Scandinavian Tour

dbailey2

dbailey2

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Mary & I are leaving for a tour of Scandinavia on Tues 18th Jun and returning home on Thurs 8th Aug. Our route from Calais is through France, Holland, Germany into Denmark where we will cross the bridge to Copenhagen. We then plan to travel up through Sweden and visit Gothenburg and Oslo before heading west to Bergen. Then up the north coast of Norway calling in on Aurland, Molde, Trondheim and up to Saltstraumen to do some fishing. We then plan to head east through Sweden into Finland before travelling south to Helsinki where we will get the ferry to Tallinn. On our return journey will plan travel through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany then back to Calais. That's the plan anyway whether we make it or not remains to be seen. If anybody who has done a similar trip we would be grateful for any recommendations for camp sites, camper stops or any places of interest. Thanks. Doug.
 
That's a mammoth trip - how many months?
 
It is a mammoth trip and it may be too ambitious. When we get to Saltstraumen we will decide whether to return home through Sweden instead of Finland which would save us about 600 mile.
 
We did a trip similar to yours last year over a period of four months. We travelled up the west coast of Norway up to Nordcap then down through Finland and Sweden. I can't help you with sites as we didn't stay on any.

If you feel pressed for time I'd say your best bet is to travel up through Sweden and cross over at, say, Trondheim. Norway's roads can be 'challenging' - locals we spoke to said they travel up on Sweden's roads as they're so much better.

We fished at the Saltstraumen - it is an amazing sight.

We loved our trip and are planning to return again at the beginning of August.

Hope you have a great time!
 
Ambitious in seven weeks but may be achievable if you don’t stop anywhere. Many have been to Lofoten and beyond which is something we planned last year but the dog didn’t travel well and we headed across to Kristiansund where we spent 5 days with relatives on Smola before taking the Atlantic Road south for all the usual tourist spots ending up crossing from Kristiansand to Hirtshals and home. We did 4000+ miles in five weeks so given we also stopped off for a long weekend with relatives on Sjaelland before crossing the bridge plus the break on Smola you may achieve your objective by avoiding southern Norway.

It’s stopped raining and I’m in the garden at last but can post links later if you need them but get the Bropass for the Danish bridges which will cover you for most of the tolls in Norway and being careful about the length of your van on the smaller ferries may get you a cheaper ride onboard. :) Researching Bropass will tell you how far it extends beyond Scandi.

Park4Tonight and Camperstop apps are a must, plenty of no cost or low cost places to pull in, often with good toilets at the side of the road. There’s a map of these you can pick up in TIC’s which is useful but not necessary with the Apps.

At the risk of teaching my grandmother etc. your gas supply could be a problem unless you have refillable bottles. The myLPG.eu App will give you suppliers in Scandinavia, none in Finland I’ve read on Fun before.

Cutting out northern Europe would save you time and would be achievable if we had the Harwich to Esbjerg ferry back, join the campaign here.

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Currently in Norway so
Tip 1. If you are over 3500kg get the Autopass toll tag this so you are charged the same as a car or smaller motorhome. Otherwise you are charged at the higher rate 2 for commercial hgv’s.
Tip 2. If you are using any ferries ( which if you are going up Norway there are lots) get an Autopass ferry card. This gives up to 50% discount on every trip.
Tip 3. Once away from the cities the roads get slower and slower. We are averaging about 30mph. There are some better sections where you speed up but generally it is slow going so allow plenty of time. We were on the road about 7 hours yesterday and di just over 60 miles, including 2 ferries and the usual stops for photos etc.
Hope this helps.
 
We are currently in Gothenburg, having come through France, Belgium, Holland and Denmark
We stayed at Delftse Hout near The Hague, really nice site, Nyhvn 2 at Middelfart - Excellent, Charlottenlund Fort at Copenhagen - Excellent, now at a very busy Lysbergsbyn - Good
 
Thank you so much to everyone for your tips and advice. I hadn't considered getting the Autopass or Bropass because I thought they were only worth while if you were a regular traveller across the bridges but hopefully I still have time to get them online. We are hoping to do a lot of site seeing and from what everyone is saying about the slow road speeds in Norway I can see us either cutting down the length of our trip or extending the time scale but that all depends on our grandchildren back home, they are already complaining that we will be away for 2 months. Thank you once again for all your replies. Doug & Mary.
 
dbailey2 said:
Mary & I are leaving for a tour of Scandinavia on Tues 18th Jun and returning home on Thurs 8th Aug. Our route from Calais is through France, Holland, Germany into Denmark where we will cross the bridge to Copenhagen. We then plan to travel up through Sweden and visit Gothenburg and Oslo before heading west to Bergen. Then up the north coast of Norway calling in on Aurland, Molde, Trondheim and up to Saltstraumen to do some fishing. We then plan to head east through Sweden into Finland before travelling south to Helsinki where we will get the ferry to Tallinn. On our return journey will plan travel through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany then back to Calais. That's the plan anyway whether we make it or not remains to be seen. If anybody who has done a similar trip we would be grateful for any recommendations for camp sites, camper stops or any places of interest. Thanks. Doug.
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Your trip plan is the same as one we are planning for next year - would love to hear how it went and if you have any tips for us - thanks in advance. We aim to be away for about 3 months.
 
Hi bilM,
Our Scandinavian trip itinerary was pretty much inline with my original post. We did the entire tour in 55 days visiting 12 different countries covering just over 6000 miles. Some of the places that we visited which I would recommend are:
Copenhagen, Bergen, Alesund, Trondheim, Bode Saltstraumen, Lahti, Helsinki, Tallin, Riga, Kaunas, Gizycko, Olsztyn, Ostroda, Wroclaw, Colditz, Dresden, Koln. Antwerp. These are just some of places that we visited, we also stopped off to look at the Nigardsbreen Glacier, the Steinsdalfossen waterfall, fantastic views of the Norwegian Fjords, lakes in Finland where the locals were catching salmon twice the size of the ones you see in Waitrose. We were also lucky see female Moose with their babies and of course lots of Reindeer. You have probably already heard that the cost of food and drink in Norway is quite expensive also there are lots of tolls even on minor routes in fact sometimes you don't even know its a toll road and even if did there was no alternative. The costs are very small but there are lots of them. I signed up to the Bropas for the bridge tolls and the EPC to pay for the Norwegian Tolls. Just for your information we couldn't find anywhere in Scandinavia that sold LPG and although they are not sign posted a lot of the rest areas have places where you can dump your grey water, empty you chemical toilet and fill up with fresh water. Overall it was a very long trip averaging 100 miles a day but we thoroughly enjoyed it. If and when we visit Norway again I would probably go up through Denmark to Frederikshavn and get the ferry over to Kristiansand. Good luck on your trip I am sure you will enjoy it. Cheers Doug.
 
Norway has numerous LPG stations,
1574180397806.png

Sweden
1574180503653.png


and Finland has none


John
 
From Essex consider Harwich Hook of Holland to reduce some of the southern mileage, it a nice trip by day or by night. The overnight boat drops you into Holland really early to give you a good start.
Norway is expensive so stock up before arriving particularly booze.
Obey the speed limits and motoring regulations, my decision to speed up in the far north cost me a speeding fine of £750.
Its a wonderful country...enjoy the trip.
I followed your proposed route home and became an expert on trees whilst in Finland...seen one seen em all.
 
I agree on the LPG, we had to search through some strange industrial areas at times but never a problem.

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I did say we couldn't find anywhere that sold LPG which is a bit misleading because on route we searched the internet for garages with LPG and many were listed but after going out of way many times to visit one, we didn't find any that had gas in stock so we gave up in the end.
 
Hi dbailey2 thanks for your reply I am looking forward to this trip.
 
Bailey58 said:
I agree on the LPG, we had to search through some strange industrial areas at times but never a problem.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if the same applies to bottled gas but for our gas tank we use mylpg to find supplies. However, I'd advise looking at the reviews as we went to one only to find it didn't accept any cards other than a trade card. It was the only one that we visited where we had this problem but the next LPG was 150 miles away. Had I looked at the reviews I'd have seen that it was a known problem.
 
bilM said:
Your trip plan is the same as one we are planning for next year - would love to hear how it went and if you have any tips for us - thanks in advance. We aim to be away for about 3 months.
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Well that was two years ago a lot of water under the bridge 7 days and counting till the ferry:giggle:
 
Good luck, I am sure you will have a fantastic trip.

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Get a Swedish map (a good one is, 'motormannens VAGATLAS over SVERIGE) and every town on the coast that shows an anchor has a Guest Harbour which usually has space for M/H's, pay the Harbour Master (Cheap compared with sites) There is a big carpark at Ystad with overnight payment parking on harbour front and the Sign you are asking/looking for is 'STALLPLAT' for 'aire' type parking.

Take, at least, some Krona with you as Sweden has an aversion to cash? (There is enough fantastic sights in Sweden alone to keep you entertained for 6 weeks'

PS Some of the motorway stops have Loo emptying/ water facilities. Have a great time!

PPS. A lot of the campsite showers are unisex!

PPPS. Sweden is VERY hot on dumping ANY type of waste and members of the general public WILL report you!
 
L' Hobo said:
Get a Swedish map (a good one is, 'motormannens VAGATLAS over SVERIGE) and every town on the coast that shows an anchor has a Guest Harbour which usually has space for M/H's, pay the Harbour Master (Cheap compared with sites) There is a big carpark at Ystad with overnight payment parking on harbour front and the Sign you are asking/looking for is 'STALLPLAT' for 'aire' type parking.

Take, at least, some Krona with you as Sweden has an aversion to cash? (There is enough fantastic sights in Sweden alone to keep you entertained for 6 weeks'

PS Some of the motorway stops have Loo emptying/ water facilities. Have a great time!

PPS. A lot of the campsite showers are unisex!

PPPS. Sweden is VERY hot on dumping ANY type of waste and members of the general public WILL report you!
Click to expand...

PPPPS Do not be tempted to park overnight on the motorway layby's, there has been many breakin's over the past 20yrs especially near Goteberg.
 
Can’t fault you, that’s a grand tour and also a lot of driving for seven weeks which is fine if a whistle stop tour is what you want, there are a lot of lakes around Gothenburg which are lovely at that time of year, lots of Marinas and sailing centres too, very easy to relax for a couple of days and maybe save a few of the stops for another trip. It’s about 1100 miles to drive to Gothenburg from the tunnel If I recall, it’s a wide open place been many times, my lad used to live (and still works) In Gothenburg. Enjoy your trip
 
KiwiKampers said:
I've just realised that this thread is nearly three years old!
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So it is! It's good that someone's on the ball around here. :LOL:

(I wonder how they got on???)

Edit: Guess what, they tell you in post #12. :LOL:

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