Please help me plan my trip to Sweden and Denmark

[Anonymous]

Hello good people of DCUM! A few months ago you've helped me resolve a dilemma of Scandinavia vs. Andalusia in early summer, voting decisively for Scandinavia. I've listened and now I'm a proud owner of the following booking:

June 24th - arrive to Copenhagen from DC

July 4th - depart Stockholm to DC.

Excluding arrival and departure dates, that's ten full days in the region. Departure and arrival locations are set in stone but nothing else is. How should I split our time?

It will be me+DS14 and DD10. Both are reasonably good travelers. Ten days seems enough to see more than one country. How would you split it? How many days and where? Should I stick with Denmark and Sweden, or should I push it and include a couple of days in Oslo? I don't want to go to Finland so the variables in the game are Denmark, Sweden and Norway. How would you plan this? I would be super grateful for your advice.

[Anonymous]

What do you like to do? Copenhagen and Stockholm each are good for like 2 days, maybe. Norway is amazing but would probably eat up most of your 10 days.

[Anonymous]

We like the cities, lots of walking around, absorbing the sites. Kids are good for museums but maybe only for a few hours a day, not all day. They are not huge on outdoorsy stuff but can take some hiking etc. They love public transit and big landmarks, and they love to see how things are put together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you like to do? Copenhagen and Stockholm each are good for like 2 days, maybe. Norway is amazing but would probably eat up most of your 10 days.

^ This is funny because I’ve been to Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Norway and feel the opposite. 4 days was plenty for me in Norway, but I spent 10 days between Copenhagen and Stockholm last year and didn’t want to leave. I guess it does depend on what you like to do!

Copenhagen - take one of the boat cruises, visit the castles, spend a leisurely morning in Nyhavn, visit the museums that seem interesting to you, and just walk around. I also liked the food hall; it made a great lunch. Also lots of great bakeries for a pastry walking tour.

Stockholm - take multiple boat cruises, the whole city is an archipelago. Visit the amusement park, Skansen (I loved this), and the Vasa Museum (also loved this). And the ABBA museum! Walking around the old city area is also lovely. I went to the Viking restaurant (Aifur) for dinner one night, which is very touristy but so much fun. The food is also surprisingly quite good. There are also boat day trips to islands further out in the archipelago, which I wish I had done.

I took the train from Copenhagen to Malmo, spent a night there, and then took the train on to Stockholm. I liked Malmo, although you probably don’t need more than a night there. It’s cute to walk around, though, and has a really beautiful city park. Also it is famous for being Europe’s falafel capital! I’ve heard southern Sweden is really gorgeous, so that’s also on my list to explore next time.

Have the best time, OP! This was one of my favorite vacations.

[Anonymous]

What is your preference for number of nights in one place? Are you up for moving locations every 1-3 nights? Or stick to 2-3 locations? Personally, I would probably spend 4 nights in Copenhagen, with a day trip out of the city one day. Then go somewhere in Sweden for a couple of nights. And then spend the last few days in Stockholm.

I loved Norway, but Oslo was my least favorite part, so I wouldn’t go to Norway unless you had time to add in Fjords.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is your preference for number of nights in one place? Are you up for moving locations every 1-3 nights? Or stick to 2-3 locations? Personally, I would probably spend 4 nights in Copenhagen, with a day trip out of the city one day. Then go somewhere in Sweden for a couple of nights. And then spend the last few days in Stockholm.

I loved Norway, but Oslo was my least favorite part, so I wouldn’t go to Norway unless you had time to add in Fjords.

Thank you!!

I don't want to spend only one night somewhere but moving every 3 nights is completely doable. I was thinking, and let me know if this is not reasonable, that maybe we'll spend a few days in Copenhagen, then take an overnight ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo, a day or two there, and then onward to Stockholm. So Oslo isn't all that then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you like to do? Copenhagen and Stockholm each are good for like 2 days, maybe. Norway is amazing but would probably eat up most of your 10 days.

^ This is funny because I’ve been to Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Norway and feel the opposite. 4 days was plenty for me in Norway, but I spent 10 days between Copenhagen and Stockholm last year and didn’t want to leave. I guess it does depend on what you like to do!

Copenhagen - take one of the boat cruises, visit the castles, spend a leisurely morning in Nyhavn, visit the museums that seem interesting to you, and just walk around. I also liked the food hall; it made a great lunch. Also lots of great bakeries for a pastry walking tour.

Stockholm - take multiple boat cruises, the whole city is an archipelago. Visit the amusement park, Skansen (I loved this), and the Vasa Museum (also loved this). And the ABBA museum! Walking around the old city area is also lovely. I went to the Viking restaurant (Aifur) for dinner one night, which is very touristy but so much fun. The food is also surprisingly quite good. There are also boat day trips to islands further out in the archipelago, which I wish I had done.

I took the train from Copenhagen to Malmo, spent a night there, and then took the train on to Stockholm. I liked Malmo, although you probably don’t need more than a night there. It’s cute to walk around, though, and has a really beautiful city park. Also it is famous for being Europe’s falafel capital! I’ve heard southern Sweden is really gorgeous, so that’s also on my list to explore next time.

Have the best time, OP! This was one of my favorite vacations.

Thank you!! This is really helpful!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is your preference for number of nights in one place? Are you up for moving locations every 1-3 nights? Or stick to 2-3 locations? Personally, I would probably spend 4 nights in Copenhagen, with a day trip out of the city one day. Then go somewhere in Sweden for a couple of nights. And then spend the last few days in Stockholm.

I loved Norway, but Oslo was my least favorite part, so I wouldn’t go to Norway unless you had time to add in Fjords.

Thank you!!

I don't want to spend only one night somewhere but moving every 3 nights is completely doable. I was thinking, and let me know if this is not reasonable, that maybe we'll spend a few days in Copenhagen, then take an overnight ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo, a day or two there, and then onward to Stockholm. So Oslo isn't all that then?

Oslo's OK, similar to Copenhagen and Stockholm. You may find it repetitive. Norway is all about getting out into the countryside and visiting fjords, scenic drives, outdoor adventures, etc.

[Anonymous]

I would do Copenhagen and Stockholm and at most one other place (aside from day trips). Depends on priorities - could by Legoland, Aarhus, Gotland, whatever. You could also just do the two cities and do plenty of day trips like Helsingor from Copenhagen and the nearby islands of Stockholm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is your preference for number of nights in one place? Are you up for moving locations every 1-3 nights? Or stick to 2-3 locations? Personally, I would probably spend 4 nights in Copenhagen, with a day trip out of the city one day. Then go somewhere in Sweden for a couple of nights. And then spend the last few days in Stockholm.

I loved Norway, but Oslo was my least favorite part, so I wouldn’t go to Norway unless you had time to add in Fjords.

Thank you!!

I don't want to spend only one night somewhere but moving every 3 nights is completely doable. I was thinking, and let me know if this is not reasonable, that maybe we'll spend a few days in Copenhagen, then take an overnight ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo, a day or two there, and then onward to Stockholm. So Oslo isn't all that then?

Oslo's OK, similar to Copenhagen and Stockholm. You may find it repetitive. Norway is all about getting out into the countryside and visiting fjords, scenic drives, outdoor adventures, etc.

I’ve been to all 3, and IMO Oslo is definitely a couple of steps down from Copenhagen and Stockholm in terms of stuff to do. Honestly don’t know what you’d do there for 3 days. As a foodie, I also found it to have the most expensive and least interesting food. I agree that the scenery and countryside/fjords in Norway are the real attraction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would do Copenhagen and Stockholm and at most one other place (aside from day trips). Depends on priorities - could by Legoland, Aarhus, Gotland, whatever. You could also just do the two cities and do plenty of day trips like Helsingor from Copenhagen and the nearby islands of Stockholm.

If you do LEGO do LEGO House - NOT legoland. They’re both in Billund, but you can do Lego land anywhere, but there’s only one LEGO House and it’s in Denmark. My husband and I went last year and the restaurant is worth making reservations for (it’s fun), and you can easily spend a day there.

We spent several days in Copenhagen and LOVED it. It’s gorgeous, friendly, walkable, and has great food. It’s also $$$.

Then we did a few nights in Malmo. Best Syrian food I’ve ever eaten. Malmo Slot (the castle from when Malmo was Danish) was fascinating, and we had a great time. Much less expensive than Denmark!

[Anonymous]

Add in Norway. Oslo is fantastic in the summer.

[Anonymous]

We went to Denmark last summer and my kids (14 and 16) spent a weekend in Stockholm with their dad. I think we were in Denmark for 7 or 8 days and still didn't do nearly what we had planned. Here's what we did:

1. Walked around Frederiksberg Gardens and took a rowboat ride.
2. Canal boat tour.
3. Torvehallarne food hall. We were more limited in our food options as one of my kids has food allergies.
4. Fredrik's Church.
5. Round Tower.
6. Rosenborg Slot.
7. Tivoli Gardens (opened and closed it- could've gone another day!)
8. Amalienborg/Frederik X exhibition.
9. Danish Design Museum.
10. Rented a canal boat for a picnic ride through the harbor and side canals. DS14 did the piloting.
11. Cisternes for their art installation.
12. Copenhagen Museum of Illusions- kids needed a break from all the cultural stuff and they enjoyed this.
13. Took a train to Klampenborg to bike around Dyrehaven.
14. Lots of walking around Nyhavn to people watch.
15. An Escape Room (again, good for the break).
16. Took a train to Helsingor to visit Kronborg Castle and went to a really cool food hall.

The kids and DH flew to Stockholm and walked around Gamla Stan, Kungliga Slotter, went to the Vasa museum, and Riddarholmen church.