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Best Scandinavian city breaks

ex brickie

ex brickie

pfm Member
My wife and I love European city breaks but have never been anywhere in Scandinavia. I've done some web searching but would welcome the experiences of fishies! Here's what we're most/least interested in:

Best choices for city break only that are easy to get around (walking or public transport); reasonably priced boutiquey B&B (we're OK with 3 star upwards - doesn't have to be flash); art galleries (modern and traditional art); interesting old and modern architecture; vegetarian eateries; bric a brac markets; secondhand vinyl stores are a bonus!

Best choices for a combined city break and seeing some of the countryside (preferably by train) . The access to vegetarian food will be important here!

Best choices for combining two cities in two Scandinavian countries on one trip. The emphasis here will be on ease of getting from one to the other (again trains are fine)

And best time of year to go? I guess close to Christmas is quite romantic (but cold)
 
If you have never been to that part of the world you should consider the classics (Copenhagen, Stockholm) but also expand a bit to the rest of the Baltic (Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius etc.) that while not part of Scandinavia stricto sensu generally share many features.

I prefer Copenhagen to Stockholm, my wife prefers Stockholm. Both are fascinating places which tick all the requirements you mention. Stockholm has a well developed old town (Gamle Stan) which, while very touristy, is definitely worth seeing. There are nice boat trips available to see parts of the Stockholm archipelago.

Other places worth seeing in Denmark or Sweden: Aarhus, Odense, Göteborg, etc. but I wouldn't go there if you haven't seen the capitals.

Helsinki has a bit less of the historic stuff than Stockholm, but it has a great selection of the local Jugendstil/National revival style as well as classic modern architecture (Alvar Aalto etc.). It took me some time to get used to the Jugend stuff but after spending almost 10 years in the place I now adore it. It is quirky, a bit like Hobbit/Tolkien meets Ramses III. Also, it's a nice location by one of the most beautiful archipelagoes in Europe, with short ferry connections to another delight: Tallinn. Tallinn was spared a lot of the brutalist developments of the 60s (the Soviets did not invest much in the place!) so you have a beautiful, well-preserved Hansa merchant town complete with a Teutonic Knights upper town.

I have never been to Riga or Vilnius for tourism, but all the reports are that there is a lot to see (here again, a lot of Jugend stuff).

Oslo IMHO is less interesting architecturally than any of these. The location at the end of Oslo fjord is great, and the scenery further north and west is fantastic, but distances are vast and travel is slow.

Time of year: the best time for a tourist is the second half of June and July. Fewer mosquitoes in June, long white nights, reasonable temperatures. A lot of stuff closes in July for the holidays, a bit like France in August. Christmas can be pretty, but in most of these places with global warming you can just get slush and never ending darkness...

None of these places are cheap these days, but Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius are still cheaper than the other places: Stockholm, Copenhagen and Helsinki are all expensive. You will find vegetarian options everywhere.

Getting from Copenhagen to Stockholm is possible by train (quite a long ride). Stockholm-Helsinki is best done as a mini-cruise on one the ferries (Viking or Silja line), with the bonus of seeing the beautiful coast and archipelago. Helsinki to Tallinn takes 90 minutes on an express catamaran ferry.

Final thought: St Petersburg is just 400 km down the road from Helsinki. It's not exactly Scandinavia, but it's a fantastic place, loads of architecture, culture, you name it. You could spend a week there and only scrape the surface. Late June is the best time there too, but hotels gets booked quickly in that season.
 
Be aware that July is typically a great weather month but it’s also the month that Scandinavia takes as a month of holiday so lots of people on vacation. June should be a good option.
 
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clivem2 said:
Be aware that July is typically a great weather month but it’s also the month that Scandinavia takes as a month of holiday so lots of people on vacation. June should be a good option.
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May is usually nice as well.
 
I remember really enjoying being in Stockholm just before Xmas a few years ago. Though the cobbles in the old town can be rather slippery in icy weather, especially after a couple of festive beers...
 
I once found myself in Norway; Oslo, Trondheim and then Tromso. Nice place, booze is mad expensive, food is ok so long as you avoid the fermented shark.
 
Copenhagen’s great but already mentioned.

I really like Bergen - picturesque as it’s in fjord country and surrounded by mountains. Compact but still a decent size. Worth looking up to see if it has what you’re after - I think there’s plenty to do for a city break but that’s subjective.

I also really like Oslo. Also compact for a capital city but excellent cultural assets with the castle, galleries etc. I particularly enjoyed the Nationalgalleriet and the Munch collection. Water-based activities if that’s your bag. Perfect for a city break.

Given that I’ve been to a lot of other places but so far managed not to end up in Stockholm or Gothenburg, if it were me I’d choose one of those for the novelty. But as places I’ve always found it nice to arrive back in, Bergen and Oslo would be my recommendations.

Be aware, though - pretty much nowhere in Scandinavia is cheap. Especially for alcohol.
 
Bjork67 said:
Take 48 bottles of brown ale in your hand luggage? would do for gin'tonic till he gets unpacked :D
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I never unpack.

Many decades ago my Dad worked in Olso for about 6 months. His Norwegian colleagues got him to drive across the border to Sweden to buy sugar (it was apparently cheaper in Sweden, and the border police rarely stopped a foreigner). Apparently the porno mags in Sweden were better than in Norway.
 
Drink is expensive in pubs and restaurants but its not that expensive in shops in either Denmark or Sweden however if you are planning a picnic then the drink driving limit in Sweden is 20mg/100ml as opposed to 80 in the UK so no drinks, a night on the tiles will see you over the limit until well into the next afternoon.
 
One July we wanted to go to Copenhagen, but all the hotels were both booked up and horrendously expensive. So we stayed in Malmo, across "The Bridge" in Sweden, which turned out to be a delightful small city.
 
PaulMB said:
One July we wanted to go to Copenhagen, but all the hotels were both booked up and horrendously expensive. So we stayed in Malmo, across "The Bridge" in Sweden, which turned out to be a delightful small city.
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Ah, The Bridge! What a fine bit of viewing that was. I wonder if the swedes enjoyed Prime Suspect?
 
We had a week based in Gothenburg (stayed with some friends) a few years back. Exclusively used public transport to get around using a ticket which covered buses, trains, trams and iirc the ferries out to some of the small islands. We went in May & the weather was mixed - rain/sun, but pleasant enough. Lovely light evenings!
Very well catered for food & drink (our biggest expenses there), the ‘fish church’ was superb if you like seafood. I wouldn’t say it’s the nicest looking city, especially compared to Stockholm, but its not terrible. Lots of fun to be had at Liseberg, visit the Volvo museum at Malmo and definitely take a day trip to the islands if you go at a warmer time of year. Tons of lakes/forests not far away and huts you can hire for overnight stays if you fancy something a bit more wild feeling.
Would definitely like to visit Stockholm at some point as well as Norway and Copenhagen. Check out the last episode of Amazing Hotels.. on Beeb 2/iplayer - Copenhagen looks like a fun place and rather pretty.
 
Stockholm is lovely.
If you wanted to add a train trip to that then Kalmar is a beautiful place (approx 4.5 hrs South), old and a little off the beaten track (i.e. flying there is possible but Kalmar only has tiny twinprop planes from Arlanda). A walled city, castle. Bric-a-brac and vinyl may be limited! A big Swedish summer tourist destination (largely because of Orland). I've visited many times and would love to go back, probably will.
Then another train to Copenhagen (approx 3.5 hrs).Copenhagen is also wonderful.
Trains are good, and only marginally more expensive for first class. Lots of scenic Nordic countryside to see - forests and lakes all the way.
Then home?
Copenhagen airport is on the railway line. Kalmar railway station is essentially center of town. Stockholm too (Arlanda a little way out but fast and easy train into the center).
As always, how much time have you got..?

I'd strongly recommend summer rather than Christmas! Not just for the weather, but for the 'vibe'. It's a short summer and it certainly feels to me like everything changes dramatically for the better during those few summer months.
(To add, I've worked for Swedish and Finnish based companies for some 15 years now, and not willy waving, but I've also visited Gothenburg, Malmo, Lund, Helsinki, Turku, Tampere, Aalborg and Oslo, and the three mentioned above would be my pick!).
 
if you go via Amsterdam or end up there then I fully recommend the Heineken experience, well worth a trip round the brewery, providing they are open and not closed due to covid. Totally agree with all the suggestions above having spent many holidays exploring the area.
 
Stockholm then get a nice cabin on the overnight ferry out through the archipelago to Helsinki in midsummer- the Baltic is bewitching at night at that time of year
 
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