Land Tour of Scotland and/or Cruise to Russia?
 

I'm not sure where is the best place to post this question.

For a long time, my partner has wanted to visit Scotland. I have seen some bargain airfares recently for Newark-Copenhagen, and believe that we can fly from Copenhagen to Edinburgh and back economically in May-June. So I'm tempted to reserve the flights, and plan a ten-day tour of Scotland by car and B&B as a birthday surprise.

In the process, I've also run across some bargain 7-10 day RT cruises from Copenhagen to St. Petersburg, via Sweden and other Baltic states. I have always wanted to see these areas. It is tempting to combine the Scotland and Baltic trips since we would be transiting by way of Copenhagen, and this may be our only opportunity to visit all of these areas. Although the cost is a concern, it is not an overwhelming constraint. Time is more of a constraint, since we don't want to be gone much more than three weeks, in order to care for an elderly parent.

Any thoughts?

Hi RainOut,

Combining the Copenhagen flights is great thrifty thinking, IMO (wish I could notice those :-)

You've got the passion and if you've got the funds to match, go for it. You'll find trip reports of Scotland on the Europe forum and surely the cruise-experienced will come along soon, too, to help.

Are cruises more leisurely than travel by car? I've not done any, so don't know. This is just an observation .. I've managed to get sick when rushing on a trip, so I'm conscious of enjoying/slowing down versus do more. No matter which segment is done first, be sure to just enjoy it, so your body isn't run down when getting off on the second portion.

Cheers!

If you can find a 7 day cruise - I'd say go for it. A day or two in Copenhagen to recover from jet lag/acclimate, almost two weeks in Scotland and a week's cruise would be a really lovely holiday.

You absolutely should go for it, makes sense to avail of a good deal on the Russia cruise as well as tour Scotland. You'll get excellent tips on this forum for Scotland, for the cruise I'd suggest going to Cruise Critic and your ship's roll call to network with others on the same sailing, this way you can team up with co-cruisers to save costs on shore excursions, etc. Typically the Baltic cruises go to Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallin, Warnemunde (Berlin) and overnight at St. Petersburg, all great ports to visit, you're sure to have a wonderful vacation!

I think it really depends on what you want to see and experience in these areas. From what I have read - and that could be misleading - most cruises that include St. Peterburg allow only a couple of days there. The problem is that St. Petersburg really warrants at least 4 days, if not more. With only 7-10 day to cover Copenhagen to St. Petersburg, via Sweden and other Baltic states, my guess is that you'll be short-changing just about every place the cruise stops.

If you can take 3 weeks, whether you are still committed to including time in Scotland or not, I think you would be well advised to consider options for visiting a subset of these places on your own. And yes, you can do that! Many of us have traveled independently to all of these locations without speaking the languages, etc., and we not only survived, but came back with wonderful memories.

kja, would you suggest that we forget the cruise and just concentrate on, say, Denmark and southern Sweden, in addition to Scotland? or instead of Scotland?

I've also considered dropping the cruise and Scandinavia, in favor of more time in the UK. Looking at self-drive, B&B packages for Scotland and northern England (York & Lakes District). Anyone have experience with this?

You have an awesome array of options before you, and none is right or wrong in the abstract.

My recommendation is that you choose the options that most suit your interests. If you really want the convenience of a cruise, even if it gives you very little control and very little time in any of these wonderful destinations, go for it. If you really want to see these places, rest assured that you can do it without a cruise, and I'm sure Fodorites will jump in to help you.

If I'm understanding correctly, your partner has a long-standing interest in Scotland, so a week-and-a-half (or more!) there makes sense. Although it really depends on what you want to see and do, I think general rough-estimates for some of the other places you've mentioned would be about 3-4 days for Copenhagen (including a day trip to Roskilde), 3-4 days for Stockholm (including a half day in Uppsala and/or a half-day boat ride into the archipelago), 1-2 days in Helsinki, maybe a day in Talinn and/or Riga (I have yet to visit these 2 cities), at least 4 and preferably more days in St. Petersburg, at least 4 or 5 (preferably more) days in Moscow. And since it was mentioned above, I'll add that I think Berlin deserves at least 4 if not 5 or 6 full days. All this IMHO as rough guidelines to be fleshed out (or thinned down) in light of your interests.

And northern England, the Lake District, etc., are also legitimate options. Most of this area is still on my wish-list, so I can't offer meaningful advice.

The good news: you'll see some wonderful things no matter what you choose!

Thanks so much, kja! :)

And thank you all!! :D

Don't be too quick to dismiss your original plan. I looked at it and thought that was a pretty smart idea to see a range of places at a reasonable pace and taking advantage of the good airfares you'd found. Sure, it would be great to spend more time in St Petersburg, but Russia is not an easy/cheap country to arrange travel to, and getting a taster on a cruise where they take care of all the arrangements does make a lot of sense.