Scandinavian honeymoon
 

Hi!

I need help doing an itinerary for our honeymoon in Scandinavia next May-June.

We will be travelling from Montreal, Canada and we have 3 weeks (21 days) with a budget of 6 000$, excluding airfares. We could increase the budget if necessary but would prefer sacrifice on comfort/luxury. We know it is an expensive destination and will compromise on staying in budget hotels/hostels, eating from market or groceries rather than going to restaurants all the time and skip on alcohol.

We are interested in museums, art, design, architecture, scenery, mild trekking.

We would like to cover parts of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and end up with few days in St. Petersburg.

So far our itinerary goes (very roughly) like this:
Montreal - Copehhagen
2 days in CPH, then few days around (Kronborg castle)
Flight to Bergen, few days there and in fjords area
Scenic train from Bergen to Oslo
1-2 days max in Oslo ($$$)
Then Sweden, ending in Stockholm for a couple of days (4?)
Flight to St. Petersburg, 3 days there
Flight back to Montreal from St. Petersburg

What do you think? Any suggestions, things to add/remove/change from this itinerary? Advices?

IMHO St Pet has way more to see and do than any of the other places and you are definitely giving it very short shrift. Not sure where to cut but I would definitely try to put 1 or 2 more days there. I wasn't that enthused by Norway - but know that a lot of people love the fjords (for me one day was plenty - but then I'm a history/museum/ castle/church person). (You can easily visit Kronborg from Cop - so maybe don;t do several days in each place).

If you are going to do St pet independently (perfectly possible - we did it quite a few years ago that way) find out about visas ASAP.

As for your budget I would figure out your transit costs and subtract that from the total then see how much you have left. I don't know costs of hostels - but do check into it now - so there's no surprise on the spot.

Not enough time in Copenhagen or Denmark
Take the ferry from Stockholm to St Petersburg or Stockholm to Helsinki and train to St Petersburg
Far too early to be concerned about visas for Russia. You can't even apply for them until 45 days before travel date. Just factor in that they are needed and they cost $$$.
Hostels are not that cheap in Scandinavia.
Not sure I can see where the entire 21 days is being spent. Add some more time to St Petersburg.

For some nice info on Norway in a Nutshell excursion that you can do from Bergen - a nice whole day - and great info on Scandinavian trains in general I always spotlight these IMO superb sites: www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.seat61.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Check them for details on the awesomely scenic Oslo to Bergen railway, ubiquitously listed amongst the top scenic railways in Europe.

The entire 21 days is not "spent" yet, that's why I wanted some input on what we should add to the list and how much time should we spend in each places.

I thought St. Petersburg deserved at least 6 full days if not more. I thought Copenhagen deserved a bare minimum of 3 days. I thought Stockholm deserved a bare minimum of 3 or 4 days. I haven't been to Norway yet. Since you say you are interested in museums, you might want even more time.

I recommend that you get some good guidebooks (or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, note their opening/closing times, and mark them on a calendar. Then pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from the train/bus station or whatever, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting oriented, etc.). Then see how things fit together.

Hope that helps!

It took me a long time to find this place so I like to recommend it - a nice budget hotel/hostel in Oslo.

If you haven't purchased your air tickets yet take a look at Icelandair. Though departures are out of Toronto, Halifax or Boston.

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Revi...ravelerReviews