Sweden, Norway, Finland & Denmark Trip Review: Aurland, Copenhagen, Inari, 4-Week Tour

Review by traveler

K Nikki W.

8.22.2023

General Info

Traveler Review

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Sweden

Denmark

Norway

Finland

Estonia

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

Excellent trip to all of the Scandinavian countries and a (all too quick) trip to Estonia.
The recommendations that were included by Anna were excellent--our notable highlights:

Staying two nights in Aurland--loved it so much, we could have added another night
Copenhagen, Denmark--loved the area and would have liked to explore more of the towns beyond Copenhagen. Booked a private cooking class on our own that really enhanced the cultural experience and fun.
Inari, Finland--fabulous wilderness lodge next to a prime fly-fishing river (they were in the process of extending their property, so we were told that the workers start at 7am--noise not an issue, a bit unsightly construction site that our balcony overlooked).
Estonia--what a lovely old town. Definitely would have liked to stay a couple of nights exploring more.
Hotels--Every hotel had a fabulous location, excellent for walking to main areas of the town, lovely accommodations and quiet at night (even the one in Copenhagen by the Central Rail Station--great soundproof windows).
Guides--Every guide was lively, friendly, and very knowledgeable. Even our driver to Fiskars shared his wealth of experiences since he was a local of the area!

Only issues we had were primarily with drivers meeting us (mostly not being there, or no indication they were our driver). Multiple times we had to call the company providing the service. One of the vans did not have functioning air-conditioning NOR windows that opened--and it was a 2.5 hr. drive and 28C/82F that day! Also, see notes below regarding the Ferry (not an issue of our travel company, yet worth mentioning for travelers).
I absolutely would recommend this travel company to others and would use them again. They were extremely prompt to address any questions/issues we had along the way (we are experiences travelers so did not contact our travel agency for every no-show driver--we just dealt directly with the pick-up service company since thankfully our travel team had provided all of the contact information)!

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

See responses above

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

Only additional comment other than what was mentioned above is that we would bypass the Ferry.
First question asked when boarding was if we wanted "to purchase the Gold Service which provides better food and drink (including non alcoholic) options for an additional ~380 euros per person"--seriously??
I can understand an upgraded alcoholic drink package--yet not food and non alcoholic drinks.
Service staff were friendly and helpful--as much as they were allowed.
This particular Ferry is trying for 70% no waste--therefore there are NO buffet breakfasts, lunches OR dinners--
everything must be ordered individually (yes, you must ask for the number of pieces of bread, cheese, slices of meat if you want a sandwich)! At dinner, they only offer a three course tasting size dishes. If you wanted an additional serving, you would be charged. They even refused to allow me to select a pizza from the children's menu (only for children). Still water and coffee or tea were the only non alcoholic beverages offered without additional charges. Food was lackluster at best, and never served hot (had to return soups, french-fries, etc. that were stone cold).
If you take the Ferry, bypass the food package all together and simply order from the café onboard, where cooked-to-order, full sized salads, sandwiches and entrées were available--including pizza! And be prepared to feel like everything onboard comes with an extra charge.

Travel Company Comments:

Dear Nikki,
Thank you for reaching out and sharing your feedback. First of all, I am very glad to hear you had an overall excellent trip. It was a lot of fun planning this itinerary together with you.
Your concerns are important to us, and we take them seriously. Our team is working to investigate the situation with the transfers thoroughly and prevent this from happening in the future.
Regarding the Sailing: this voyage and product are new to us and your experience certainly does not sound like the level of service we want to offer. My colleague is going on a sailing with them in September. With the help of her inspection, together with your feedback, we will evaluate the voyage.
Again, thank you, it was a pleasure to have you on a trip with us and please do not hesitate to reach out at any time in the future.
Kind regards / Vänliga hälsningar
Anna