cparris

I am planning a trip for Aug. If I want to see some of all three countries would you recommend flying into one and out of another and would you recommend driving or taking the train. I would like to see the major cities...Oslo, Copenhagen, and Stockholm but also the countryside. What would be the time you would spend in each place since we have some time constraint. Should I leave out one country. We have 12 days.

111op

I can't say about the countryside, but I can tell you that in 8 days I was in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo and Bergen. (Only overnight in Oslo.) I flew in and out of London.

So that gives you a sense as to what's possible.

I flew from Copenhagen to Stockholm and from Stockholm to Oslo. I took the Nutshell trip to Bergen from Oslo.

My blog has my trip report:

http://makeashorterlink.com/?C1B421D2B

There could be some useful things in there for you.

Have fun.

detraveler

We almost always fly into and out of different cities to save travel time in Europe. When we went to Norway, Estonia, Denmark, and Sweden we started in Stockholm and ended in Copenhagen. If you fly SAS from the US or Canada you can get inexpensive one way flights using their air pass program to help you move around more quickly and less expensively than the trains. The Norway in a nutshell tour was an easy way to see some of the countyside.

nytraveler

In 12 days I would do two countries. My preference would be into Copenhagen and out of Stockholm - but that depends on where you're coming from and what flights are avaialble.

IMHO if you are counting the day of arrival (you lose most of it) and the day of departure (you lose all of it) you acutally have only 10 days. I would do 3 days Copenhagen (minimum with a single day trip) and 4 days Stockholm (ditto) with the other 3 days for seeing a little of the countryside in between.

I would prefer car (driving in Scandinavia is very easy) but you could train if you want.

However - if there's something in Oslo that you must see - you could substitute it for Copenhagen.

peggi

We found local airlines with very cheap flights from city to city. We flew into Copenhagen, took an overnight ferry to Oslo, did Norway in a Nutshell to Bergen, took a bus to Alesund, then flew back to Oslo. We later flew to Stockholm from Oslo. We, however, were away 17 days counting travel. By the way, if you have Tivo, Travel Cafe has a show about Scandinavia...I think it may be just on Norway. Also, Rick Steves' video is quite good.

ekellyga

IMHO---we thought the scenery on our drive (or probably likewise out of a train window) from Copenhagen to Stockholm was not much to get excited about.
Our travel itineraries often look to others as being way too rushed..but here is our trip 2 summers ago.
Flew into Oslo, spent the rest of the day walking around the city.
Left on the N. in Nutshell tour (very nice)
2 nights in Bergen.
Picked up rental car...drove south thru Stedestal valley to the southern tip of Norway and caught ferry to Denmark.
Stayed 2 nights on island of Aero (very neat, quaint)
Night in Copenhagen
drove to Stockholm 2 nights in Stockholm.
Drove back to Oslo for flight home.

Except for the drive thru the S. valley..the other driving legs were kind of boring. I would guess the countryside parts of your trip should be done in Norway...and then see the cities in the other countries, and maybe travel between them by air or overnight train.
Rick Steve's book is good on Scandanavia.
EK

cobbie

In 1995 I flew SAS into Copenhagen & spent a couple days there, took the overnight train (left about 11pm) to Stockholm arriving around 8 or 9am. At that time there were lockers in the Copenhagen train station so we hung out at Tivoli till time to board the train.

Stayed a few days in Stockholm then took the overnight train again to Oslo. There must've been lockers in Stockholm too - don't remember completely.

Eventhough I have relatives in Norway I wasn't too impressed with Oslo except for the cruise on the Oslo fjord.

Took a daytime train to Bergen. Did Norway in a Nutshell from there. Liked Bergen much better than Oslo. Flew home from Bergen via Copenhagen. It was no more expensive to fly from Bergen than it would have been to do a RT from Copenhagen.

All in all I was there for 2 weeks.

Enjoy!