Travel tips? Scandinavia region and Iceland

[Denly]

Looking for some travel tips. I will be heading to a Stockholm late June for a 3 days then onto a cruise that will port Heisinki Finland, St. Peterburg, Tallinn Tstonia and Riga Latvia. After the cruise I am stopping by Iceland for 6 days.

I will be traveling with a bunch of family members majority of the time and some are senior.

First question, is there a sim card I can pickup for cheap in Stockholm that work in the whole region(cruise)?

Stockholm
-Where to find wifi?
-is bus pass the way to go?
-Suggest me places to visit
-Suggest me local place to eat? good food and not too expensive.

Ports
Other then St. P, suggest me things to see/eat/buy at other cities.
I like to drink, is there any regional liquor I should try that are no available in NA?

Iceland
For the first 3days it is just me and lady, where(and how) should we go and stay? For the last 3days I may rejoin other family member, they will be stopping by Iceland as well after 3days in Denmark. They mention they will be taking day tour to Golden Circle.

Weather
How warm should I pack for the whole trip? I know it will be wet in Iceland.

I am an active male in early 40s, the lady not so many.

Any advise?

 

[glenn1]

For Iceland, I highly recommend you splurge for the dogsledding tour. Great experience and much cheaper and better than in Alaska or wherever else.

http://www.dogsledding.is/

And Grey Line is a must, the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon trip is the best value on the island IMHO and a great way to see lots of the country and some truly photo worthy locales.

http://grayline.is/tours/reykjavik/south-coast-and-jkulsrln-glacier-lagoon-8706_32


If you have questions about any particular Iceland attraction I can offer my opinion if I actually did it.

 

[maddogchen]

there is no sim card that will work for the whole region, they are all different countries with different network companies.

I got a hop on hop off bus pass in Stockholm. https://www.redsightseeing.com/hop-on-hop-off-bus-stockholm/
Visited the Royal Palace. It was raining so I didn't take a canal boat ride.
The Vasa mueseum is supposed to be the best museum to see there. http://www.vasamuseet.se/en/
But I didn't want to look at an old sunken ship that they overloaded and sank on its maiden voyage.

Talinn is beautiful. Go up to the old city (on top of the hill) and take amazing panoramic pictures and visit the city hall area. its a nice, quaint, old fashion European city.

 

[Anubis]

Zeze recently went to Iceland (last year?) you could ask him, I know I hooked him up with a friend of mine who goes yearly and she gave him a bunch of good info and such

 

[Denly]

For Iceland, I highly recommend you splurge for the dogsledding tour. Great experience and much cheaper and better than in Alaska or wherever else.

http://www.dogsledding.is/

And Grey Line is a must, the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon trip is the best value on the island IMHO and a great way to see lots of the country and some truly photo worthy locales.

http://grayline.is/tours/reykjavik/south-coast-and-jkulsrln-glacier-lagoon-8706_32


If you have questions about any particular Iceland attraction I can offer my opinion if I actually did it.

wow didn't know they have dog sled in summer.

for the first 3 days, should I stay in Reykjavik or rent a car go somewhere else? what are the must see landscape in your opinion?

 

[Denly]

there is no sim card that will work for the whole region, they are all different countries with different network companies.

I got a hop on hop off bus pass in Stockholm. https://www.redsightseeing.com/hop-on-hop-off-bus-stockholm/
Visited the Royal Palace. It was raining so I didn't take a canal boat ride.
The Vasa mueseum is supposed to be the best museum to see there. http://www.vasamuseet.se/en/
But I didn't want to look at an old sunken ship that they overloaded and sank on its maiden voyage.

Talinn is beautiful. Go up to the old city (on top of the hill) and take amazing panoramic pictures and visit the city hall area. its a nice, quaint, old fashion European city.

In this case any disposable sim for $10-$20 available?

I looked at hop on hop off as well as bike pass, may get both.

Anywhere place you can suggest to eat? Any pub I should visit?

 

[maddogchen]

In this case any disposable sim for $10-$20 available?

I looked at hop on hop off as well as bike pass, may get both.

Anywhere place you can suggest to eat? Any pub I should visit?

Sadly, I did not like Scandinavian food. And basically settled for burgers that were a bit cheaper. Food was expensive everywhere I went. I got diarrhea from the Russian food they fed me, and it wasn't even any good.

Make sure to visit Peterhoff palace in St. Petersburg, that fountain and garden was amazing.

 

[glenn1]

wow didn't know they have dog sled in summer.

for the first 3 days, should I stay in Reykjavik or rent a car go somewhere else? what are the must see landscape in your opinion?

Depending on weather and such the dog sled might be wheeled; I think once you get to a certain temp the glacier becomes too hazardous to sled upon. It's definitely a neat experience though: My sledding video

 

[PingviN]

First question, is there a sim card I can pickup for cheap in Stockholm that work in the whole region(cruise)?

Stockholm
1 Where to find wifi?
2 is bus pass the way to go?
3 Suggest me places to visit
4 Suggest me local place to eat? good food and not too expensive.

Telenor has a European month pass for ~$7 with calls starting at 10c and then another 8 or so per minute. So yes. Or no, depending on what you define as cheap.

1 Everywhere, basically.

2 Public transportation will take you everywhere you want to go

3 Djurgården (there are plenty of sights around here), take a short route to Old Town (it's a tourist trap, just get a peek and be done with it), go for a walk along Norr Mälarstrand.

4 Everything is expensive here with regards to food and drinks.

 

[Denly]

Telenor has a European month pass for ~$7 with calls starting at 10c and then another 8 or so per minute. So yes. Or no, depending on what you define as cheap.

1 Everywhere, basically.

2 Public transportation will take you everywhere you want to go

3 Djurgården (there are plenty of sights around here), take a short route to Old Town (it's a tourist trap, just get a peek and be done with it), go for a walk along Norr Mälarstrand.

4 Everything is expensive here with regards to food and drinks.

My search skill failed me, care to point me to the euro month pass site?

Can you point me to some local pub that have good beer selection?

Also is there any local antique market? I am into that sort of things.

 

[yuchai]

Here are some of the highlights from my trip to Stockholm:
1. Vasa Museum - well worth a visit. Tons of good information and generally interesting stuff. Probably the highlight of my trip there
2. There are some viewpoints on the north side of Sodermalm where you can get a nice panoramic view of Stockholm. I'm forgetting the name of the area but you are in an elevated position and there are big chunks of rock to sit on. On a good day you can probably even picnic there
3. Try the fish soup at Kajsas Fisk. Easily the best fish soup I've ever had. Cheap (relatively speaking given Stockholm).

Edit: head to Vete-Katten for some traditional Swedish pastries

 

[cthulhu]

I went with four friends last September to Iceland for a week. We rented a car and drove the Golden Circle and then east. We did the Sólheimajökull glacier walk. It was great. Went to Reynisfjara black sand beach and the arch at Dyrholaey. Went to Seljalandsfoss waterfall and Skógafoss waterfall. The farthest east we went was Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon.

The country is very beautiful and the people are very friendly. I really want to go back.

We stayed a couple of nights at Skjol campgrounds. Great little place near the Geysir. It is a hostel, campground, bar, and restaurant. They make good pizzas and breakfast sandwiches.

We stayed at the hostel by Skógafoss waterfall. We stayed at an awesome guest house called Litla Hof. It is close to Skaftafell National park. Unfortunately ours plans changed and we didn't get to go to the park. Our last night we stayed at Sandergerdi Cottages in/around Keflavik. Great place. We saw the northern lights that night.

 

[Denly]

great info, keep them coming.

 

[cthulhu]

No trip to Reykjavik is complete without going to the Icelandic Phallological Museum. My wife wasn't too happy with the souvenir tshirt.

Feel free to pm if you have questions.

 

[waffleironhead]

No trip to Reykjavik is complete without going to the Icelandic Phallological Museum. My wife wasn't too happy with the souvenir tshirt.

Feel free to pm if you have questions.

I was going to correct you and say it was in Husavik, but apparently they moved back.

 

[PingviN]

My search skill failed me, care to point me to the euro month pass site?

Can you point me to some local pub that have good beer selection?

Also is there any local antique market? I am into that sort of things.

My bad, was an addition to an existing contract.

Go to the New Carnegie Brewery, located in Hammarby Sjöstad, south of the city center, just by the public transport stop (both by rail and bus). If you can't get your beer on there, you are fail. The food is great as well.

Oliver Twist on Repslagargatan (close to public transport center "Slussen") has a great selection of beer and good beery bartenders. Get there early if you want a seat.

Akkurat on Hornsgatan (also very close to Slussen) has tons of whisky. If you're into that, that's where you should go.

Antiqutities, sure, there are plenty. Take a walk down Upplandsgatan, anywhere on Östermalm (east side of the city), or Odengatan.

Here are some of the highlights from my trip to Stockholm:
1. Vasa Museum - well worth a visit. Tons of good information and generally interesting stuff. Probably the highlight of my trip there
2. There are some viewpoints on the north side of Sodermalm where you can get a nice panoramic view of Stockholm. I'm forgetting the name of the area but you are in an elevated position and there are big chunks of rock to sit on. On a good day you can probably even picnic there
3. Try the fish soup at Kajsas Fisk. Easily the best fish soup I've ever had. Cheap (relatively speaking given Stockholm).

Edit: head to Vete-Katten for some traditional Swedish pastries

2: Probably thinking about Vitabergsparken. It's a pretty popular spot during summer afternoons. I'd start at Ersta terass where the view over Mälaren's inlet is pretty impressive and then walk to Vitabergsparken. It's barely a kilometer.

 

[marincounty]

Try to find some lingonberry liqueur or arctic bramble berry liqueur. It is very hard to find here in the states. Tasty.

 

[Denly]

Back from trip which mostly had a good time, Iceland/Stockholm/Copenhagen are all great. Thanks for a lot of the tips, many are very helpful.

Ask me anything if you planning to go to the area.