8 days in scandanavia
 

My adult son and I will be arriving in Stockholm 7/6 in the evening and flying out of Copenhagen mid day on 7/15. We are both active and want to see the charms of the area. Traveling by boat, bike, train or air is all good with us. Ultimately we would like to visit Stockholm and its surroundings as well as the Fjords and Pulpit Rock in Norway and the sights in and around Copenhagen. My brother lives in Tallin but not sure we have the time to go there. Does anyone have an itinerary that would fit? We have not booked any accomodations or travel between the countries and would greatly appreciate your advice and input. Thanks so much for your help

Terri and Jordan

Should be a great trip!

If you are coming from the US/Canada, you will probably lose some time at the start to jet lag, so you might want to give a bit more time to Stockholm than to Copenhagen. And to be honest, even if you were starting without jet lag, I'd say the same thing! Give Stockholm a bit more time than Copenhagen if you can.

I agree that you probably don't have time for Tallin, and I don't think you have time for Norway, either.

For accommodations, check booking.com Be sure to pay attention to the cancellation policies (sometimes as little as 24 hr in advance :-) )

Be sure to get a good guide book or two.

While in Stockholm, don't miss the WASA museum or City Hall and do consider a boat ride through the archipelago. In Copenhagen, be sure to visit the Little Mermaid. Consider a day trip to Roskilde if your time permits.

Enjoy!

That is an ambitious itinerary. Have you calculated the time in transit between your objectives?

Try to land in either Stockholm or Oslo and work your way between them by train and fly home out of the other.

Oslo
take the dramatically scenic Bergen Railway to Bergen, fine old Hansedatic port town

Norway in a Nutshell Tour from Bergen

Take day or night train back to Oslo

Take train to Stockholm.

Trains are excellent - for lots of good info on Scandinavian trains check out these IMO superb sites: www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.seat61.com and www.ricksteves.com. There is a ScanRail Pass that covers trains and many boats that may well be of value to you.

The Norway in a Nutshell thing is a self-guided thing involving a mountain bus, trains, and a two-hour boat ride on Norway's longest fjord - watch for whales! It goes between Gudvagen and Flam - at Flam you take a thrilling mountain railway up to Myrdhal and the main Bergen Rail line - return to Oslo that day or go back to Bergen.

http://www.norwaynutshell.com/en/exp...FQ5gMgodYk0AqQ

If they want to see the Pulpit Rock they are probably going to have to go to Stavanger at some point. Perhaps fly from Stockholm to Bergen or Stavanger and then to Copenhagen. Pretty tight time wise.

Thanks everyone for your help. Does anyone know how to book a room at the Preikestolen Mountain Lodge? I hear it books quick and I havent found a booking link on their website. Also, is this tentative itinerary too ambitious? I already have flights into Stockholm on 7/6 and out of Copenhagen on 7/15:

-Stockholm area for 3 nights then

-take "Norway in a nutshell" train from Oslo to Bergen.

- Bergen Stay 1 night there.

- Then fly to Stavanger rent a car and take two days. Driv to Forsand and catch ferry to Lysebotn and drive up to trail head for hike to Kjerag. Drive back jump on return ferry to Forsand and drive to the lodge at trail head for Pulpit Rock hike. Stay night there if I can get a reservation somehow then hike to preikestolen. Swim in lake below lodge on return.

Fly Stavanger to CPH on Norwegian air

Copenhagen- 2 nights
-rent bikes and see the city and also a water taxi tour from Nyhavn

IF its too much which should I leave behind for this trip?

Then fly to Stavanger rent a car and take two days>

From Bergen I believe there are ferries to Stavanger and with a ScanRailpass you'd get a 50% discount if not free travel.

Stavanger or somewhere nearby also has boats to Copenhagen I believe with 50% off or full off.

Check rates on SAS, we flew from Copenhagen to Helsinki and it was only $68, with no fees for 1 checked suitcase.

We did 4 nights in Copenhagen, 3 nights in Helsinki, 2 in Tallinn and then took the overnight ferry from Tallinn to Stockholm and stayed there 4 nights. You have less nights and want to include Oslo, but as suggested, check rates with SAS and you might not lose too much time getting between cities.

I hope to do Norway next year... hope you can do a trip report when you get back :)

Why don't you email the Lodge? That is what we did with a couple of lodges last year in Norway. Also, and I hate to keep saying this to people, but it rains a lot on the west coast of Norway. Both those hikes are tricky in the rain (we only did Preikestolen). Two days in the area may get you 0, 1 or 2 days of hiking.

Thank you all again! You rock! I am feeling much more confident and excited about this once in a lifetime trip with my son before he heads off to grad school and starts his life!
colduphere does it really get alot of rain in July? I dont want to spend the time if its more than likely!

Comments on these would be appreciated:
-Ferry or fly from Bergen to Stavanger?
-Fly from Stockholm to Oslo with no stay then Norway in a nutshell to Bergen or fly to Bergen from Stockholm? What would we be missing if we didnt take Nutshell?
-If we cant have the time to do both would you recommend Bergen or Pulpit Rock?
-Is taking a boat through the fjords a duplicating our Pulpit Rock experience? Is the hike strenuous or just long?

Thanks for the help once again!

Terri Zager - Here is a chart that shows weather conditions by month for Stavanger. It seems that it rains about two days out of three in July. That doesn’t mean that it rains all day. You might want to compare these figures to where you live.

http://www.weather-and-climate.com/a...avanger,Norway

I don’t want to discourage you from going. We went and loved it. It was just the absence of insurance days in your schedule that worried me.

The drive out to the Pulpit Rock passes sections of the Lyse fjord. And at the top of the climb you have a spectacular view of the same fjord, if it isn’t too foggy/rainy. How that compares to seeing other fjords further north is tough to say. We saw the Hardangerfjord from ground level – pretty spectacular. Maybe someone else will chip in with views of the fjords further north.

The climb up the Pulpit Rock is not very difficult. There are some steep and rocky sections but there are lots of places to sit and rest. If you click on my name you will find our trip report (Besseggen). Somewhere in there is a map of the climb (Preikestolen map) – 4 kilometers long and 1100 feet of climb.

And some day I hope I can figure out who is who in your profile picture. Those boys are too young to be going to graduate school.