Scandinavia June 2025

I travelled from Sydney to Copenhagen via Dubai on Emirates in early June 2025 for a 10 day trip in Scandinavia.

Itinerary:

Sydney —> Dubai (Transit) —> Copenhagen
Copenhagen —> Oslo (Transit) —> Alesund
Alesund —> Oslo (Transit) —> Stockholm
Stockholm —> Dubai (Transit) —> Sydney

My first leg was:

Sydney to Dubai (9:30pm flight)
Dubai to Copenhagen - landing in Copenhagen the next day at 1:30pm which was around Sydney time 9:30pm. So it was pretty much a 25 hour trip from Sydney to Copenhagen.

Copenhagen:

I stayed in Nordhavn which is an area that has undergone some urban renewal and is now one of the newer harbour areas in Copenhagen. It’s very reachable by public transport and is only 4 stops away from the city centre. I stayed at the Fairfield by Marriott Nordhavn. It’s not the fanciest hotel. Prices around $400 AUD a night for when I stayed, which was actually not too bad considering the costs of other hotels during the time I was there. I was upgraded to a Queen room with seaviews, which I actually highly recommend, because the sunsets in Nordhavn are actually gorgeous, especially in the summer time when the sunset is at 10pm. Buffet breakfast was included - which was pretty basic but they actually had the flakiest danishes I ever had. I ate a lot of them, I was obsessed.
I went on a walking tour the very first day I was there which provided me with a good understanding of Danish history and areas that I would like to check out.
Travelling around Copenhagen was very easy - I took the metro everywhere and got a 72 hour pass which meant that I could just hop on and off the metro. For travel to the airport, I did have to buy a separate ticket. Essential to buy because they check on the metro.
Highlights: Tivoli, The Round Tower, biking around Copenhagen, Norrebro and mostly, the incredible food. Danish cuisine is fresh - I love that they use a lot of seafood. I ate a predominantly seafood diet and only had meat once or twice.
Shopping in Copenhagen is kinda impossible. The prices there are not worth it - it is actually cheaper to shop back home. So I didn’t buy anything in Copenhagen - except for some glass blobs from Studio Arhoj
I highly recommend eating the smorrebrods there. Incredibly delicious, despite it being rather expensive but you know what, you gotta eat so you might as well do it. I also went to some restaurants which include Ripotot and Marv and Ben. I googled the restaurants and just decided to book. There are a plethora of highly rated restaurants in Copenhagen, chances are if you walk in, you’ll have a good meal. I walked into Iben’s smorrebrod and had one of the best meals ever. So yeah, go off the beaten track and try things. You don’t need to have it all planned out.
Copenhagen felt really beautiful to me. I felt that everyone was warm, welcoming and there is just beauty everywhere. The buildings were so gorgeous to look at. Also, Danish people dress extremely well. I saw a lady ride a bike with a beat up Birkin just chucked in the bike basket. So chic. So cool.

Alesund

I flew from Copenhagen to Oslo then to Alesund on the same day.
Oslo airport was gorgeous - probably one of my favourite airports because the transit was so simple and the airport was just so beautifully designed. There were wooden interiors and plenty of natural lighting, it really took advantage of nature to make it feel relaxing. I loved it.
I stayed at Hotel Brosundet in Alesund, which is one of the top hotels in Alesund (not that there were many to choose from). They gave me a room with a view of the water, which was simply glorious. I loved opening the windows and taking in the fresh air and hearing the water sounds throughout the day/night when I was in my room.
Alesund is small - it really isn’t a place to stay but more like a location to base yourself to see other things around Alesund.
I booked the Geirangerfjord Cruise to see the fjords and visit Geiranger for the day. The whole trip was around 8 hours long - you do cruise on the fjord for quite a long time. We stayed at Geiranger for around 2 ish hours, so I went for a little hike to see the views from up above. I was too late in deciding that I wanted to go to Geiranger so I couldn’t book a hotel there, but it would have been nice to stay in Geiranger for a bit longer so I could have hiked.
I was going to hike more - but I realised I forgot to use insect repellent and there were A LOT of insects on the trails and I wasn’t keen on being eaten alive, despite wearing long sleeves, so I abandoned that idea pretty quickly.
I went for dinner at an Italian restaurant after - it was quite yummy but the servings were not big enough for me and I was hungry for the rest of the night. Alesund is not known for its restaurant selection… and I’m lactose intolerant so the hotel food was a bit limited for me.
I was going to go for a kayak with a tour group run by my hotel but I made a last minute decision to book a trip to Trollstigen and join that car tour group for the day. I figured since I am here and I won’t get to do these things, but can kayak wherever, that I would just go for another day trip.
The drive to Trollstigen was rather nauseating. I felt really nauseous for most of the trip. But the drive was beautiful, there was incredible scenery everywhere and I could just appreciate the beauty that was Norway. It really is an incredible country. I loved seeing those little red house juxtaposed against the incredible landscapes.
Our tour group met a bunch of Japanese Americans who were touring Norway on their motorbikes. I loved that - meeting other travellers. It makes me feel so alive and connected with people. Incredible how we can just simply connect with people from all over the world.
The true highlight of the trip for me was Norwegian water. I could drink that ALL day and I could BOTTLE it all up and bring it home. But I packed too much stuff so I couldn’t pack water home. But the water was the clearest I’ve ever drank, it just came out chilled. I could not stop drinking water. I was simply obsessed with water. I love water. I can’t stop drinking fucking Norwegian water. Hahahahahahhaha. I would move to Norway just so I have their freaking water. I swear my skin loved it too.

Stockholm

I flew from Alesund to Stockholm via Oslo again. Had a longer transit this time and realised that next time I could probably shorten the transit times, because I did waste quite a bit of time just at the airport. I got to Stockholm at 8pm
I stayed at the Clarion Hotel Sign which was literally 5 mins walk from the Arlanda Express station, so it was a very convenient hotel.
I discovered that this hotel primarily caters to the business customers, so there’s a corporate feel to the hotel AND there were HUNDREDS of rooms. This is a big hotel in Stockholm.
I got to Stockholm, and I did’t immediately like it, but I grew to love it. There’s something about Stockholm - a little big grungy, a little bit rebellious, maybe a bit free-spirited. It’s not like CPH at all.
The first room that I had in Clarion Hotel Sign wasn’t that nice. It was super far from the lifts, the air con was super loud, the lights didn’t work nor did the phone to reception. Luckily I told them about all the issues and they promptly changed me to a different room which was actually much nicer and felt cleaner. It wasn’t that the first room wasn’t clean, but it just had weird vibes and I didn’t feel like I could be comfortable sleeping there. My second room was much nicer and comfortable.
I spent the next day at another walking tour around Gamla Stan, the old town of Stockholm. Took in the history and appreciated the beautiful weather. I met this English girl who was also solo travelling and we struck up some really lovely conversation. At the end of the tour, we decided to have lunch together and we hung out for almost an hour and a half. We really had great conversation and I enjoyed making a new friend. But I didn’t have too much time left in Stockholm so I had to bid farewell and then headed straight for the Avicii Experience which was back in town.
Avicii Experience was super moving and emotional. I was moved to tears and wanted to spend as much time there as I could. I bought some memorabilia, then went to IKEA and walked around the department stores in town. I was pretty exhausted and for the first night in Stockholm, I felt like eating pho cause I was so hungry and tired and just crave Asian food. It wasn’t as good as Sydney, obviously, but it was still pretty satisfying. I was satiated.
The next day, I took the bus to the Vasa museum to see the warship that sank. Incredible relic but a bit scary because the exhibition had all the old timey stuff in there. I walked around the gardens and grabbed some lunch where I had this incredible pastry and a lovely salmon smorrebrod. I just love smorrebrod ok? I walked around town and visited these markets - then went to APC to buy a bag. Then I went to Sodermalm, as recommended to me by the sales associate as apparently that is where the hip stuff is. It was a nice place - def grungy vibes. But I was famished again then went back to Gamla Stan to have dinner at this place called Restaurang Tradition and ordered the Arctic Fish, WHICH WAS INCREDIBLE. I love Swedish food so much. So incredibly satisfying and I was so happy.
The next day was my last day in Stockholm and I was due to fly back home to Sydney via Dubai. My flight was at 3:30pm so I did have time, but not a lot of time. So I went around the city, walked around and went back to APC to buy the pair of jeans I wanted. Then went to eat some more smorrebrod and bought a pastry. There wasn’t too much I could do this day so I just spent the rest of my time sitting in the hotel room, thinking about this incredible trip that I took and checked out at 12pm, walked straight down to the Arlanda Express station and caught the train to the airport.