Scandinavia. It is definitely not the most touristy place in Europe but in fact that is precisely why it is special. That’s probably why I’m living here and not in my hometown, Spain. Yes, it is cold in winter. Yes, it snows in winter. But is snow really a bad thing? From my point of view, snow is what gives life to these countries, and when winter comes and there is no snow… you really feel something is missing. On the other hand, summer is the opposite and it is not strange that you reach 30 degrees and even more.
Daylight is what varies the most, and while in winter in capitals like Stockholm, Helsinki and Oslo you have sun from 9 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon, during the summer you have sun from 3 in the morning until 11 p.m. late. That’s a big difference, and this is what makes these northern countries so dynamic! In any case, let’s take a look at the proposal of 4 different routes depending on the time you plan to stay in the Scandinavian countries.
1 week tour in scandinavian countries
This is the option for those who have less time available. It doesn’t mean you won’t get a good perspective on where you’re going, but it does mean you’ll need to limit the number of cities you visit. One possibility would be to simply select a single city and learn more about it, but in this case we will talk about a route. Matching the three northernmost capitals (Stockholm in the center, Helsinki on the right and Oslo on the left) you will get a 3-city trip where you can spend an average of 2 days in each of these cities. The best way to do this tour is by plane, consulting Nordic Low Cost companies such as Fly Nordic.
2-week tour in Scandinavian countries
This is an evolution of the 1-week trip, where you will be able to add a capital city like Copenhagen in Denmark and the second largest city in Sweden, Gothenburg. The way this should be arranged is by leaving (for example) Stockholm, then flying to Helsinki to eastern Finland, flying south to the capital of Denmark, then taking a train north to Gothenburg, a train or a plane further north to the capital of Norway. , Oslo, and finally take one last flight to Stockholm. I take Stockholm as an example since many of the international and intercontinental flights depart from its airport.
3 week tour in scandinavian countries
With three weeks you get the chance to do some real exploration of Scandinavia, including some adventures to the northern polar regions. Let’s see how it would work. One of the cities we will be adding is Kiruna, in northern Sweden, famous for its ice hotel that is redesigned every year as it melts in summer. It also allows you to head to the North Cape. We will also add Bergen, for its beauty as a city and for its proximity to the Norwegian fjords. Finally, Turku will fit well into the planning as Finland’s second largest city and a very close location to the capital.
We will take a low cost flight (Fly Nordic) from Stockholm to Turku, then change to the train to reach Finland to the east. Then we will fly to Copenhagen in Denmark, take the train to Gothenburg and from there we will fly to Bergen to visit the fjords. A flight from Bergen to the country’s capital, Oslo, and from there again by plane to Kiruna, including a visit to the North Cape. Finally, we will take the flight to Stockholm.
For this trip it might make sense to buy a Scandinavian rail pass and change some itineraries to train instead of fly. Still, some routes are not covered or take a long time, like going from Stockholm to Turku or going down to Denmark, or going up to Kiruna. The rest is pretty well covered by rail transport.
4 week tour in scandinavian countries
Finally, the trip for those who want to know more about this country and have probably told their boss that they have a dying mother in the north of Sweden and that they must stay with her until the last moment. Bad excuse but it could work… In any case, taking the route we did on the 3-week tour as a reference, you will add here the cities of Aarhus, Trondheim and Malmö. How should the route work?
The order will be as follows: starting from Stockholm, going south to Gothenburg, further south to Malmö, visiting neighboring Copenhagen, to Denmark’s second most touristic city, Aarhus, and then leaving the country for the Norwegian capital. . , oslo. From there you head further north to Bergen, further to Trondheim and then across all of Scandinavia by air to reach Helsinki on the other side. Visit Turku next, return to Helsinki and take a flight north to Kiruna, finally returning to Stockholm.
Again, a rail pass can be very useful if you decide to make as many trips as possible by train. Scandinavia has beautiful landscapes so the trip should not be boring, and if you do it in winter you will be surprised by the large amount of snow around you. That should be the European Alaska.
What about the accommodation?
Hotels in this region can be quite expensive everywhere, but if you don’t mind the number of stars, the quality standard is very high and you can possibly find some of the most “stylish” hostels in the world. If you plan to stay in a city for a long time, the best thing to do is to get free travel certificates from some special places that I always recommend. You can get them just for signing up for a free network or even just for writing articles, which is how I normally go about getting mine.