Planning for Copenhagen, Stockholm, Fjords and Northern Lights
 

Help Please

Hello,

I am thinking of doing a 10-12 day trip from US to Scandinavian countries in first week of October. I wanted to cover Copenhagen, Stockholm, Fjords and Northern Lights. Here's my tentative plan:

Land in Copenhagen/Stockholm
Visit Copenhagen/Stockholm ( 2 days)
Take the train to Oslo
Spend day in Norway in nutshell tour (fjords), back to Oslo
Fly to Tromso
Spend 2 days, looking for Northern Lights
Fly to Stockholm/Copenhagen
Spend 2 days in Stockholm/Copenhagen and fly back

Please let me know if this is doable. Also, what chances do i have of seeing Northern Lights in October in Tromso? I see a Viator cruise 4 hour trip from Tromso, but has only 1 review. Not sure if that's better or taking one of the bus tours (for Northern Lights)? Any other suggestions please?

thanks

Doable? Probably, but not something I would want to try! IMO, Copenhagen easily merited 3 or 4 days, depending on your interests and day trip plans. And Stockholm easily merits 5 full days. And you aren’t giving much time to Oslo….

Unfortunately, I can’t speak to the likelihood of seeing the Northern Lights.

Good luck!

Thanks kja. Looks like if i drop the Northern Lights plan, i may be able to do justice to Copenhagen and Stockholm. I will try to figure out if Northern Lights is realistic (first week of Oct and takes 3-5 days depending on luck). Thanks for your feedback.

Stockholm/Copenhagen are hundreds of miles apart - takes a day to go between - chose one or other. Bergen train line and NIN are superb - for lots of info on trains and booking your own check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

You can do with guided tours or on your own -buy all ticket components in Bergen - train - bus - boat - train all.

Copenhagen to Oslo by train (or reverse) is 7h15 on the train PLUS a switch at Goteborg. If you're making that trip, do it in the air.

Oslo to Stockholm (and reverse) is about 5 hours on the rails, no change necessary. That's a closer call because a flight will be about 1.5 hours plus pre-flight arrival, plus transit to and from the airports (compared to centrality of the train stations).

See https://www.seat61.com/international...-from-Oslo.htm for more.

You could try for the Northern lights in Sweden too. You may get clearer skies there, away from the influence of the North Sea. As to the chances of seeing them that is impossible to say this far out. They do tend to be more active around the equinoxes but they are totally unpredictable, even with lots of equipment to try and say when they will happen they don't always play nice. One of the best displays I ever saw was on a day when the forecast was low.


http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast is a great website to help predict them. Choose the map for the area you are.

You could always try Canada or Alaska for the Northern Lights, cheaper probably, and at least as likely to see them.

There used to be overnight trains Oslo-Copenhagen on certain days - if they interest you -have not checked if they are still running but check if interested - save daytime travel time and the cost of a night in a hotel - in Scandinavia a small fortune.

Thanks folks.
@hetismij2, that might be a great idea, to do Northern Lights in Sweden. I will check it out.
@PanelQ - Do you know which train service does that? Can i look directly at Rail Europe? Would that have a stopover/change as BigRuss suggested? I will look at the links you provided. Thanks so much.

60+ female who did 5 day Copenhagen solo, 7 week Baltic cruise with hubby where we visited Stockholm, flew solo from Copenhagen to Bergen, did NIN on my own as I got senior discounts, toured and flew out of Oslo.

Didn't deal with NLs but rest is very doable. Flying between cities or overnight trains are better options than daytime trains as noted. Although lovely scenery the NIN train to Oslo seemed long but it did come at the end of a very long fabulous day.

Love rome2rio.com to plot my trip.

Although lovely scenery the NIN train to Oslo seemed long but it did come at the end of a very long fabulous day.>

If going round-trip Oslo-Bergen yes take the overnight train back (if still around) or fly.