Train or fly Copenhagen to Stockholm?
 

I need advice deciding if I should take a train or fly between Copenhagen and Stockholm. The train takes 5+ hours so most of a day in travel. I only have 4 days in Copenhagen and 3 in Stockholm so I want to make the most of my time. Is the train ride particularly scenic?

I was thinking of flying to Stockholm from Copenhagen in the late afternoon or early evening in July so I can make the most of a day in Copenhagen and then being able to start fresh first in the morning the next day in Stockholm. Any issues with woman travelling alone at "night" arriving in Stockholm?

Have you actually timed it out? Remember that flying means getting to the airport, waiting around at the airport for an hour or two, flying, clearing any relevant formalities and retrieving luggage, getting into the city....

I can't imagine that you would face any issues as a woman traveling at ANY time of day in either Copenhagen or Stockholm. (I've been to both as a solo female traveler.) Of course, there are no guarantees, and I always urge people to take reasonable precautions.

BTW, are you sure you allocation of time matches your interests? 4 days seems a bit long for Copenhagen; 3 days seems quite short for Stockholm -- but of course, it depends on what YOU want to see and experience.

The scenery isn't particularly ghastly, there is just much of the same (forests, lakes, forests) once the train left the coast and goes across Sweden.

But taking the plane will not be massively less time-consuming.
If everything worked out smoothly, you would be able to make it in four hours, instead of five hours by train.

In any case, you have a lot of time until you arrive "at night" in Stockholm. At that time of the year, the sun won't set until 10pm, with some light till 10:30pm. So taking the 4.20pm train from Copenhagen central and arriving at Stockholm central at 9.40pm will be an all daylight connection.

I would fly because the rail service in Sweden can be unreliable. An hour before the flight is enough time to be at the airport and the Arlanda Express is very quick to get you into central Stockholm.

Thank you for the advice. I was leaning towards flight but hadn’t considered an afternoon train to Stockholm.
Kja tell me more :) I was thinking I’d need more time in Copenhagen. On list of things to see and do are:
Copenhagen
- walking tour
- round tower
- canal tour
- Nyhavn and little mermaid
- Tivoli Gardens
- Louisiana museum?
​​​​- Frederiksberg Castle?
- food tour?
- I also love LEGO so would love to go Legoland

in Stockholm
- Vasa Museum
- Skansen
- City Hall
- Gamla Stan
- ABBA museum

I don’t how much I will be able to do on my list but what am I missing that I should absolute see, do or visit? What should I give a miss?

Stockholm is more beautiful than Copenhagen but I find more to do of interest in Copenhagen, you could take in a short cruise around the archipelago in Stockholm which I would suggest you do as the small islands are very beautiful. You might also be interested in visiting Drottningholm Palace. If you are interested in seeing Viking ships, you can add a trip to Roskilde in Denmark.
Östermalms Food market in Stockholm is under renovation unfortunately but there is a temporary hall.
If you do take the train, the scenery is better than by road as it takes a different route. I've done the journey many times and it is a long way but as you haven't done it before it might be more interesting to you than me. Do take care around the main stations, it is not utopia.

Legoland would be a bit too far for me from Copenhagen to make it a feasible day trip.

In Stockholm, taking one of the short cruises Odin mentioned is really wonderful (on a sunny summer day).
In addition, I also find shopping in Stockholm quite entertaining. Usually I am not much into shopping, but many of those places featuring Swedish or Nordic design have a different twist in what they have and how they present their merchandise.

By the way.. the official TI site visitstockholm.com is really neat and a good source for ideas also off the beaten track.

If taking train book early for nice discounted fares - check www.seat61.com for didactic info on doing that. General info on trains and where to go BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com. Combine Louisiana with Frederiksburg Castle and or Helsingor and Hamlet's Castle -

Tomtar & Troll - Tomtar & Troll This is the website for Tomptar and Troll a shop in Stockholm. They have wonderful figures of Tomptars and Trolls, all hand made by the owners. I bought several when I was In Stockholm some years ago.
Tomptars are woodland gnomes who, if given proper deference and respect, will protect your household. I have them at two of my doorways in the house. It's a very fun place to check out, and they sell other places. I hope the link takes.

It so depends on your interests and pace, and it certainly seems that you’ve done your research! :star: :star: :star:

FWIW (which may be nothing):

For Copenhagen, I saw everything you mentioned except Legoland, the Louisiana Museum (I think I would have enjoyed that!), and the various tours (I’m not a great fan of tours) – AND I spent a day in Roskilde and strolled the Botonical Gardens and visited the Carlsberg brewery and its art museum – all in 3 days.

For Stockholm, I definitely wanted a short cruise around the archipelago (glorious!), a visit to Drottningholm, and some time in several museums that may not interest you. (In addition to its art museusm, I really enjoyed learning about the area’s cultural history through the Nordica Museet.)

Again, it sounds like you’ve done the research to come up with a plan that works for your interests – kudos!

Thank you all for the help and advice! I'm going to play a bit with my itinerary so I have at least 3 full and clear days in Stockholm.
In Copenhagen, I say 4 days but really day 1 is arrival from Australia at 6:30am and day 4 is departure in the afternoon/evening....
I think I will have to do a cruise around the archipelago in Stockholm. Kja it's definitely worthwhile getting an idea of how and what you can do in a set amount of time :)

Oh, I had no idea that you would be arriving in Copenhagen from Australia, and of course, that makes a HUGE difference! I can readily understand why you wanted a bit more time there just to recover! And I think there are some things that will make for a reasonably pleasant acclimatization day.

If you can include a ride through Stockholm's archipelago, I don't think you'll regret it.

I'm glad you thought my comments about timing helpful -- but really, it depends so much on personal interests and pacing, and the more you tell us, the more I applaud your planning -- good job! :)

Yes that overnght boat ride to Finland is so pretty and as days are really long you can see it till late at night.

Late evening arrival by train in Stockholm would be a lot closer to your hotel than airport and Sweden I believe is about the safest place for single woman or anybody to be on the planet.If train get discounted tickets online yourself.

We flew on SAS. It was cheaper and saved us time. There are excellent trains from the airports to the city centers in both cities.

Indeed Copenhagen to its airport is about a 15-minute ride from the main train station.

You should definitely fly. I found the train between the two cities unremarkable and lengthy -- both cities are such fun though!

If the train ride were really scenic it would make a difference but to me hohum though even hohum lets you see what most of southern Sweden is like - kind of redolent of Wisconsin and Minnesia and northern Michigan. Only place in Europe I saw U S style barns - old wooden barns.

We drove from Copenhagen to Stockholm......in September. Boring, boring, boring.... In Copenhagen try to find a good place for smorrebrod (open faced sandwiches) usually accompanied by schnapps and beer. Forget tracking down the Little Mermaid... boring. Visit Nyhaven. In Sweden any opportunity to sail the archipelago should be investigated. Drottingholm is also worth a visit... especially if you can visit the opera house there. Don't miss the Vasa.

To each his/her own! I thought it delightful to see her nestled in her cove....