Trip to Scandinavia -- Advice?

[Neurotic Guy]

Taking a trip to Scandinavia (child is studying abroad).  Plan is to visit Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Bergen.  Only one week so packing it all into a small window.  My wife and I have never been to Europe.   No experience traveling abroad.

1.  Any "don't miss" sites/activities in any of the 3 cities (family of 4: two in their 20's; us in our 50's)?   City sites as well as scenic spots within hour or 2 of the cities.

2. Anything I should know regarding:

• Money (Kronos not Euros): exchange/ use of credit cards/
• Renting cars
• Cell Phone service
• Navigating cities (GPS? Google Maps?) / countryside.  City Parking?
• Trains / Planes (train from Copenhagen to Stockholm; fly Stockholm to Bergen) -- anything to know about booking/ fares/ comanies to book through/avoid; anything about the airports?
• Food
• Hotels vs.  Air B&B
• Any else I need to know?

Any advice will help -- don't worry about being too basic, I really have no idea what to expect.

Thanks!!

[Eja117]

I'm a world traveler.  And I'm Irish with whiskey in me on Easter so you know I'll tell you the truth. You can pm me if you want.

How long do you have to plan? Please don't tell me you're leaving next week.

[KG Living Legend]

Bring lots of cash. You can carry up to 10k without delacring, and atms can be a nightmare so don't bank on them always working. Notify your bank's of your travel they can shut down your cards!

 Don't make to many plans! You will meet great people, decide what you wanna do once you get there.

[Eja117]

That's a good point about cards shutting down if they don't know you are traveling. It's so stupid. You can buy a ticket with their card, but then if you buy something while you're there they turn you off

[hwangjini_1]

i travel overseas a lot because of my job. i dont have any specific info on scandanavia (i usually go to east asia.)

but the best single bit of advice i ever had was this:

before leaving lay out all your clothes you plan to take on your bed. next to it lay out all the money you plan to take.

now, put back 1/2 of the clothes and double the money.

[heitingas]

Taking a trip to Scandinavia (child is studying abroad).  Plan is to visit Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Bergen.  Only one week so packing it all into a small window.  My wife and I have never been to Europe.   No experience traveling abroad.

1.  Any "don't miss" sites/activities in any of the 3 cities (family of 4: two in their 20's; us in our 50's)?   City sites as well as scenic spots within hour or 2 of the cities.

2. Anything I should know regarding:

• Money (Kronos not Euros): exchange/ use of credit cards/
• Renting cars
• Cell Phone service
• Navigating cities (GPS? Google Maps?) / countryside.  City Parking?
• Trains / Planes (train from Copenhagen to Stockholm; fly Stockholm to Bergen) -- anything to know about booking/ fares/ comanies to book through/avoid; anything about the airports?
• Food
• Hotels vs.  Air B&B
• Any else I need to know?

Any advice will help -- don't worry about being too basic, I really have no idea what to expect.

Thanks!!

I live in sweden, my advice is to skip stockholm completely. People here are very rude, unless you're american they might suckup to you. But you'd be surprised how unfriendly people are here.

If you would still like to visit sweden visit gothenburg, it's more cosmopolitan and closer to copenhagen, oslo and bergen.

Other than that just google everything you need to know.

[Neurotic Guy]

Taking a trip to Scandinavia (child is studying abroad).  Plan is to visit Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Bergen.  Only one week so packing it all into a small window.  My wife and I have never been to Europe.   No experience traveling abroad.

1.  Any "don't miss" sites/activities in any of the 3 cities (family of 4: two in their 20's; us in our 50's)?   City sites as well as scenic spots within hour or 2 of the cities.

2. Anything I should know regarding:

• Money (Kronos not Euros): exchange/ use of credit cards/
• Renting cars
• Cell Phone service
• Navigating cities (GPS? Google Maps?) / countryside.  City Parking?
• Trains / Planes (train from Copenhagen to Stockholm; fly Stockholm to Bergen) -- anything to know about booking/ fares/ comanies to book through/avoid; anything about the airports?
• Food
• Hotels vs.  Air B&B
• Any else I need to know?

Any advice will help -- don't worry about being too basic, I really have no idea what to expect.

Thanks!!

I live in sweden, my advice is to skip stockholm completely. People here are very rude, unless you're american they might suckup to you. But you'd be surprised how unfriendly people are here.

If you would still like to visit sweden visit gothenburg, it's more cosmopolitan and closer to copenhagen, oslo and bergen.

Other than that just google everything you need to know.

Thanks for the advice, but yikes, we picked stockholm over gothenburg/oslo because we read that the city was beautiful and a prime destination if in the region.  Will only be there 1 or 2 nights.  How strongly would you suggest changing the plan?  We can either drive north to gothenburg/oslo or train to Stockholm.  Still leaning Stockholm, but could be convinced. Once ever trip.

Thanks to all who've responded!

[SchnellHanse]

I come from Denmark.
I'v been to Oslo, great place beutyfull and Many adventure things to do.
Its been to long sins i been to Stockholm.

My advice is:
Dont rent a car its too expensive, jump on a free City bike.
Go see Christiania its a place in Copenhagen where People do what They want, a creativ and culturel place.
Dont see the little mermaid - overrated.
After that go see the castle Amalienborg
Lastly i would advice you to go see the Oldest amusment park in the World - Tivoli.

[TA9]

I'm from Denmark aswell.
Places that are worth seeing and visiting: http://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/sightseeing/top-30-attractions (I don't know how much you fancy museums etc., but if you do then you might be interested in a "Copenhagen Card", which gives you free admission to 74 museums and attractions. Furthermore, you also get access to free public transportation by bus, train and metro with the card. See more here: http://www.copenhagencard.com/?ld=0&_ga=1.37867173.706373305.1459165863).

Without a doubt, I would advise you against renting a car as parking is almost impossible in the center of Copenhagen (and it costs money too). Use public transportation instead.

I don't really know the prices of hotels here in Denmark, but if I'm not wrong a place through AirBnB should be a lot cheaper.

Regarding the train ticket from Copenhagen to Stockholm; I would advise you to enter a 7-Eleven store at the nearest station from where you are going to stay, as you can buy train tickets there. They can also answer all of you questions regarding the fares, the trains you will have to take etc. !

[GC003332]

https://www.eurolines.dk/en/home/

Good site if you wanted to bus it from Copenhagen to Stockholm, lots of good specials if you book far enough in advance.

[Moranis]

Been awhile since I've been to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, but I would just do the major tourist sites.  It is pretty easy to use public transportation, trains, boats, etc.  I had no issues visiting Stockholm, though it has been awhile since I was there.  Didn't have any problems with the people at all and I do think it is worth the trip.  It is weird seeing a city with multiple buildings significantly older than anything in the U.S. (Stockholm has largely avoided all of the wars, so many of the buildings have survived for hundreds of years). 

[Eja117]

I've rented cars in Europe but usually when I'm doing a lot of driving. Not exactly when I'm staying in a city.

I'm confused on how he's getting from place to place. But once he's there he doesn't need the car

[heitingas]

Taking a trip to Scandinavia (child is studying abroad).  Plan is to visit Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Bergen.  Only one week so packing it all into a small window.  My wife and I have never been to Europe.   No experience traveling abroad.

1.  Any "don't miss" sites/activities in any of the 3 cities (family of 4: two in their 20's; us in our 50's)?   City sites as well as scenic spots within hour or 2 of the cities.

2. Anything I should know regarding:

• Money (Kronos not Euros): exchange/ use of credit cards/
• Renting cars
• Cell Phone service
• Navigating cities (GPS? Google Maps?) / countryside.  City Parking?
• Trains / Planes (train from Copenhagen to Stockholm; fly Stockholm to Bergen) -- anything to know about booking/ fares/ comanies to book through/avoid; anything about the airports?
• Food
• Hotels vs.  Air B&B
• Any else I need to know?

Any advice will help -- don't worry about being too basic, I really have no idea what to expect.

Thanks!!

I live in sweden, my advice is to skip stockholm completely. People here are very rude, unless you're american they might suckup to you. But you'd be surprised how unfriendly people are here.

If you would still like to visit sweden visit gothenburg, it's more cosmopolitan and closer to copenhagen, oslo and bergen.

Other than that just google everything you need to know.

Thanks for the advice, but yikes, we picked stockholm over gothenburg/oslo because we read that the city was beautiful and a prime destination if in the region.  Will only be there 1 or 2 nights.  How strongly would you suggest changing the plan?  We can either drive north to gothenburg/oslo or train to Stockholm.  Still leaning Stockholm, but could be convinced. Once ever trip.

Thanks to all who've responded!

You're welcome, it depends if you already booked flight and what not. Otherwise I would recommend Gothenburg, I lived there for a while and have been living in stockholm the last year, stockholm is nice in the spring and summer when it's not cloudy and raining..

But Gothenburg is a bit better, far better nightlife (not sure this is in your plans for a family), better cafeterias, better restaurants, easy public transportation, they use the tram or bus instead of the metro.

So yeah I would highly recommend Gothenburg (if you havent already booked anything) , I would say go for it. Even Malmo is better than Stockholm, and that is almost in Denmark/Copenhagen. Can drive over the bridge to Denmark.

[blackbird]

If your credit card doesn't have a chip, many places will not accept it. But as someone else said, make sure the credit companies know you are going overseas BEFORE you go. If you stay mostly in cities you probably won't need much cash, and I would just get it out of an ATM instead of carrying around a ton of it.

Depending on your cell phone plan, you can buy international usage but it is very, very expensive. Assuming you have a smart phone, just rely on WiFi hotspots. Text using WhatsApp or something similar.

Personally I like Stockholm and Copenhagen is great too. You won't have time on this trip, but if you ever go back to Northern Europe, check out Tallinn, Estonia. One of my favorite places that I've ever been.

[saltlover]

Doesn't sound like you'll be heading that far East, but Helsinki is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever visited (at least it is in August). 

As far as cell phones go, if you have T-Mobile you'll have international data included with it (speeds weren't great when I tried it two years ago, but it was good for texting).  You can also activate some sort of international calling for a single billing-cycle, but it's per-minute talking.  So if you have T-Mobile, you can bring your own phone.  I think some of the other providers have this too, but the rates tend to be pricier, and thus getting some sort of PayGo option may make more sense once you get there.