Sweden

[ratppl]

i will be travel to Sweden during winter time, what are the clothing that i need to be prepare?
What are the places of interest to visit and also the weather condition?
I might plan to travel to Norway or Iceland if time and $$ permit, if possible, what is the best option to get there?
Any suggestion ?

[mrtboy]

It will be very cold! The temperature can drop to negative degrees, so be sure to bring layers of clothing. I wore 4 layers when going out: Thermal underwear, T-shirt, pullovers, outer waterproof jacket. Dun forget hats and gloves! This would keep you nice and snug, although it's pain undressing when going in and out of buildings. It will probably be snowing too so you can have fun making snow men. Be aware that the sun sets early so it will be dark around 4-5pm.

Suggestion: You can buy the thermal underwear and other winter clothing over in Sweden when you reach, it will be cheaper and more choices instead of buying from Singapore.

Cities to visit:
Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo, Uppsala - you can find more info online

Yah do travel to the other nearby countries like Denmark, finland, norway, just check out the budget flights
http://www.blue1.com/en/
http://www.airfinland.fi/oy_air_finland_ltd_in_english/

hope this helps

[sokosjkl]

i will be travel to Sweden during winter time, what are the clothing that i need to be prepare?
What are the places of interest to visit and also the weather condition?
I might plan to travel to Norway or Iceland if time and $$ permit, if possible, what is the best option to get there?
Any suggestion ?

Hi, I am living in Finland. Sweden is not as cold as Finland or Norway. And November is like the beginning of winter only... so the temperature I would say is about 0 to -5. But this year has been pretty cold throughout the year even during summer was 6 celcius in the morning! Well, like mrtboy suggest Thermal underwear, T-shirt, pullovers, outer waterproof jacket. But he forgot to mention one very important thing. Shoes. Since it's the beginning of winter, the snow usually melts in the day and freezes at night hence it becomes ice...and black ice are dangerous. You should get shoes that are suitable for winter and walking on ice.

But I've got one question. how come you choose sweden as your travel destination? Cos not many people actually choose Scandinavia...they usually go London, Italy, France, Spain etc...

Of course you have to visit Stockholm. Ok, from Stockholm, you can take an overnight ferry to Finland (Helsinki or Turku) it cost about SGD$90 per person (assuming you are alone and you have to book the entire cabin - note this is the cheapest category). Or from Malmo, there is a bridge that connects to Denmark. Train is the best method for getting around Europe. However you must note that buying single tickets are holy expensive...so you should consider getting a travel pass like EURAIL. But if you wanna go Iceland, then you need to fly there. Also note that flights to Iceland is quite irregular during winter.

Hope this helps.

[ratppl]

Hi,
Thanks for the information...
btw, where to get the EURAIL?

Going there for some business related trip so got chance to travel and visit also.
Another reason which my childhood dream is to graze the night sky of the north part of the earth and for the northern light display..

That why need information how to travel to the north part of sweden, iceland or finland..
btw, did google search.and found out about the tour to the north..Ice-hotel.!!!!
http://www.swedenvisitor.com/vacation_package/lapland_and_winter_travel/?rf=g03-08&gclid=CL_hvrPT_ZUCFQoNewodGX63EQ

[mrtboy]

Hi ratppl

You can purchase eurail via STA travel in Singapore. I just bought from them, their service is good.

The website is at http://www.statravel.com.sg/cps/rde/xchg/sg_division_web_live/hs.xsl/europe.htm

Just see which pass you are interested in and give them a call.

Oh yah, forgot to mention shoes in my previous post, yah get good waterproof ones if you can, the normal sport shoes will get soaked and you wouldn't want to walk around in wet shoes

[zoossh]

Hi, I am living in Finland. Sweden is not as cold as Finland or Norway. And November is like the beginning of winter only... so the temperature I would say is about 0 to -5. But this year has been pretty cold throughout the year even during summer was 6 celcius in the morning! Well, like mrtboy suggest Thermal underwear, T-shirt, pullovers, outer waterproof jacket. But he forgot to mention one very important thing. Shoes. Since it's the beginning of winter, the snow usually melts in the day and freezes at night hence it becomes ice...and black ice are dangerous. You should get shoes that are suitable for winter and walking on ice.

But I've got one question. how come you choose sweden as your travel destination? Cos not many people actually choose Scandinavia...they usually go London, Italy, France, Spain etc...

Of course you have to visit Stockholm. Ok, from Stockholm, you can take an overnight ferry to Finland (Helsinki or Turku) it cost about SGD$90 per person (assuming you are alone and you have to book the entire cabin - note this is the cheapest category). Or from Malmo, there is a bridge that connects to Denmark. Train is the best method for getting around Europe. However you must note that buying single tickets are holy expensive...so you should consider getting a travel pass like EURAIL. But if you wanna go Iceland, then you need to fly there. Also note that flights to Iceland is quite irregular during winter.

Hope this helps.

hi, u r in finland for long? need some advices. i've been in helsinki a few days before a decade ago while travelling to uk. now i'm considering a photographic trip to estonia, and realised it is only 1.5-3hrs ferry trip from helsinki and that re-lit my consideration of flying in to helsinki and doing south finland and estonia.

i've got the lonely planet europe on a shoe string but waiting for new copies of finland/estonia lonely planet (current edition in 2006). so the best dates to visit is not stated. my travelling period are rather tight becos every feb-mid apr and aug-mid oct i'm tied down with exams. so i wonder if you would advice what is then the best period to visit finland then?

what i have read up and checked out is basically flight and interesting places to cover.

for flight, there seems two option. fly to moscow as low as $650 via shanghai/beijing on chinese airlines and then take overnite train to helsinski. only thing is after such a tiring trip, still have to take overnite train is a kill. to break at beijing, moscow, helsinski and estonia also may be too much for two weeks. another option is to fly direct to helsinski with stopovers such as istanbul, cost about $1050 onwards. info is roughly from misa travels. wonder if you have better recommendations of resources.

for interesting places, i'm thinking of coverin helsinki and tampere in finland, and tallinn and lahemaa national park in estonia. that would be a lot to cover for me as i prefer at least 2 nights per location. for a postulated 2 weeks limit (14=3+10+1), 3 full days for flight, 2 nights for helsinki, tampere, tallinn, lahemaa and istanbul each, and 1 buffer day for contingency, or i may just shorten the istanbul and lahemaa duration to one night, giving more time for better locations.

intially i'm considering just 2 weeks to malta via rome or milan, but the flight just add up a lot to about $1500-1600, so i sort of drop the plan. is there cheaper ways to get to malta, anyone?

[70niner]

I am going to Sweden at the end of the year as well. Would anyone be able to advise if there is anywhere in Singapore where I can change Swedish kronor (SEK)?

[sokosjkl]

Been living here since 2005. I'd say the best time to come here is during summer (jun-aug) but it depends on what kind of photos you wanna capture, is it winter/spring/summer/fall?

Regarding flights, so far I've taken three different routes. (1) Singapore-Copenhagen (fly with SAS) Copenhagen-Helsinki (fly with blue1), (2) Singapore-Bangkok-Helsinki (last time Finnair flies all the way from SG-HKI, not now, you need to take other carrier to BKK and transfer to Finnair), and (3) Singapore-Shanghai (SQ) then Shanghai-Helsinki (Finnair). From the above experience, SAS is the most expensive route.

My friends flew Helsinki-Beijing-Helsinki (1 month validity) for 400 Euros (~$820). For that, you need to check Finnair's site directly...sometimes they have special offer...and the above special pricing, according to them, is offered every October.

Helsinki-Estonia...Despite the short distance, it doesn't mean you'll reach there in 1.5-3 hours, because the ship will dock at Tallin's harbor upon arriving and you will be spending the night on board the stationary ship, in other words, they won't let you out until morning, say if you leave at night. You can check out Vikingline and Siljaline website.

2 nights in Tampere is quite long time because the city can be fully covered in 1 day (sunrise-sunset) or at least I did it. The distance from Helsinki is 1.5 hours by train and it costs 20-28euros (depends whether Pendolino train or those random ones) for adults, if you are a student you also have to pay adult price cos only Finnish student card can buy reduced price. Train website: http://www.vr.fi/heo/eng/index.html

Lastly, I've no idea about prices to Malta, but one good website to check budget airlines all over the globe is http://whichbudget.com/

Hope this helps.

[patryn33]

very humble! great pics!

[mrtboy]

I am going to Sweden at the end of the year as well. Would anyone be able to advise if there is anywhere in Singapore where I can change Swedish kronor (SEK)?

Hi,

The last time i changed my money, I went to those money changing outlets in Orchard area, would have more chance of having Kronor. I remembered going to a few shops to change coz the shops dun hold that much Kronor.

hope this helps

[zoossh]

Been living here since 2005. I'd say the best time to come here is during summer (jun-aug) but it depends on what kind of photos you wanna capture, is it winter/spring/summer/fall?

Regarding flights, so far I've taken three different routes. (1) Singapore-Copenhagen (fly with SAS) Copenhagen-Helsinki (fly with blue1), (2) Singapore-Bangkok-Helsinki (last time Finnair flies all the way from SG-HKI, not now, you need to take other carrier to BKK and transfer to Finnair), and (3) Singapore-Shanghai (SQ) then Shanghai-Helsinki (Finnair). From the above experience, SAS is the most expensive route.

My friends flew Helsinki-Beijing-Helsinki (1 month validity) for 400 Euros (~$820). For that, you need to check Finnair's site directly...sometimes they have special offer...and the above special pricing, according to them, is offered every October.

Helsinki-Estonia...Despite the short distance, it doesn't mean you'll reach there in 1.5-3 hours, because the ship will dock at Tallin's harbor upon arriving and you will be spending the night on board the stationary ship, in other words, they won't let you out until morning, say if you leave at night. You can check out Vikingline and Siljaline website.

2 nights in Tampere is quite long time because the city can be fully covered in 1 day (sunrise-sunset) or at least I did it. The distance from Helsinki is 1.5 hours by train and it costs 20-28euros (depends whether Pendolino train or those random ones) for adults, if you are a student you also have to pay adult price cos only Finnish student card can buy reduced price. Train website: http://www.vr.fi/heo/eng/index.html

Lastly, I've no idea about prices to Malta, but one good website to check budget airlines all over the globe is http://whichbudget.com/

Hope this helps.

thanks. i would check it out. if you do have some good pictures of the place there, u can share it out at clubsnap (http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=17) where a lot of photographers are.

p.s. been feeling fickle minded over different locations, trying to fit in festival and timing. realised there is hardly any festivals in the cold winter of jan in europe.

[70niner]

Hi,

The last time i changed my money, I went to those money changing outlets in Orchard area, would have more chance of having Kronor. I remembered going to a few shops to change coz the shops dun hold that much Kronor.

hope this helps

Hi mrtboy,

Thanks for your reply. Will check the money changers in Orchard Rd.

[ratppl]

ok..i will be extending my trip for few days.. anyone can help me how to get a cheap flight from Stockholm to Paris? Which hotel is recommended in Paris and how to get to Euro Disneyland from Paris?

[beanstalk6]

ok..i will be extending my trip for few days.. anyone can help me how to get a cheap flight from Stockholm to Paris? Which hotel is recommended in Paris and how to get to Euro Disneyland from Paris?

I flew SAS. Try the cheaper chain hotels like Ibis, Etap or Formula 1.
Take the RER train A4 (red line) from Paris to the end station Parcs Disneyland.

[JQ]

just got back from finland.. was in helsinki and another small town 500km north of helsinki... weather there now is abt 0 - 5 C and occ can get windy... prepare adequate clothing.

you can try SAS (or blue1) which is something like jetstar asia... but price fluctuations can be pretty drastic.. got a pair of tix from london to helsinki at 1000 ... 1/2 hour later.. it became 1500 !

but overall you should travel to the other scandinavian countries if you are in sweden...

[vaxvms]

Just to check if I plan to go greenland,norway and finland is it best to fly to CPH and start my route from there ?

[mambofever]

Hi, I am living in Finland. Sweden is not as cold as Finland or Norway. And November is like the beginning of winter only... so the temperature I would say is about 0 to -5. But this year has been pretty cold throughout the year even during summer was 6 celcius in the morning! Well, like mrtboy suggest Thermal underwear, T-shirt, pullovers, outer waterproof jacket. But he forgot to mention one very important thing. Shoes. Since it's the beginning of winter, the snow usually melts in the day and freezes at night hence it becomes ice...and black ice are dangerous. You should get shoes that are suitable for winter and walking on ice.

But I've got one question. how come you choose sweden as your travel destination? Cos not many people actually choose Scandinavia...they usually go London, Italy, France, Spain etc...

Of course you have to visit Stockholm. Ok, from Stockholm, you can take an overnight ferry to Finland (Helsinki or Turku) it cost about SGD$90 per person (assuming you are alone and you have to book the entire cabin - note this is the cheapest category). Or from Malmo, there is a bridge that connects to Denmark. Train is the best method for getting around Europe. However you must note that buying single tickets are holy expensive...so you should consider getting a travel pass like EURAIL. But if you wanna go Iceland, then you need to fly there. Also note that flights to Iceland is quite irregular during winter.

Hope this helps.


i took the Viking Line from Helsinki to Stockholm. Overnight, around 12 hours. Ok la, a lot of drunk Finns on board.