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Scandinavia travel help needed!

QuiltyMom

QuiltyMom

I'll never run out of things to do!
Joined
Feb 3, 2012
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We are planning to go to Sweden, Norway, and Iceland this summer on a 2-week trip. We have family in Sweden that we'd love to see (Stockholm and Dalarna areas), friends in Iceland, and my DH wants to see the Norwegian fjords.

I have planned NOTHING, and we're thinking about leaving June 23. This is totally not the way I do things. I normally would have everything planned to the detail by now. I've just let the ball drop and am now in an absolutely enormous panic!

So, if anyone has any tips of what to see & do, I'd appreciate it. Especially, do we see the fjords by cruise or rail?

We're thinking 6-7 days in Sweden, 3 in Iceland on the way home, and the remainder in Norway. Oh, and we have a moderate budget. Nothing overboard, but we're not going to count pennies the entire time, either.

Thanks!
 
My husband and I did a trip to Scandinavia 18-19 years ago, so I might not be much help, but I'll try!

I'm about to run out the door so I can fill in more details later if you're interested. We started from Copenhagen, Denmark. We started out driving across Denmark, but ended up checking the car back in at a train station and taking the train to Hirtshals (there's a story there). There we got on a big cruise type of ship for a few hour trip to Oslo, Norway. We did a lot in Oslo, but also took the "Norway in a Nutshell" train and boat tour of the fjords. From there we flew to Stockholm, Sweden and spent a couple of days there. We did a day trip to Helsinki, Finland. We went on a cruise ship that we were basically on only for dinner and sleeping. We woke up in Helsinki, spent the day wandering around there and then got back on the boat that night and woke up back in Stockholm the next morning. From there, we drove across Sweden back to Copenhagen. We saw a bunch of really amazing things. Loved the different Viking museums. I'll look up the details later if you're interested. Oh... we fairly closely followed one of the plans in a Rick Steve's Europe Through the Back Door book.
 
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QuiltyMom said:
So, if anyone has any tips of what to see & do, I'd appreciate it. Especially, do we see the fjords by cruise or rail?

Thanks!
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You can do both, I think. Take the train & get off at certain points, and then do a day trip or short boat trip around a fjord or two, although I'm not familiar with the Norway train system. I've only been to Geirangerfjord, and it was part of a bus tour (I used to work as a tour manager in Europe about 10 years ago), but we got off in the town and spent a couple hours on a boat up & down parts of Geirangerfjord.

Other random bits that I remember:
• outside of Oslo, Norway you can go to the Lillehammer bobsled run from the 1994 Olympics, although you will need to either push yourselves off from the start or find big strong people to do it for you!
• outside of Trondheim, Norway, there's a town called Hell. We used to stop for photos at the train station.

I have a couple Pinterest boards that might help:
https://www.pinterest.com/HelloMissB_/destination-iceland/ (lots of "things to do" posts)
https://www.pinterest.com/HelloMissB_/destination-norway/ (mostly photos I've collected from Instagram)


QuiltyMom said:
Oh, and we have a moderate budget.
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Yeah, that's not going to happen. These are very expensive countries!


 
Thanks so much! And I guess what I meant is that we're staying away from 4- and 5-star hotels. We're not fancy people!

I'm going to get the Rick Steves' Scandinavia book from the library tonight, and I've got the CD on hold.

I'll go check out the pinterest sites next. :agree
 
AirBnB might be an option for keeping the budget down on accommodation.

Also tagging @lorryfach here as she may have some insights into travelling Scandinavia as she's in Copenhagen!
 
Cool. I'll do that.

I told my DH about the town of Hell. It put a big smile on his face!

I just returned from the library with a small stack of travel books. I'll look at them tomorrow.
 
Please if you have not booked it yet think about doing it soon if this is fixed dates for you. It is the most travelled time in all Skandinavia. School break starts round the 16 /17 June in most northern countries. Prices only go up...
 
For reasonable lie not cheap but better than a hotel, you might try Aairbnb. I've used them and my dh and I used them together in San Francisco. Going out to eat is nice but having a kitchen to make you am coffee/tea in your jimmies is even better imho.
 
QuiltyMom said:
I told my DH about the town of Hell. It put a big smile on his face!
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Too funny! Not sure where you live but Hell, Michigan is the next town over from me here! LOL

I would LOVE to do an trip just like you are saying! How exciting for you! I am almost 100% Finnish and my hubby is Finnish/Swedish. We talk about this being a good trip for us when he retires, retires. lol. My husband has one retirement already. (retired firefighter) now he is onto a second career.

We have looked into the idea of camping so we could really drive and travel around, and stay a longer period of time.
 
Thank you everyone for your responses! We're rather tied in to our dates due to the kids still being in school. We're going to pull them out a couple days early as it is. Our plans are to make all reservations this week, by Friday at the latest. I heard from my family there just yesterday, so we'll be traveling to Dalarna (Falun & Dala-Jarna areas), Stockholm and maybe Gothenburg before heading over to Norway for a few days, then having a 3-day layover in Iceland. I'll definitely look into air bnb, mostly since I have the worlds worst list of food restrictions. Having access to a kitchen would be a Godsend!
 
I would love to hop in your suitcase! :shopping That sounds like a wonderful vacation!
 
My brother's high school friend is in Norway right now. I would want to see the Northern Lights, but you are mostly in the wrong season by my understanding for that. The Swords in Stone monument looks so cool! Because huge swords? Why not!
sverd.jpg


I can't wait to see your pages when you get back! It sounds like an amazing trip!
 
That sounds amazing. I've never been but always dreamed of Iceland! Have fun!
 
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