Scandinavia - May half term

[RoastDinnerWanted]

DH has a big birthday coming up and we'd liked to go somewhere different at the end of May with teenage DCs to celebrate.

I've been googling and basically it all sounds amazing. But expensive...

Any tips for first timers? We'd ideally like to see 2-3 cities, but is that a bit over ambitious in just a week?

Any advice gratefully received!

We did a Baltic Cruise in the summer

Went to Copenhagen Stockholm St Petersburg Riga Tallinn Helsinki etc

Yes very expensive

If I had to choose two (and wasn’t allowed Russia) I’d choose Copenhagen & Stockholm

A cruise sounds amazing!

The destinations were awesome

The cruise bit itself

But it’s a very cheap way to see so many places in such a short time
And you can have a massive breakfast on board so you don’t spend too much on shore
We went with RCCL who have teen clubs etc but even in height of summer it was mainly older Americans very few children - they go more on the Med and Caribbean cruises

Spend a long weekend in Stockholm and then catch the overnight ferry to Talin. A cruise would be my idea of hell. Talin is great for children it has a medieval feel to it with lots of ghost stories. Stockholm is beautiful and my favourite European city. We stayed on the Af Chapman boat which was quite reasonable or they have a hostel which is nice directly opposite the boat.

The Grand Central Scandic is a really nice hotel in Stockholm especially the lobby area and their breakfast is amazing.

Check out Hotell Skeppsholmen (note two L in hotel). Personally I would not pick Af Chapman for personal reasons, seems um.. too enclosed (it's in an old ship, I wrongly assume it'd be stuffy but it's not). If you like skiing you could go to Riksgränsen, the skiing season ends in the end of May - would be cool to go there (no pun intended). Not a city though but very scenic.

You can get the train between Copenhagen, Gothenburg and Stockholm very easily. All lovely cities with lots to do and the trains are very comfortable.

You could go from (almost) Copenhagen (via Malmö) on a night train and don't have to spend the days travelling. Here's a map: www.sj.se/content/dam/SJ/Kartor/SJ-Nattag-karta-2017.pdf

Seems it's one train destined for Riksgränsen too (the skiing...).

Note the map is for sleeping cars only.

Thank you! We're not skiers, but this is great advice.

It would be quite cool (!) anyway!!

I've been to Norway and Sweden but not Denmark - the Copenhagen to Stockholm option sounds great. I loved Stockholm - both Sweden and Norway were both really, really expensive though (for example, Stockholm 2 pizza's, 1/2 carafe of wine, orange juice and garlic bread came to £60 in a really average Italian). Great place but only go if you've got a good spending budget

Was it a very posh Italian restaurant? I just checked, and a pizza would cost between £7 and £13 at current exchange rates, which sounds more in my price range. The wine might be expensive, though, depending.

No it wasn't - it was a bog standard checked tablecloth, pictures of Napoli kind of place. Surprised you got quoted £7-13 for a pizza in a restaurant - that's pretty much UK prices and everywhere we passed was pricier by a half or double the UK. This was 4 years ago - don't think the Swedish economy has taken any large hits though since!

When I went to London we went to a restaurant where we soon realised we could only afford a starter course, and left. Not so fun...
Anyway the price of a standard lunch at a lunch restaurant is about £11.24 as of today, main course - salad - bread and sometimes a soda/light beer.

In Stockholm the Middle Eastern kebab type cafes are reasonable by Central Station. There's also a really nice one in Gamla Stan down the smaller alley ways. We would buy sandwiches from the food hall at NK department store which was still expensive and have a bit of a picnic by the water front which is really lovely in summer.

Hevonblu I take it you must live in Stockholm? A quick Google tells that you should expect to pay From (not to) £13-17 for a main course in a middling (not high end) restaurant in Stockholm which from our experience (and my DH goes regularly on business) sounds about right. And I’m genuinely surprised the price of a starter in London shocked you so much you had to walk out - I’ve heard very different from Scandinavians I know!

In any case I don't think it'd necessarily be an excruciatingly expensive experience for OP with husband to visit. I they get the equivalent of a three-day Oyster card they can travel around at an affordable price. Of they want something cheap there are cheap hostels though I wouldn't pick Af Chapman myself but rather Zinkensdamm but that is because I don't like the idea of living inside a permanently moored sailing vessel. I liked the idea of taking the night train between Copenhagen (by way of Malmoe) to Stockholm I must say, thereby getting more days out of the trip!

If you have Helsinki as one of your stops you can do a day trip by ferry to Tallinn, which is lovely but do-able in a single day.

The night trains from Helsinki to Rovanemi in Lapland are good and I've always got an ok night's sleep. There's also night trains to St Petersburg and Moscow if you fancy those. You can sail overnight to Stockholm from either Helsinki or Turku.

Alcohol is very expensive. Cheapest to buy your own in supermarkets, or just do without.

If you stop in Stockholm there are some amazing places to stay - one hotel is on a wooden ship, another in a previous prison.

Alcohol is very expensive. Cheapest to buy your own in supermarkets

Yes and no, not always. There's no alcohol in supermarkets, it's sold in a special store, at least in Sweden - don't know about Finland or Denmark.

Hevonbu, it’s the same in Finland but not Denmark, alcohol is sold in supermarkets there.

Norway, Sweden, Denmark ... not cheap. You will pay a lot if you eat out, so try to find a way to self cater if you can.