Embark on the Norway in a Nutshell train tour (pray for clear skies). Spend the night in Flam or Gudvangen
<b>Day 10</b> - Bergen
<b>Day 11</b> - Bergen
Day 12 - Bergen
<b>Day 13</b> - Bergen, <b>PM flight to Arlanda</b>. COMPARISON: ~4 days in Bergen and surrounds rather than 2.5
<b>Day 14 - Sigtuna.</b> COMPARISON: Full day to see Sigtuna rather than a part day, and also more time in Stockholm due to moving Sigtuna back to the end
Day 15 - Fly back to the States


The main advantages with this are a little more time in Stockholm toward the beginning and less dead time in the last day and a half of the trip, plus more time for hiking and sightseeing in Norway.

The main disadvantage is removing Copenhagen, and the fact that there will be a number of transfers packed closed together toward the middle of the trip due to some 1 night stopovers.

thursdaysd

Not sure when you're traveling, and this may well be out of date by then, but it is relevant to your route:

From seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Stockholm.htm

"IMPORTANT UPDATE: Swedish border controls from 4 Jan 2016.

From 4 January 2016 Sweden will impose border controls and SJ will no longer run direct trains between Stockholm & Copenhagen until further notice. So where I show a Stockholm-Copenhagen SJ2000 on this page, it'll now go from Stockholm to Malmo and you'll need to change trains onto an Öresund local train from Malmo to Copenhagen (runs every 20 minutes, journey time 35 minutes). Allow extra time for connections and border controls.

This problem may well affect how you need to buy tickets, as I write this I see that 'spezial' fares from Stockholm to Germany have disappeared from the German Railways website bahn.de. They may resolve this, but if they don't the workaround is of course to book from Malmo or Copenhagen to Germany, then buy a separate ticket for Stockholm to Malmo at www.sj.se. Allow plenty of time for connections! If necessary, you can buy a local ticket Malmo-Copenhagen on the day at the station. So a civil war in Syria has stopped Stockholm-Copenhagen through trains? No, I wouldn't have believed that either..."

traveler91

Thanks for the info. I have heard the Oresund bridge route now takes an hour or more rather than 30 minutes Malmo=Copenhagen due to border checks, had not heard about other train changes. The only trains we plan to take are Malmo-Copenhagen and Oslo-Flam so we should not have any issues. Also, we are traveling September this year.

kja

Much as I enjoyed Copenhagen, I think giving yourself more time in Stockholm makes a LOT of sense, particularly because -- as you say -- Copenhagen is a major transportation hub, so you can return there more easily than some other places.