Scandinavia

Nothing useful to add except that sounds awesome!

Also zero useful feedback, except to say how cool that sounds!

Ha, thanks ladies!

We've done several long trips over the years in the van but this one feels more like the unknown hence my need to do a little bit of token research at least.

So far we're going to Roskilde festival and Legoland! Quite the paradox!

Van trips are awesome. Such a good way to see the country.

Although when I did it in Australia at the age of 18 it went a tad wrong...

ETA: Haven't travelled around that part of Europe I'm afraid so can't offer any advice. Whatever you end up doing will be ace. Remember to leave free time though as when you are travelling you might meet someone who has good recommendations or might past somewhere that you want to visit, you don't want to miss out on places because you have to stick to a schedule.

Never been so no help here. Looking forward to hearing about your trip though as always fancied going.

Read too many Jo Nesbo books!

Sounds amazing! I keep on meaning to see family in Oslo. My brother lives in Stockholm. I can get a tip to a restaurant we went to when we visited him? Apart from that we mooches around and had drinks by the river

Helsinki is the most boring and expensive city I have ever had the misfortune of visiting, you can get a ferry across to Tallin Estonia which is a beautiful city though.

I went to Oslo a few years ago, I remember having a great time but spending a fortune! I don't recall doing anything cultural and just drank a lot of expensive booze, so feel like I missed out a bit.

We generally cook food in our van but every now and again treat ourselves to a meal that hasn't been cooked on two hobs and doesn't consist of pasta/sauce/veg (or "pasta slop" as I affectionately call it), so I welcome all restaurant recommendations!

I think this trip will involve a lot more wild camping as there's a lot of miles to cover, that means no toilet or hot shower for me.

We went to Bergen and Voss a few years ago. Bergen was nice but not much to do for more than a day or two, IMO. Voss is a very small town, but is excellent for adventurous activities - we did a two day kayaking trip down the fjords with an overnight camp, absolutely spectacular! We also went white water rafting which I loved and made H feel sick. I'd love to go back and see more of Scandinavia. It's very expensive though, even self-catering we found that a lot of food in the shops was way more expensive than in the UK, though fish, especially salmon, is cheaper, and alcohol is outrageously pricey.

I have never been so jealous of one person.

no tips for cities etc but things to do; cubs are dying to do historiska in stockholm.

also, disagreeing with funky, helsinki is incredible, vibrant and friendly. the people and the place are just beautiful.

also, it'd be a LOOOOOOONG drive, but rovaniemi is the most incredible place in the world.

Miss Winter - I just googled Rovaniemi, it looks so picturesque covered in snow. Beautiful. Unfortunately we probably won't have time to drive all that way, but thank you for the tip off.

Im googling Helsinki as we speak, I only know 1 person who's been and they seemed to like it. I shall go with an open mind, and an open wallet by the sounds of it!

EVERYWHERE and EVERYTHING is expensive in finland- but it's worth it

We went to Bergen, too. It is bloody expensive. There is a lovely cocktail bar called No Stress where we had the most amazing cocktails. I loved that when we left the bar at 11pm, it was still light outside. We also did a boat trip of the fjord, and went up the hill for a short nature walk. There are much longer walks which could take all day. This seems like the main activity in the city. I thought it there had been a marathon on because there had been so many people in lycra and running gear. It's such a lovely, clean city.

We also visited Gotenberg. This was amazing because my friend lives there so showed us some good restaurants, bars, and spots we'd never have found ourselves. If you have a car, I'd imagine you could explore a helluva lot more than the normal tourist. Once again, it's bloody expensive. Definitely visit the archipelagos and bring your bathers for a swim. There is also a bar called Olrepubliken that has a book of beers from around the world, friendly staff, yummy food - amazing. It's down some alleys but absolutely worth hunting down.

Heya! My boyfriend is from Helsinki, so last year we had a little eurotrip and also drove in Scandinavia. We started by driving through Denkmark, then took to bridge to Sweden, drove up to Orsa (a lovely little place, but quote high up), went to Mora, where you can visit the Zorn museum and the house in which he loved, so so lovely, and also visited the Dala horse factory (really worth seeing). We then drove down to Stcokholm, took the ferry with the car from there to Helsinki (also really worth it if you book early its not expensive, the views from the ferry are amazing), then we stayed in Helsinki for a couple days, and travelled to jyväskylä (such a beautiful place, lovely countryside around it), stayed one day in mikkeli (also a beautiful town), finally stopped at Imatra to see the opening of the huge dam there (every day at the same time, many people come to see it, it's worth it!), and in the end went back to Helsinki.

The restaurant in Stockholm is called Bakfickan and is at the opera house.

My brother has been to the archipelago's a few times and said its lovely.

Awesome country - jut do it, I Think that can be quite an experince, but what I would think about maybe to include also some days in Iceland or maybe Finland, to make the trip more rounded.

I live in Copenhagen so feel free to message me about it if you like I don't know how long you have in Copenhagen but here are my tips off the top of my head:

- don't make a special trip to see The Little Mermaid. It's out of the way and once you get there it's just a small statue on a rock surrounded by a million tourists. You'd be much better taking a boat trip and seeing her that way - they tend to slow down at that point for pictures.

- Copenhagen Street Food. Take the shuttle boat no. 993 from Nyhavn across the water, you won't miss it as it has PAPIRØEN on the front of the venue in massive letters. Lots of different styles of street food in a lovely setting, overlooking the harbour. The weather is finally hotting up so it'll be great, although I suspect loads of others will have had the same idea.

- Marble Church. Beautiful architecture, stunning on the inside and outside. Opposite Amalienborg, where the Queen lives.

- If you're into craft beer then Copenhagen is the mutt's nuts for this. My favourite places are Søerenes Ølbar by the lakes, Mikkeller in Nørrebro and Black Swan in the centre.

- Coffee. If you can, visit The Coffee Collective in Frederiksberg. It's about a 15/20 minute walk from Forum station. It does the BEST coffee I've ever tried in a fairly hipster setting but the staff are lovely and know SO much about coffee that it doesn't feel hipster.

- Torvehallerne - Copenhagen's smaller answer to Borough Market. It's better in the summer as there are more outdoor stands. The recent taco stand is apparently run by the former pastry chef from Noma!

- If you're into it, the board game cafe. Really friendly atmosphere, LOADS of games to play and cheap-for-Copenhagen drinks.

My favourite restaurants:

Khun Juuk (Thai)

Schonnemanns (traditional Danish)

Krebsegaarden (Danish/Norwegian)

Enomania (Italian)

The London Pub (believe it or not, traditional Danish - good for lunch)

Famosi e Galosi (Italian)

My favourite bars (next to the ones listed above)

Malbec (wine)

Terroiristen (wine)

Strøm Bar (cocktails)

Tryk Bar (beer)

Other stuff

Strangas conditori - best cheesecake in Copenhagen

Bike rental is absolutely everywhere - if you're confident on a bike I really recommend renting one as you can zip around the city so much easier, there are places in the city designed just for bikes like Cykelslangen (the bike snake) or de grønne stier (the green paths). Just remember to use hand signals when stopping or turning

Also - I don't know when you'll be in Copenhagen but the jazz festival starts this weekend with TONS of venues hosting really good jazz musicians. Highly recommend.

Wow, Enjayee...thank you so much for all the info.

unfortunately I've only just turned my data on and we left Copenhagen this evening, D'oh!

However, I'm going to copy all your suggestions as we will certainly be back for longer.

We were camping at Charlottenlund Fort and got the bus into town. We managed to do most "touristy" things in a couple of days but would like to return and stay in the city to experience more of the food & drink (not have to go back to a campsite to cook on two hobs!).

Today we jogged from Charlottenlund up to Kloppenburg (sp?) beach. We liked the look of it so after showering we drove up there to spend the day in the sun. We're currently at a campsite in Roskilde ahead of a day at the festival tomorrow.

you are so fortunate to live in such an incredible city!

Sorry if I missed it somewhere if you already said it, but are you guys still thinking of stopping elsewhere, as in Sweden or Finland? Would be interested to know what you see there, and if my advice helped at all!

I’ve never been to Copenhagen, but it does sound really lovely from all these decriptions.

No problem at all. If you do come back - and if you don't have the van - then I recommend getting an apartment from airbnb or booking.com rather than a hotel. That way you can do a little bit of shopping in Netto or Lidl to keep food costs down. The apartments near me (Frederiksberg) tend to be a bit cheaper than Centrum. Easier to access all the cool stuff from there than it is from Charlottenlund/Klampenborg area as that's a bit more north

Also - Roskilde festival must have been exhausting on the Saturday! I was in a town next door to Roskilde on the Saturday and it was soooooo warm!