Back in 2010, we visited Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as Malmö and Lund in Sweden, as part of our Iceland trip. There's a lot to do here, and we barely scratched the surface. We were lucky enough to have a full day layover in Copenhagen on our 2019 spring break trip to Monaco, Nice, and Tunisia. It still wasn't enough time to do the city justice, but we managed to have a couple great meals. We had another day and a half in 2025 on our way to Milan. On our recent trip, we spent the better part of a week and even managed a side trip.
We recommend flying SAS to Copenhagen. From there, you can easily take quick connecting flights or get elsewhere by train.
This was one of my favorite trips! Russia was my favorite part of the trip, and I would love to go back there. (Edit: That statement was written in 2011.) I highly recommend Tallinn, Estonia. It doesn't get the publicity that it should (at least in the U.S.). If you're in that region of Europe, it's a must-do. The Helsinki-St. Petersburg-Tallinn trio was nice, because all three cities are so different.
We flew into Helsinki, Finland on Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), connecting through Stockholm. After spending a few days in Helsinki, we took a high speed train to St. Petersburg, Russia. It was so easy! The customs and immigration process took place on the train (FYI-you must obtain your Russian visa in advance...no exceptions!). It was comfortable, there was a dining car, and it only took three and a half hours. The train arrives next to the Ploshchad Lenina Metro station, which you can take into the heart of the city. No need to risk getting ripped of by a taxi--the metro is cheap and easy to use.
After St. Petersburg, we took the high speed rail back to Helsinki for a night (to sleep), and the next morning, we took a high speed ferry to Tallinn, Estonia. In an hour and a half, we were there. We spent a few nights there, returned to Helsinki, and flew home.
Looking back on our 2003 Norway trip all these years later, I marvel at how well it all worked out, considering we were novice travelers. We were still learning how to do proper research prior to a trip. For example, we had no idea that Norway's National Day was taking place in the middle of our visit. This was cool to be a part of but made it hard to find restaurants that day. On the other hand, we planned out a lot of great sites and museums. Arranging to do the Norway in a Nutshell tour allowed us to see some amazing parts of the country and have our most memorable meal in Bergen.
Returning to Oslo almost 20 years later, we found a city that we barely recognized. A brand-new Munch Museum, a new opera house, new restaurants, and cafés along new and existing piers on the water--it took us a while to take it all in. What we saw, we liked--it reminded us more of Sydney, Australia than it did any city in Europe. At the end of that trip, I said that there was still more of Norway on my list. Well, guess what? Less than a year later, we were back--this time to explore the Arctic regions of the country. The centerpiece of the trip was Svalbard, but we did a visit to Tromsø as well.
Tromsø was the perfect way to spend a few days after being in Svalbard. It's like the bridge between Svalbard and the rest of Norway. It gently transitions you out of the Arctic lifestyle and back into a place where you keep your shoes on in restaurants and hotels. It's well into the Arctic Circle, though, so we were still without a sunset, and the weather was wild! We experienced warm, sunny skies, wind with hail, a snowstorm with giant snowflakes, hard pouring rain, and dense fog--and that was all in the first 24 hours! It was a great time. It has a small-town feel that we liked, but that might be changing. They are building up quite a bit, and we imagine it'll look and feel very different in five years.
Stockholm has been on our list for many years now. And although it wasn't the impetus for the trip, it turned out to be the shining star. Stockholm is officially my favorite city in Scandinavia! A huge part of that is the fika culture. There is a café at every turn--and they are open late! This means that there's somewhere to go after dinner where I can get a tea or espresso, with an insanely good cardamom bun on the side. Not only that, but being summer, they're all outdoors, and the scene is mellow. It was all just perfect.
*heavy sigh*...Don't even ask. We flew SAS nonstop into Stockholm, and then they went on strike. I wasn't a fan of this airline before any of this nonsense, but this trip was the dealbreaker for us. Aside from that, getting around Stockholm and the rest of Sweden was very easy. The Arlanda Express gets you into town in less than 20 minutes, and the entire country is connected by train and bus routes. When our intra-Scandinavia flights were canceled, we journeyed across Sweden and into Norway quite easily.