Scandinavia Trip in August
 

Hi-
I am planning a trip to Scandinavia for this August. We are flying into Copenhagen and flying out of Stockholm. Total is 10 days/9 nights. I will be traveling with my husband, two kids (ages 9 and 12) and two seniors (early 70s). Anyone have recommendations of an itinerary? Should we just focus on Copenhagen and Stockholm or should we go to Oslo as well? What is the best way to get between all of the cities? Any info or ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.

With 9 nights and that particular crew, I would consider focusing on Copenhagen and Stockholm, with more nights in the latter -- BUT it all depends on YOUR interests.

I think trying to add Oslo in a meaningful way would leave you with too little time in Copenhagen and Stockholm.

If you haven't already done so, I recommend that you get a few good guidebooks (always a worthy investment IME) or consult some at a local library, note the things that most interest YOU, check their opening hours, and mark them on a calendar. Then mark in your transportation, time to check into / out of your hotels, etc., and see how things shape up.

DO consider a side trip to Roskilde from Copenhagen and a boat ride through Stockholm's archipeligo!

Enjoy -- it is a beautiful area!

PS -- your children might enjoy Tivoli in Copenhagen and Skansen in Stockholm -- or not! Check them out....

What is the best way to get between copenhagen and stockholm? Drive or train? I know it is about a 6 1/2 hour drive that we would break up over two days.

I wouldn't recommend driving from Copenhagen to Stockholm, the drive is long and not particularly interesting. Also, if you rent a car from Denmark, you might find you are are charged dropoff fees to leave it in Stockholm.

There is quite a lot to see and do in both cities, not to mention day trips out of Copenhagen to see various things on Sjælland which is the island that Copenhagen is on. So splitting the time between 2 cities is probably enough rather than introducing a third city.

Here is the official tourist board website with lots of info:-


http://www.visitdenmark.com/denmark/tourist-frontpage

A boat trip thru the Stockholm archipelago is a must, a visit to the Vasa Museum might be of interest as well.

High-speed trains operate Copenhagen to Stockholm - and IME there is not too much along the route to see if it means sacrificing days in Copenhagen or Stockholm, cities where cars are useless.

There are several great easy day trips by train from Copenhagen - to Helsingor and Hamlet's Castle; Roskilde and the Viking Ship Museum and just outside of Copenhagen, Bakken, the world's oldest amusement park and a bit less stuffy than Tivoli - kids may enjoy Bakken more and it is FREE! Rides of course cost money - but plenty of free outdoor shows for adults and kids.

Trains go to several great day trips from Copenhagen and are cheap - look in day passes sold locally.

Oslo itself never wowed me like Copenhagen and Stockholm but it would be easy to include on your trip - Copenhagen - train to Oslo - train to Copenhagen (overnight train I think a possibility - kids may find neat).

For lots of great info on Scandinavian trains check www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com. Advance purchase online from national railway sites can save a ton of money. There is a ScanRailPass that may be worth it if you do all three and day trips too. It also gives discounts on chain hotels throughout Scandinavia.

I think you have key issues at hand not necessarily what you have stated. You are planning a trip just one month away during the peak season with a party requiring more than one room. I am not sure if you have scanned accommodation availability at target cities. For example, if I do a quick scan for arbitrary dates in August in Copenhagen using www.booking.com, I see half of the accommodations in the center are already booked up. What remain don't seem to be attractive, at least to me.

To see if driving should be even on the table within your expectations, just do a trial booking with your favorite rental company. What is the rental for a car large enough for 6 of your (probably some kind of a van - not cheap), the cross border drop-off fee, whether it has the transmission type acceptable to you. On top of this, consider the trip operating cost, gas, toll, parking fee, etc. Use http://www.viamichelin.com/ to get estimate of gas and toll.

If your long train trip is just between Copenhagen and Stockholm, just buy point to point tickets. If you are planning to travel far out of metropolitan areas in each country, you need to crunch numbers to see if a Scandinavia saver rail pass makes sense. If such trips are skewed to only one country, a local pass makes more sense.

<<Copenhagen or Stockholm, cities where cars are useless>> I disagree that cars are useless in these cities. Especially for Copenhagen,renting a car/van might be a better option for so many people rather than the train. There are so many places to stop along the Danish riviera and you might miss those if you take the train. Parking in Copenhagen during the evenings and weekends (free from Friday night until Monday 8am) is easy and if you choose a hotel slightly outside of the immediate centre, it is even easier if they have parking. There are no tolls unless you cross the bridge from Denmark to Sweden and as one way rentals are expensive, there is no point in doing this.

Any recommendations on hotels in either copenhagen or stockholm? Would like something centrally located in each city if possible?

What is your specific nightly budget - and is this for each room or for both rooms together. Without that info making sensible recos is difficult.

There are plenty of hotels that are centrally located, but at what budget and which will have rooms at this late date is a question. You might want to start checking a couple of the discount websites to see which have a room for 4 people available (usual room configuration is one double bed for 2 people) and how it matches your budget.

Looking to spend between $200-300 per room per night. Looks like we will need 3 rooms? Considering the Hotel Rival or Nobis Hotel or Radisson Blu in Stockholm. Do you know/like any of these?

Just back from 2+ weeks in Scandinavia, including Copenhagen and Stockholm. We spent a week at Hotel Rival in Stockholm; highly recommend it! Try to get a room with a balcony facing Maria Torget (Square). 9 nights is barely enough for these two cities, let alone Oslo. (And there is plenty to do in Oslo.)

All these places are big cruise ports, so the Radisson's and other large hotels get booked up with cruise ship passengers, so you'd better do some quick research if you plan to go in August.

While it might be useful for excursions to more rural areas, a car is not needed at all in Copenhagen or Stockholm. (I would think it would be a liability, with parking to deal with.)


If you have specific questions, please post.

Good to hear about the hotel rival. Do you have a hotel you would recommend in copenhagen? Most hotels have space so I am not worried about securing lodging but do want to stay somewhere nice with a central location. Also, how do you think we should break it up? 4 or 5 nights in copenhagen vs stockholm. With a total of 9 nights, not sure where I should do the 4 vs the five. Any god day trips you would recommend? Thanks in advance for the advice.

"4 or 5 nights in copenhagen vs stockholm"

I'd go with more time in Stockholm, but really -- again -- it depends on what YOU want to see and experience.

My recommendations for day trips have already been noted.

Stockholm: Grönalund park for the kids: rides come in the scary variety, but are mostly geared to families with smaller children.

And we liked going to Grinda in the Archipelago, by boat. If you want to have a taste of that without going far, Vaxholm is a good destination. And for just dipping your toe in the water, consider booking lunch or dinner at "J" in Nacka Strand and go there by boat: it's a 20 minute ride.

It doesn't make much difference but I would go with 5 nights in CPH and 4 in STO but as others have said, it depends on your interests.

I think there is more to see in CPH and the island that CPH is on. However, STO is more beautiful especially in the summer.

Day trips from CPH
Helsingoer to see Hamlet's castle. Also, you can take the 15min ferry ride to Sweden and walk around Helsingborg - or you can stay on the ferry and have lunch. Helsingoer is pleasant enough to walk around. If you have a car, you can take the ferry to Sweden and explore beautiful areas such as Arild and Angelholm
Hornbaek - the beach is very nice
Gilleleje- fishing harbour where you can get smoked fish etc for lunch
Louisiana
Nakkehoved Fyr (lighthouse)- near Gilleleje and a nice place for a walk along the cliffs
Karen Blixens House
Bakken, the Deer park and Bellevue beach
Coastal drive northwards from CPH
Lots of castles to see

Hotels
With car parking
Radisson Scandinavia - we park on the street, you might find it a bit far from the centre
Marriott - we park opposite the hotel as it is cheaper and free at weekends
Copenhagen Island - we park on the street

Without car
The Square
The Admiral for it's quirky rooms, not to everyone's taste though
If there is availability, you could try renting an apartment eg Adina Hotel apartments

a day trip from Copenhagen I loved was the Round the Sound one - take a train over the awesome bridge/tunnel to Malmo - then take train to nearby Lund, to me one of the nicest cities I've been to in Scandinavia - mid-size city that is - famous university with a nice campus peppered with neat old buildings.

Then take train to Helsingorborg, Sweden and take the frequent train ferries over to Helsingor (Elsinore) Denmark - see Hamlet's Castle - S-tog train back to Copenhagen.

This and all the wonderful day trips Olden notes makes several days in Copenhagen with always something to do in the town or out - in town don't miss the Carlsberg Brewery tour at the ornated awesome Elephant's Gate - lots of art there too from a family that is a patron of a major art musuem in Copenhagen.

Is the Copenhagen card worth the investment?

<<Then take train to Helsingorborg, Sweden and take the frequent train ferries over to Helsingor (Elsinore) Denmark >>

There are no train ferries on this route anymore, they stopped in 2000. There is only the normal car ferry and train passengers will get off the train and walk to the ferry as foot passengers.

The CPH card is only worth the investment if you plan to visit the museums and attractions included on the card. Have you checked the CPH website? There is a place you can select the attractions you want to visit and it will compare your selection with the value of a transportation ticket only. Then you can decide if it worth the investment.

http://www.copenhagencard.com/

Odin - thanks for the correction - but still there are ferries - are they frequent as before? Trains I guess of course take the bridge-tunnel over and under the Oresund Malmo to Copenhagen but I thought freight trains may take the old route - but again thanks for the correction.