Hi-Looking at planning a trip to Norway, Iceland, Stockholm and Copenhagen. I know prices are expensive for meals but what sort of budget could I plan on? We're not foodies, and will probably have to keep our meals in the moderate range, with a couple budget meals through in. So are lunches $20? Dinners $40? I just want to know what I'm getting in for! Thanks-

hi,
as always it depends on the location, restaurant, drinks etc.
A lot of places in Stockholm have a self serve lunch : Museum of Modern Art ( a great view) and the National Gallery come to mind.
In Copenhagen one of the dept. stores at the top has the same plus many cafes along the shopping area ( 20 dollars pp was more than enough)
Not sure about dinners , but like all over the world there are Italian and other ethnic rest. with reasonable prices.

Was in Stockholm over the summer and found the restaurants very similar in price to those in New York.

That means: casuale lunch is $10 to $15 per person, casuale dinner is about $30 to $40 per person. If you want an nicer dinner with pleasant wine figure at least $80 to $100 per person. For a truly elegant meal - more.

Note: if you really want there are fast food places and sanwich shops - will be a little less for lunch - but the same prices at dinner time.

If you play your cards right, your hotel will include a good breakfast. Our hotel in Copenhagen served delicious fruit, pastries, coffee, juice, ham, cheeses and more. Try an early afternoon stop at a polser stand, then splurge on a good dinner and drinks!

Both my hotels in Stockholm and Copenhagen had fabulous buffet breakfasts, so I was set really for most of the day. There are places to get a piece of quiche or a bowl of soup etc. for lunch that are pretty reasonable. I skipped lunch often after having a big breakfast. Dinner would run about 40.00-50.00 per person.

Like crefloors, I make good use of buffet breakfasts, and did not need to buy lunch.

I don't think any generalisation covers all four places beyond recognising that they are more expensive than, say, Portugal.

Never been to Iceland.

Without being careful, in Stockholm I found it possible to get a nice dinner for two with wine for under €100. If I was being careful, I could probably have got cheaper. There are plenty of fuel-stop options if you are watching your budget.

I found Copenhagen a bit more expensive for restaurant meals, but there are quite a few pasta/pizza places that are cheap but not very special -- more fuel stops.

I found Oslo very expensive, so much so that we did not take proper restaurant meals. And this post is from somebody who is accustomed to Irish prices!

Thanks for your thoughts! Did anyone have info on Iceland?

I'm in agreeance with the big breakfasts and a lighter lunch, or foregoing lunch all together. My traveling partner, however, will not be thrilled with that idea. He's a 3 meals a day kind of guy! Thanks again. Your experiences were helpful!

Well, if he needs lunch and you don't, get a coffee, or beer etc. and sit with him while he eats. I did that fairly frequently and didn't have a problem. I DO realize that in some restaurants they don't want people just sitting without eating...can certainly understand. I was with my brother, SIL, and neice so there WERE three people eating AND the places were very casual, kind of like a deli, or sandwich shop sort of places so I never had a problem just getting a latte or something.

I've been to all four and, sorry for not giving specific prices, but it depends on where you eat. You certainly can do lunch for $20 and dinner for $40 in all of them, but it won't be in as smart a restaurant as you would get for that price elsewhere in Europe.

As a general principal, I found Oslo (I haven't been to the rest of Norway) to be REALLY expensive; the food wasn't a problem so much as the drinks, soft drinks included. Even buying water in the supermarket was expensive. Stockholm and Copenhagen were much cheaper, though still nowhere near the value you could get in Italy or Spain.

All four countries are great places to visit and I absolutely would go ahead with the trip. You can eat on the budget you stated, and on less if you're willing to forego smart restaurants or make an effort to get away from the most touristy areas.

We found Norway to have very expensive restaurant food- 20 dollar hamburgers in a neighborhood restaurant with draft beer (14 0z glass) ten dollars. Make sure your hotel has a good breakfast buffet and look for Good Bread stores which have good sandwiches and pizza slices (you are at the mercy of the baker for variety). You won't find a lot of street food vendors in Oslo except at an open fair celebration or the waterfront promenade.