A TALE OF THREE CITIES: Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen by Rail

I have just returned from a whirlwind, seven-day tour by rail (mostly) of these three great Scandinavian capitals – Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen – with Great Rail Journeys. Now that I am relatively recovered from all the extensive walking and sightseeing tours and the challenges of hauling my too-heavy bags from one place to the next via train, coach, boat and plane, I will attempt to answer the question everyone keeps asking me: which was my favourite city? This is hard to say, as each original Mediaeval city is formed by and set on water in stunning surrounds – therefore nautical, nature-based and nice in their own ways.

Scandinavia was in fact the last place on my original bucket list*, partially because I had never been able to choose between Norway, Sweden and Denmark – hence the appeal of a tour encompassing the supposed ‘best of’ each country’s capital. Tbh, much as I wish to see the Northern Lights and snow-covered fjords, I am not a fan of cold weather; considering I had already missed seeing the aurora on a previous trip to Iceland, my expectations of seeing them were low. I am also not a fan of fossil-fuelled travel, so even though this trip required flights to/from London, most of it was eco-friendly. Besides that, I had heard Scandinavia was prohibitively expensive – even more so than Japan – so my husband certainly would never have gone! But as I had promised my dear godmother Yogi (alas now deceased) I would visit Copenhagen for her someday, I wanted to do that while hopefully seeing fjords, Swedish lakes and forests in a sustainable and hopefully less-cold way (it was in fact only a little cooler than London – a mix of sun, cloud and rain, but sometimes even hot – so I hardly needed all the wintry jumpers, hats, scarves and wellies I packed!)

Being that I had also undertaken an entirely rail-oriented trip to Amsterdam on my own recently (see previous blog post) and had ‘done’ Japan by rail last year on my own, both specifically novel-research trips, I decided to experiment with travelling with a group tour this time, largely to see whether as a new widow it would help fend off some of the inevitable heartache of no longer being able to share my adventures daily with my hubby. Of course, you never know exactly what to expect when you go on such trips without knowing anyone in advance, but most of the group was pleasant, friendly and helpful, if some a little less eager to team up in our supposed ‘free’ time. That was fine with me, as I certainly have my own interests – eg art, dance, history and writing – so had planned to meet up with friends in each city.

Although most of my fellow travellers were couples in the retired or 40+ age range, there was one other solo female traveller, like me quite independent and well-travelled, and one younger girl (Jess) travelling with her nan, who was quite funky and interesting (note: some of her pics shared on Whatsapp ended up in my gallery; I know it is her Little Mermaid statue pic I have used but am unsure of the others, which should rightly be credited to her). While I’d hoped to sketch several of my fellow travellers, she was the only one capable of sitting still long enough to get a decent likeness, despite having ADHD. I was also grateful to her and a few other older women for kindly offering to carry some of my things, as it was at times a trial having to lug all the layers I invariably needed to peel off to keep up with the pace of train platform changes, etc.

Of Munch and Mountains: Oslo

Our first port of call was Oslo – a city I’d always been interested in visiting, especially having once helmed the Norwegian-owned, new-launch renewable-energy publication Recharge as chief sub-editor/production manager. Originally a newspaper published as an offsetting exercise by fossil fuel-rich business media conglomerate DN Media Group (publishers of leading business daily Dagens Næringsliv [DN]), it is now mostly a website, however I’d unfortunately been far too burned out by the excessive working hours of the job to stick around long enough to be sent to the Oslo HQ.

However, as we soon learned from our local guide the next day (Tuesday) after arriving late afternoon on Monday, settling into our comfortable 4* hotel, The Clarion Hub, and going for a meal near the train station (a tasty though rather basic meal of chicken, salad and vegetables, followed by a creamy fruit pudding), although Norway continues to mine and produce fossil fuels for sale abroad, it now runs almost entirely on renewable energy (specifically hydroelectric). Indeed, there were electric cars, bikes and plenty of wind turbines everywhere. I found it highly gratifying that at least my hard work on that publication had contributed in some small way to the country’s admirably sustainable commitments. Norway is much further ahead than the UK in net-zero commitments, and with good reason: its spectacularly beautiful nature and traditional industries, heavily reliant on the sea and fishing, are highly vulnerable to climate change.

Norway is much further ahead than the UK in net-zero commitments, and with good reason: its spectacularly beautiful nature and traditional industries, heavily reliant on the sea and fishing, are highly vulnerable to climate change.

Unfortunately, due to some sudden railway works, we had to leave earlier than expected on Wednesday morning to catch our train to Stockholm, so we were only able to snatch a few glimpses of Norway’s spectacular mountains, lakes and fjords from our coach and train windows. Also unfortunately, the main Oslofjord cruise ship was cancelled on our one available day, and although a city cruise was included in our tours of Stockholm and Copenhagen, it was omitted from the Norway section – a major fault in my opinion, since this would have been the most scenic harbour to see by boat. And although the weather was fine and sunny (if a little cooler) on our arrival and the day we left, it was much colder and wetter on Tuesday, which meant trekking around in the rain to see the main sites the tour guide took us to (the innovative Deichman Bjørvika public library; the stunning modern Oslo Opera House – sadly closed; the 13^th century Akershus Fortress; the Vigeland Sculpture Park, with its range of sculptures depicting the human form in various stages of life; and the fascinating National Museum, one of the best national museums I’ve ever been to).

I would have liked to visit the Viking Ship Museum on Oslo’s Bygdøy peninsula, which was sadly closed; however, I did manage a brief stroll along the harbour to take in the scenery of its fjords and visit its newest arts and culture centre plus sauna, SALT, to enjoy its entertaining live-music scene. And although I had intended to go to the state-of-the-art Munch Museum with its 13 floors and 11 gallery spaces devoted to Norway’s most famous artist, after so much walking in the rain, I was happy to stay inside the warm National Museum, which had a great selection of Edvard Munch’s most famous paintings (including one of the versions of ‘The Scream’) in addition to historical artefacts and costumes over millennia. After sketching and examining the exhibits for a few hours, I enjoyed a wonderful dish of grilled reindeer on puréed carrot with root vegetable crisps, a marvellous GF ‘brown cheese ice cream’ and raspberry waffle and two knock-out elderflower spritzes in the museum restaurant.

As I’ve heard the Oslo–Bergen rail trip is truly spectacular, I do plan to return to visit Oslo again at some point to see the sights and do the fjord cruise I missed, as well as to meet up with Norwegian salsa friends – perhaps for the 2026 Bergen Mambo Weekend?

ABBA-Dabba-Do: Sunny, Swinging Stockholm

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day as we journeyed through Sweden’s densely forested and lake-studded countryside – it is almost entirely flat, in contrast to Norway – via coach to the quaint railway station in Kristinehamn and then via high-speed rail to Stockholm’s busy central rail station. By the time we arrived and got settled into our hotel (Hotel C, conveniently near the station and other forms of transport – trams, buses, canal boats, metro, rail), I couldn’t wait to change into lighter summer clothes to head out for a brief coach + walking tour of the original Mediaeval settlement. Known as the Old Town (Gamla Stan), it is set on its own island (the city of Stockholm is actually a network of 14 islands, all connected by some 57 bridges). There we had an introductory 3-course group meal including meatballs, lingonberries, mashed potatoes and pickled cucumber, followed by a pudding – infinitely better than the Ikea version!

“He who possesses liberty otherwise than as an aspiration possesses it soulless, dead” — Hendrik Ibsen, Swedish author and playwright

The next day (Thursday) we went first for a guided tour of the city with a local Swedish woman who took us through the train station to point out some of its artworks and recommended nearby restaurants before heading across different bridges to return to Gamla Stan. After wandering around listening to her explain the city’s history as she pointed out its impressive Royal Palace, its beautiful, pastel-hued Storkyrkan  (Stockholm) Cathedral, various statues, 16^th and 17^th century buildings and many colourful shops along its maze of narrow, cobbled alleys, I opted to take a break outside a charming café (Grillska Huset, dating back to 1649) in its main square, Stortorget, where the Nobel Prize Museum is located, to sketch its famous well and a few of its colourful buildings. I also bought some colourful souvenirs from shops selling handcrafted Swedish wooden horses, apparently the country’s national symbol.

Next up was a scenic boat tour of Stockholm’s many islands (not the entire archipelago, which includes over 3,000 islands) where the freshwater Lake Mälaren – Sweden’s third-largest lake – meets the Baltic Sea. As it was a gorgeous, sunny day as well as a national holiday (Ascension Day), many Swedes could be seen outdoors relaxing and sunbathing on one of the islands’ sandy banks or swimming from houseboats or piers. During the cruise, the guide pointed out several attractions for further exploration, including Stockholm’s renowned ‘Museum Island’, Djurgården.

I was grateful to relax on this gentle cruise and save my energy for two planned dance classes later that night with my Swedish dance teacher friends Johanna Jo (tango) and Leonardo Lazcardo (mambo shines) of JL Dance, but before that we reconvened in Gamla Stan to enjoy a traditional Swedish fika – afternoon coffee, pastry (a giant cinnamon bun) and gossip. I didn’t really have time to grab any dinner before I had to leave for my classes but felt stuffed enough on the GF alternative cake (made from Daim chocolate) I was served to keep going for the three-hour classes – both were fabulous and a lot of fun, also giving me the opportunity to experience Stockholm’s dance scene like a local as well as using its metro system and catching up with friends I hadn’t seen since 2018.  

On the next day (Friday) – our free day to explore at leisure – it was unfortunately colder and wetter in the early part of the day, which made pursuing any additional sight-seeing plans a little tedious. While some of our group had elected to go to the ABBA Museum, I – and apparently half of Stockholm – went to the Vasa Museum on Djurgården via the tram to see the city’s famous 17^th century royal warship that was eventually salvaged after sinking in the harbour, having only sailed a mere 1,300 metres. Fascinating as it was, the Vasa Museum was far too crowded to really enjoy or see all of it, with entrance queues stretching down the road and similarly lengthy queues for the film and toilets. I would have liked to grab lunch at the museum restaurant, but I couldn’t find it so gave up. Obviously not the best choice for a rainy national holiday, but I am still glad I saw it.

As my feet were a bit achy and I was hungry, I sat outside under the awning to await my fellow historical fiction writer and friend Kat from London Writers’ Salon, who had offered to take me to a few of her favourite places in Stockholm, including a bakery for some soup, wonderful GF bread and another fika cake. Had I not arranged to meet her, I might have tried to go to the Viking Museum, Nordic Museum or other museums on Museum Island, but at that point I was grateful to relax over a fika before heading up steep hills to a charming lilac-covered lookout point on trendy, arty Södermalm island, which offered a great panoramic view of the city. As the sun came out, we went via a charming, sculpture-filled park for drinks and chats at the Hotel Rival. Owned by ABBA’s Benny Andersson, it is one of the island’s many trendy boutique hotels with an art-deco cinematic feel and relaxing bar/bistro. There we discovered we had both worked for Incisive Media at some point in our careers.

I later found out about a one-off free salsa dance event in Slussen, which several of my Swedish dance friends would have been at, but by that time my feet were finished, so had to miss it to ensure I could be packed and ready to leave early the next day via coach to Malmö and then by rail over the famous Øresund Bridge to Copenhagen. Would be great to return for more dancing and sightseeing here at some point though!

‘Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen’

As mentioned, one of the main reasons I’d taken this tour was to fulfil my promise to my US godmother that I would someday visit Copenhagen, where her wealthy Danish family had lived. Apart from that, my only other incentive for visiting this city were the memories of being charmed by MGM technicolour musical Hans Christian Andersen – starring the inimitable actor-singer-dancer-comedian Danny Kaye – and of course the even more wonderful fairy tales written by the eponymous Danish author.

Arriving in the early evening on Saturday, our tour guide leader Rob arranged to meet us in the lobby once we’d settled in our rooms for a brief walk to orient ourselves in the city, suggesting we explore on our own and find somewhere to eat ahead of our full-day tour and final group meal the next day. Unfortunately, my salsa friend Steven – a US expat living in Copenhagen – had injured his leg so was unable to meet me as planned (he’d suggested we go to the trendy crafts, music and street-food haven Reffen for relatively cheap, fun food and to watch the sunset as locals do, but I didn’t fancy trying to figure out how to get there on my own).

It being still a very nice, warm, sunny weather, I decided to walk to the end of the main pedestrianised walking/shopping street (Strøget), which runs through the old Mediaeval city and its Latin quarter (so called because of its former Latin-speaking affiliations), in the hopes of reaching the colourful Nyhavn harbour before sunset and getting some decent pictures. Along the way, I was distracted by an appealing-looking Pan-Asian restaurant (The Market Asian), which offered outdoor seating, so asked if they could do their cheaper (haha) taster menu as gluten-free, which they confirmed. While the food and saké-based cocktails were delicious and truly top-notch, I was quite shocked to find I’d been charged for the tap water, so between that and the supposed bank conversion surcharge, the meal was twice as expensive as I’d expected – okay, Copenhagen is famous for its innovative gastronomic cuisine, but as Steven said later, it was far too expensive, and I should have contested the tap-water charge. Had it not been for these two unexpected items on the bill, I would have given this place a 5* rating, but nearly £100 for a single meal is certainly OTT!

Perhaps due to this shock and/or the saké, I then proceeded to get lost; thankfully, almost everyone in Scandinavia speaks English, so they helped me find my way down to, from where it was a straight path along the walking street back to the hotel. It being a Saturday night, I passed several groups of drunken hen parties as well as fashionable men and women dressed to the nines for a night out on the town. By the time I left Nyhavn, it was much cooler, so I was glad I’d brought an extra layer.  Returning to the room, I was surprised to find an English-speaking Danish channel as well as a BBC channel in the room, so took advantage of that to catch up on news.

Although the weather report suggested the next day for our coach, walking and canal-boat tours would be cool and rainy most of the day, it was only cloudy with occasional sprinkles in the morning, warming up considerably when the sun came out in the afternoon. We began our one-day tour of Copenhagen with a very chatty and amusing actor-turned-tour guide named Anders, who took us first by coach around the city, explaining its Mediaeval and more recent history – including the intriguing, semi-autonomous Freetown Christiania hippie/anarchist commune in Christianshavn, first established in 1971.  He even asked the bus driver to take us up his street so we could see his wife waving from the window! We also stopped by to pay our respects to the city’s famous Little Mermaid statue, which we later saw again by canal boat.

We then went by foot to the Amalienborg Palace, a series of royal residences arranged in a circle, where we were in time to watch the daily changing of guards at noon. After that, we headed to Nyhavn, where we dispersed to find lunch in a shady spot along the harbour as it was now full sun and hot. Since Anders had raved about Danish hotdogs, I decided to keep it cheap by buying a bread-less, bacon-wrapped one from a stand, adding plenty of mustard and washing it down with an Aperol Spritz. Anders said goodbye to us and we next boarded a canal boat for another tour – this time by water – of Copenhagen; while it was true we saw many of the same things, just from a different perspective, and the canal guide told us many of the same jokes Anders had done, she also memorably entertained us by bursting into song (mostly songs from famous musicals, though not the Danny Kaye one) every time the boat had to manoeuvre under yet another low bridge. (Apparently Danish tour guides must train for two years to get a guiding qualification, but it seems a perfect day job for supplementing artistic careers!)

After the boat trip, we had a bit of free time to explore; I was determined to make it to the stunning NY Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum (Glyptoteket), which both guides had pointed out contained several important French Impressionist and other works from 1800–1930, with two additional exhibits on Degas and Gauguin. Although I had a bit of a walk and a very short time to get there, I did make it there for the last hour, so was able to see most of the major paintings, sculptures and artefacts that interested me, as well as enjoy a bit of time in its central botanical ‘winter’ garden. Sadly, the staff were a bit anxious to close ahead of the 5pm closing time so weren’t helpful in allowing me to use a toilet below**, but otherwise it was a great museum/gallery to visit, and I am glad I made the effort to get there.

I toyed with the idea of trying to zip into the nearby Tivoli Gardens next, at least just to see the actual gardens (apparently this first world-first amusement park was a major inspiration for Walt Disney), but I didn’t have much time before we were expected to go meet for dinner at a restaurant along the Strøget, and I reckoned it would likely be quite an expensive ticket for the amount of time available. Rather than return to the hotel to meet the others, I decided to go ahead early to the restaurant (Hereford Village), where the rather rude staff refused to let me use the toilet as our group was registered under a different title. That, plus the fact the food there was quite bland (another boring breast of chicken with salad, some coconut soup and a pudding I couldn’t eat), put me in rather a bad mood.

However, after a brief rest back at the hotel, I decided to join our group for drinks in the upstairs lobby, which was indeed very pleasant, particularly as the drinks and nibbles were all on the house – as again they were until the coach came to pick us up the next day to take us to the airport. Alas it was raining very heavily in the morning, so while I went out to the square after getting packed and dressed, I realised I had no energy to go anywhere else in that weather. A pity, perhaps, but c’est la guerre!

So, which city wins the golden apple?

All my fellow travellers were keenly asking each other this as we made ready to depart – some also asking what our next trip plans would be. Quite a few of them had done other tours with Great Rail Journeys and seemed keen to sign up for yet another, but as for me, I had mixed feelings in view of the cost – compared to having done other rail trips in Amsterdam and Japan largely by making my own itinerary, it did seem like it would be more cost-effective to travel on my own. However, I did enjoy meeting many of the people on the tour, some of whom I may see again, whether on another GRJ trip or elsewhere, but it was at times exhausting to have to make early starts and travel all day, with less of a sense of a true leisurely pace (that is, unless you are naturally a morning person, which I am not).

I did feel a little disappointed that we had only had a very brief time in Oslo; the rest of the tour had seemed quite expensive trip for what was only a whirlwind view of such an attractive and interesting region. I could certainly spend more time in Oslo and Stockholm, so would be likely to go back to those, but charming as Copenhagen was, I did agree with Steven in the end that it is too expensive to eat out in (no wonder the Danes generally prefer to enjoy their renowned hygge culture by having friends round for drinks and food in their homes!).

Ultimately, I’d say Oslo was best for scenery and art/culture; Stockholm was best for architecture, shopping, relaxing and socialising – it did seem like the most hospitable, easy-going city, you could easily imagine yourself living there. And while Copenhagen is charming, you do need deep pockets (or good friends there) to really enjoy it!

*For those who haven’t heard this story, just before my 45^th birthday I woke up in a cold sweat, having always believed either the world or my own life would end by then, and what flashed through my mind were all the places I still wanted to see, so I made a list and have now been everywhere/done everything on that list (obviously, I am not dead yet and the world – while constantly tilting towards it – has not ended yet, so perhaps it’s time to write a new one).