Backpacking in Scandinavia and the Baltics

A beautiful lake beach in Karlstad, Sweden

Hi folks 👋🏼 Ok so I know for some parents the thought of backpacking with toddlers is……well fresh hell?! Or that’s how husband describes it. I don’t find this is true, tiring yes, at times a bit stressful, weighty on your back-absolutely but incredibly rewarding. Also I’m aware some of you may not have small ones or extra humans at all so here’s a little guide on how to get around/see the delights of Northern Europe without selling an organ or something.

First up you need to plan your route (no brainer) and also I think it makes a difference which season you go. The visits I’ve made in winter have been incredible but I do think you spend more as you need to be inside more and some of the places we visited on our recent trip probably wouldn’t be suitable if it was really cold but you can find some quirky alternatives. One of my starting points is always where can I get a cheap flight.

Our motley crew

Great starting hubs for me are Oslo and Copenhagen, you can pretty much always get flights under £30 even in high season and from Copenhagen you can get the train to Malmo (Sweden) over the bridge that connects the two countries which is cool in itself, (last time I did it was about £10) or from Oslo you have tonnes of train routes.

So a breakdown of our recent trip: Oslo-2 nights >Train to Karlstad (Sweden) 2 nights >Train to Stockholm (Sweden) 1 night/2 days >Overnight ferry to Helsinki >Helsinki 2 nights >Ferry to Tallinn (Estonia) 2 hour day ferry >Bus to Loksa, 2 nights at projekt kodu in Lahema National Park Estonia >Bus back to Tallinn and one night in Tallinn >Flight home from Tallinn to Gatwick

So we had a pretty packed itinerary and we had 4 kids between us aged 1, 3, 3, and 5. I really fancied adding Russia into our itinerary as from Helsinki you can visit St Petersburg and get a free 72 hour visa if you go via ferry. It was quite complicated and we decided not to as our trip was packed enough. It was amazing to spend so much time in forests and surrouded by nature. Even when we were in cities it didn’t feel that we were in a city.

The railway children

So largely I prefer to travel via train but if you have older kids/no kids you can certainly travel via bus-it’s incredibly cheap and they are of a great standard particularly in the Baltic’s. For my ferries I tend to always book via Direct Ferries. I find they give you all the options and compare providers which is really useful. You can find their website here…

https://www.directferries.co.uk/

Stockholm to Riga (Latvia) will cost you about £130 for a 4 berth inside cabin and Stockholm to Helsinki for a 4 berth inside cabin will set you back about £160. If you wanted to visit St Petersburg I would definately go from Helsinki or Tallinn as from Stockholm it’s 38 hours and for me that’s a bit long. We were a bit worried on the ferry we wouldn’t have a great deal to do but the kids absolutely loved it. We travelled with Viking, they had an amazing soft play and kids club onboard and we paid for the buffet, it was €32 with unlimited food and wine and the kids went free so for us it was great value and the food was so impressive. Honestly it was such a fun part of our trip I would really recommend it.

You get some amazing views on the ferry out of Stockholm

Aside from our ferry we used trains in Oslo/Sweden, (our decision to stay in Karlstad was based purely on the fact it’s roughly halfway between Oslo and Stockholm) which you can find on the SJ website, it’s easy to navigate-all in English and the key is advance booking. In late August you can get a high speed train from Gotenberg to Stockholm for £15 one way (a steal-I think) you don’t pay for infants on laps and we bought tickets for the three year olds cause we didn’t want them on knees but they were much cheaper than adult tickets and I think (but don’t quote me) they can go without a ticket.

Cinnamon buns providing us a quiet train journey

Bus travel in the baltics is really cheap, the train networks aren’t great but if your kids are good travellers or older or you are on a solo trip it’s definitely worth looking at. You can go between Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for around €10 a trip with an average of 4 hours per journey. I’d take the 3 year old but wouldn’t risk the baby yet as he’s a high energy boy.

Accomodation. We stayed in some really exciting places. Obviously budget was on our mind and this is where Scandinavia can cost you. Budget was generally £30-£50 a night, sometimes it was cheaper but this was per family so I don’t think rediculous-if you were travelling with a friend you’d split the cost and when we go next I will check out more hostels etc. Here’s a little breakdown of our digs….

Our amazing cabin in Oslo

Oslo-Traditional Wood cabin Airbnb

Karlstad-wooden cabin at Campsite

Karlstad Swecamp Bombstaden

Stockholm-Boat Hostel/Hotel

Overnight Ferry

Helsinki-we had an incredible apartment found on Airbnb

Estonia-Projekt kodu eco retreat and hostel

Tallinn-Apartment near the old town (found on Airbnb)

Highlights for each place for me we’re: Oslo-the waterfronts, lovely neighbourhoods and incredible forests.

Karlstad-the campsite, again being in the most incredible forest and the playground in the city, I can’t explain how awesome it is!

Stockholm-I have too many here, I’ve written a blog on Stockholm which you can find here…. https://www.bexytravels.com/europe/Stockholm

Helsinki-The shopping!!! Kids shops were INSANE…..if you love toys (like me) Moomins, good food and ethereal, stylish humans you will enjoy helsinki.

Loksa/Laheema National Park-Projekt kodu was a particular highlight, biking through the forest was wonderful and also the food.

Tallinn-again I could say a lot as it’s one of my favourite cities but I would definately say Telleskivi the creative quarter and eating at Rakatsaevu 16 and pizza kana klook (voted 16th best pizza worldwide).

My staples when looking for accommodation are www.booking.com and Airbnb but when you’ve found somewhere it’s always worth checking directly with the property as their rates may be better. Our pals Becky, Flynn and Freya can be found over at http://www.wishesandwellies.com

Is there anything else you’d like me to cover? You can always drop me a comment below or contact me via Instagram.

The wonderful showers and Sauna at projekt Kodu

Have been to any of these countries? Ever fancied it? I’d love to hear about it if you have!