Best way to see Scandanavia?
 

We have a week long business trip to St. Petersburg, Russia the last week of June 2007. We would like to sample the Scandanavian countries for the week or 10 days before Russia. Tentative plan is something like...Fly to Stockholm, Oslo, or Copenhagan. Rent a car see some of Norway and Sweden. Fjords, towns, etc. (We can not take the trains since we have to bring extra luggage for the business part of the trip.) Then take overnight ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki for day or 2 there. Then train to St Petes. Fly home from there. For the most part we like small towns more than large cities but also enjoy a variety of culture and historical sites. We are active and enjoy biking and short hikes.
Would like advice on:
-Best way to fly there from San Francisco, California. Which major airport to go through (London,Frankfurt,Copenhagan,etc) Which airline. Cheapest way to do this.
-Should we reserve all hotels ahead of time or can we find places as we go?
-What would be a good 7-10 day itinerary to get a taste of what these countries have to offer?
-Is there a recommended driving route?

Initial thoughs are that you are tring to cover far to much of scandinavia in 10 days.
I suggest you fly to Copenhagen stay 2 nights, taxi to Malmo in Sweden, hire a car drive to stockholm stopping on the way say 2 nights and 2 nighys in Stockholm. Ferry or fly to Helsinki spend 3 nights in Finland. then to STPberg

Hi

As I am from Norway I would of course suggest that you start here. If you fly to Copenhagen or Amsterdam it is only a short 1 hour flight to my hometown Stavanger (see http://gardkarlsen.com/stavanger.htm ). June is a perfect time to see the main sites here and if you like hiking you should go to Preikestolen (see http://gardkarlsen.com/preikestolen.htm ) or maybe even Kjerag (see http://gardkarlsen.com/kjerag.htm )since you have a car. After checking out Stavanger you can drive towards Bergen and maybe you can check out Norway in a nutshell trip from there. In the end you can drive over the mountains towards Oslo and check that out for a day or two :-)

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

I am not Norwegian but have to partially agree with Gard. Norway by far is the most beautiful country of all Scandinavia. 10 days in Norway is not too much, on the contrary. Driving in Norway is easy and exciting. You could start your trip in Oslo, Bergen or Stavanger. I did it all. From Stavanger (like Gard suggested) you start a breath taking trip towards Bergen and to the fjord country. You have enough time to drive through this fascinating part of Norway up to Kristiansund. Absolutely breathtaking, you'll never regret it! From there you can drive to Oslo and catch either a plane or go by boat to Helsinki.You can also start your trip from Oslo. The route Oslo-Bergen is very nice.
True you'll miss Denmark and Stockholm , but as nice as Denmark is and beautiful Stockholm, I still think that the beauty of Norway is worth investing you time in that counry. If you wish to receive more detailed information, leave your e-mail address and I gladly will send you some instructions I prepared for a friend who wanted to go to Norway.

"From there you can drive to Oslo and catch either a plane or go by boat to Helsinki."

There are no passanger boats between Oslo and Helsinki. Even if there were, the trip would take at least two full days.

&quot;Initial <font color="red">thoughs</font> are that you are <font color="red">tring</font> to cover far <font color="red">to</font> much of <font color="red">s</font>candinavia in 10 days.
I suggest you fly to Copenhagen<font color="red">,</font> stay 2 nights, taxi to Malmo in Sweden, hire a car<font color="red">,</font> drive to <font color="red">s</font>tockholm stopping on the way <font color="red">-</font> say 2 <b>nights and 2 <font color="red">nighys</font></b> in Stockholm. Ferry or fly to Helsinki<font color="red">,</font> spend 3 nights in Finland<font color="red">.</font> then to STPberg&quot;

You can take a bus from Tallinn Estonia to St. Petersburg. I did it a few years ago and it was only about $10.00.

As for the cheapest airline, start checking prices in March to see which airline is the cheapest. I would recommend British Airways because they still give free wine with the food (which isn't bad) and they have a great selection of movies with the individual monitors.

I flew British Air from SFO to Copenhagen, year before last. Went SFO to Heathrow and then Heathrow to Copenhagen. Checked our luggage all the way through. If that's the rout you go, just be sure you have enough time for your connection. The approximate time between terminals was estimated at 70 minutes. I can't say for sure because my SIL has severe arthritis so my brother had ordered a wheel chair for her, so we got to just cut in front of everyone, neener, neener. The lines were quite long.

I am so so so very very sorry, elina, for taking my time to help lurn. I am sure that your very helpful remarks helped much more!

And as for Robespierre, you'll be surprised! Not ALL the people in the world live in the great USA. Not ALL the people of the world speak (read and write) English as good as you. By the way, how is your French? German? Spanish? Arabic? Japanese?

I sometimes wonder why some of the participants in these forums are so mean?

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