Hi all, It'll be our first trip to Scandinavia and I'm looking for itinerary ideas. We'd like to include a ferry somewhere as we travel from major cities. We are not car averse if it will facilitate getting to a special destination. TIA!

Does 13 days include arrival and departure days, meaning actually only 11 days on the ground?
What are you hoping to see? Give us some more clues as to what you hope to get out of this trip and which places are must sees or would really like to see.
Even with 13 days you will not be doing any of the countries justice if you want to visit all three in that time.

Welcome to the Fodor's forums. We deleted the two duplicates of this thread.

As hetismij2 has noted, any itinerary recommendations would require some knowledge of your exact time frame and of your interests -- you would do well to supply that information! And to echo hetismij2, trying to fit ALL of these countries in a trip of roughly the length you suggest would be extremely ambitious.

What guidebooks have you consulted? What preliminary ideas do you have? Have you read any relevant trip reports on Fodor's? What makes you want to visit this part of the world?

With that short a time, I'd say focus on Copenhagen and the areas around (all easily reached by transit), Stockholm and points in between (trains connect Copenhagen to souther Sweden (Malmo etc.). That was what we did on our first trip to Scandanavia, slightly longer than your planned time. We spent 6 nights in Copenhagen, 5 nights in Stockholm and the rest of the time driving around the glass country and neighboring parts of southern Sweden. Your interests may vary but we found the museums, palaces, sights etc in the two big cities really quite wonderful, with Vasa and City Hall in Stockholm plus Lousiana Art Museum near Copenhagen particular stand outs. Norway deserves a trip of its own, in my opinion. We spent over two weeks there and didnt get any farther north than Alesund, or to some of the areas west from Oslo.

summer trip, winter trip?
major cities? you want to visit cities?
big place to visit in 12 days, I think you may need to pull your horns in a bit
are you up for renting bicycles in which case Copenhagen might be your core visit but that depends a bit on where you are coming from and hence your landing airport

Twelve days would give you 144 "daylight" hours.
Copenhagen to Hirshtals to Kristiansand to Oslo to Stockholm to Karlskrona, back to to Copenhagen would consume 32 of those hours.
That would leave you with 102 hours to be divided between 3 countries to find your hotels, sighsee, eat, pack, re-pack, shower and shave.

Pick one country, two at the most.

Honestly, I’d squeeze in a ferry in Norway - it’s kinda magical seeing the fjords from the water, and a short drive can get you to spots you’ll actually remember.

Hi! Yes, probably 11-12 days on the ground. We want to definitely see Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, and possibly another destination that could fit... cruise of the fjords? Bergen? Gothenberg? What could work and what is worth the trip? I've read about ferries where you can rent a room for the overnight trip.. that sounds like a good way to get from one major city to another while also taking in the view of fjords. I'm hoping someone has mapped something similar out!

[QUOTE=.... I'm hoping someone has mapped something similar out![/QUOTE]

Steve Marsh has.

Ferries are part an intergal part of the road system in Norway.
Sounds like the best choice for you would be a car.
Overnight ferries are great, we are partial to Stena Line.








Hard to get a train or a bus to stop when you want to stop.

Leaving Karlskrona for Gdynia

I do enjoy a good city but much of the wonder of the region is the empty countyside and the small towns. Oslo is pretty good as is Copenhagen while Helsinki is, in many ways, fascinating. But I'd still try and avoid too much city life and just get out and about and really in only one or two countries given how short your visit is. The train between Denmark and Sweden is a great experience.