Scandinavia is a perennially popular winter destination, enticing tourists with frosted landscapes, traditional activities like dog-sledging, and hygge, the ultimate culture of cosiness.
Plus, while Scandinavia is a reliably good place to see the Northern Lights, the celestial phenomenon will be particularly intense this winter amid a peak in solar activity.
According to transport booking website Omio, Google searches for ‘winter holiday’ have risen by 145 per cent in the last three months, with ‘Stockholm holidays’ surging 322 per cent and ‘Copenhagen holidays’ up 27 per cent.
Scandinavia is one of Europe’s most expensive destinations, but choosing the right transport can mean considerable savings.
Omio has done the maths and worked out that you can travel the region for under €200 by sticking to trains and buses – good for the wallet and for the planet.
A train odyssey from Copenhagen to Gothenburg
Copenhagen is an ideal starting point for a journey through Scandinavia, as it’s the easiest in terms of connectivity with the rest of Europe. It is reachable in a day from plenty of major cities, including Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.
From May 2026, a new daytime service will connect Prague and Berlin with the Danish capital.
A new night train run by Swiss Federal Railways is expected to start operating in April next year. It will connect Basel to Copenhagen airport, from where you can catch an urban rail service to the city.
Before departing on your rail adventure, leave time to wander Copenhagen’s stylish streets, bar hop around the city’s underground pubs, shop at the independent Scandinavian stores, or have a festive trip to Tivoli Gardens, Europe’s second-oldest amusement park.
From the Danish capital, you can catch a train to Malmö for as little as €16, according to Omio. Despite being in different countries, the two cities are very close to each other, separated only by the 16km-long Øresund Bridge.
Malmö has a compact, walkable centre that combines a cobblestoned old town with futuristic constructions like the Turning Torso, Scandinavia’s tallest building.
After spending a day or two in the Swedish coastal city, take a short train ride to Gothenburg for as little as €27.
The second-largest city in Sweden offers plenty to see and do, from strolling through the Haga district of preserved 19th-century wooden houses to sampling freshly-caught seafood at the Feskekörka, a fish market that looks like a cathedral.
Hop on the bus from Gothenburg to Stockholm
From Gothenburg, head to Oslo in Norway on the bus, which takes under four hours with tickets starting at €18.
Oslo has several renowned museums, including MUNCH, dedicated to the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, and streets of elegant Art Nouveau buildings.
It’s also a gateway to Norway’s pristine nature. Try island hopping in the Oslofjord for verdant islands, fishing villages and waterfalls.
From Oslo, you can begin your return trip, this time stopping in Stockholm. You can reach Sweden’s capital city by bus, with tickets starting at €37. The journey is over seven hours long, but you can enjoy the wild scenery outside the windows on the way.
Take time in Stockholm to partake in ‘fika’, a moment to relax with a coffee and a sweet treat, and have a warble at the interactive ABBA museum.
Then it’s back on the bus to Copenhagen, a 10-hour journey but costing as little as €36.