Ok have kind of finalized an itinerary.

Day 1: Reach Copenhagen. Spend day in Copenhagen
Day 2: Copenhagen
Day 3: Spend day in East Denmark (Cliffs of Mons Stevns). Stay in Copenhagen
Day 4: Spend day in Odense. Stay in Copenhagen
Day 5: Reach Gotenburg. Spend day in Gotenburg
Day 6: Gotenburg, West Sweden archipelego. Stay in Gotenburg
Day 7: Reach Oslo. Spend day in Oslo. Take night train to Stavanger (Next day being saturday so no train)
Day 8: Spend day in Stavanger. Stay in Bergen
Day 9: Bergen
Day 10: Flam, Fjord cruise on the Sognefjord
Day 11: Geirangerfjord and Trollstigen Road
Day 12: Jotunheimen
Day 13: Oslo
Day 14: Oslo
Day 15: Stockholm
Day 16: Stockholm
Day 17: Stockholm
Day 18: Take ferry to Marianhamna. Spend day there and take night ferry to Helsinki
Day 19: Helsinki
Day 20: Imatra/ Lapperanta/ Savolina
Day 21: Helsinki

Please do critique it.

Have one extra day so would love suggestions on whether to spend it in Copenhagen or go to Turku or some other place.

Not sure which place to stay on Day 10, 11 and 12. How is driving in Norway ? May do Day 11 and 12 by car due to no connections by train.

Thanks.

>>>Day 19: Helsinki

Day 20: Imatra/ Lapperanta/ Savolina

Day 21: Helsinki<<<

Look, why this one-day-in-a-place itinerary? Think about the distances.

Train trip Helsinki-Imatra is almost five hours one way. So day 20 would mean 10 hours in a train, and that would not even include Savonlinna. How much it would leave for seeing/doing? For example both Lappeenranta and Savonlinna offer wonderful lake cruises on old steamboats and some great views and beautiful nature. You don´t have time for any of that.

For day 20 why don´t you just take a boat from Helsinki to old Porvoo. There are also lunch cruises. You can choose between an old steam boat and a modern one. And then take a bus back. Even that is a whole day program.

Do not skip over Roskilde, Denmark. The cathedral is the Danish version of Westminster Abbey where all the Danish monarchs are interred. You'll get thoroughly confused by all the "Christians" and "Fredericks", but it's quite fascinating. Own a cell phone? Harald Bluetooth is buried there too. It's the oldest Gothic brick cathedral in Europe.

Very nearby is the Viking ship museum which features a bunch of old boats excavated from the bottom of the nearby fjord. They have been painstakingly restored and demonstrate just how brave (crazy) the Vikings were to venture out into the open seas. These sights can be done in a few hours on your trip from Copenhagen to Odense.

Hi, Salonee -

I second Otzi's recommendation to visit Roskilde.

Enjoy!

Ok I guess the extra day I have we can do Roskilde.

We would have one more day since we would be flying back on Day 22 so maybe I can stay in the place we visit on Day 2 and come back to Helsinki the next day.

Thanks for the suggestions..

Oh - did not see this thread before. But it seems you (salonee) have had some dreams about seeing the midnight sun on your scandinavian tour? So why don't you?

I must say, it is magical. And the scenery in northen norway is at least as breathtaking, as that of Bergen and the fjords. (I've lived both in Bergen and Northern Norway.)

If you have not set yout itinerary, i suggest you take a look at norwegian.no. (cheap plain tickets) oslo - harstad/narvik is about 70-90 dollars in august.

you could go from harstad/narvik to stockholm for about 115 dollars (still flying norwegian)in august.

ITINERARY

Three weeks sounds perfect to me. Denmark is the must see city. I wouldn't even think of the capital of Norway (very boring) and go to the northern part of Norway to see the Fjords in Trondheim or Mo i Raina. Stockholm, the capital of Sweden is beautiful. And I do recommend visiting Finland as well, because it is little bit different from the others (it used to belong to Sweden until 1809 and then to Russia 1809-1918). The places to see in Finland are the lakes are in the middle and Lapland in the north but in August the weather might be a problem. So I would pick Helsinki only, the capital of Finland.
So my plan would be Denmark (7 days) - Trondheim (3 days) - Stockholm (7 days) - Helsinki (4 days).

You can get the most out of Norway in a short period of time, just visit http://www.nordic-experience.no

They got a good value for money when it's up to see a lot and experience the true and intense side of Norway. They have different tours, if you want to do the most on your own. It's has to planned really well and in advance, and you may have to focus on some main areas. Most likely the one closest to the major airports or close to train connections.

I wish you good luck and it's better to be ambitious and reach some of your goals.

Fly out to the easternmost destination and drive/ferry/train your way back west. For examply fly out to Helsinki, ferry over to Stockholm, rent a car drive to Norway, loop around the western fjords, ferry over to Denmark, depart from Copenhagen. This way you avoid backtracking and looping around unnecessarily.