Northern Soul

I've been thinking about taking a closer look at Northern Europe for a while and learning about what low-carbon travel options work, as well as what needs to get better.

A large family gathering in the middle of Sweden proved the perfect excuse to find out. For part of it, I travelled with my partner and daughter, which was a good chance to look at some of the practical issues of travelling as a family. Then, they went home while I continued around the Baltic.

In summary, there's loads to explore and it's pretty easy getting around. However, it's not all plain sailing, so I'll point out the shortcomings that I found.

How to get to Scandinavia

There are no direct ferries to Scandinavia anymore. If you want to get an idea of what you were missing, maybe you could check out an episode or two from the early 80's TV series Triangle  - generally remembered as "some of the most mockable British television ever produced"

But what we have lost in time on the North Sea, we can make up for by planning routes through intermediary countries like the Belgium and Germany. Like with taking the train to Spain, it's a chance to see places that might surprise.

Of all the possible routes, there was one thing we really wanted to do - catch the ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo as we could wave to some family members who live in a house overlooking the Oslo fjord.

Heading to Copenhagen - where to stopover?

It's possible to travel to Copenhagen over the course of a day and night without stopping over anywhere - but what a shame that would be.

Probably the best stopovers are Cologne and Hamburg, but other great options are Aachen, Münster, Bremen and for history geeks Osnabrück.


We decided to stopover in Aachen for a mini-spa break and then Hamburg.

We bought Eurostar tickets to get us to Brussels and used the DB website (and mobile app) to choose a train from Brussels to Aachen.

Ticket options for getting to Aachen

There are regular DB ICE and Thalys trains from Brussels which take just over an hour. They cost €20-25 when booked in advance and double that if you're buying on the same day.

The cheapest approach I've found is to buy a Eurostar all Belgium ticket which costs around £12 more than a ticket to Brussels and you can use it to travel to Verviers or Welkenraedt where you can then catch a regional DB train to Aachen for around €3. The whole journey takes around 2 hours, but you might want to have a nosey around at the old mill town of Verviers (it's twinned with Bradford) or even take the train all the way to the German-speaking Belgian town of Eupen, where you could get a bus to Aachen.

Another approach is to buy a Sparpreis with an overnight stopover, in this case in Aachen. Even booking same day, this can provide bargains. For travel to Hamburg from Brussels with an overnight stopover in Aachen cost €34.50. For more details on how to get a bargain ticket see here.

So what's there to do in Aachen? Let's find out.

Aachen to Hamburg 

The quickest journeys from Aachen to Hamburg take around 5 hours (just time to watch 'The Odessa File' and a couple of episodes of 'Auf Wiedersehen Pet') with a change of trains at Cologne or Dusseldorf and cost around €25 when booked in advance but can be four times that price for same-day travel.

You can save money on same-day travel by using the regional trains which are slower and have more changes. To see them, you may need to untick the 'show fastest connections option'.

Below are examples of trains times and prices for same day travel and two months in advance.

Same day trains and prices

Two months in advance

Want some more information on what to see and do in Hamburg? Here are some ideas.

Hamburg to Copenhagen

Trains from Hamburg to Copenhagen take around 4 1/2 - 5 hours and are around €28 in advance and can be four times that price for same-day travel.

The Snälltåget night train going from Berlin to Stockholm calls in at Hamburg around midnight and arrives in Copenhagen just before 6am, so that's also an option - not sure you'd get a full night's sleep...

Want some more information on what to see and do in Copenhagen? Here are some ideas

Copenhagen to Oslo - Fjord fiesta

After spending a couple of days in Copenhagen, we took the DFDS ferry to Oslo. It sets off in the afternoon and the first couple of hours are spent travelling through the Sound (Øresund) - the narrow stretch of water between the Baltic and what will become the North Sea.

It's also a chance to help with some citizen science and spot dolphins, porpoises, orca and other sea life. The UK-based charity ORCA have someone onboard who will help you identify different creatures (I remember something about fin shapes but I'd need a refresher).

After dinner (recommend the seafood-laden buffet), a boogie at the night club (go on, just do it) and a sleep, you can wake up to the islands, inlets and sheltered bays of the Oslo fjord.

It's also a bit of a bargain. We paid around £100 for a three of us with a cabin in high season. But even a same day booking for two adults booked on the same day can cost around £70.

Oslo to Stockholm (with hop offs)

There's a regular train running from Oslo to Stockholm which stops at places like Kongsvinger, Arvika, Karlstad and Kristinehamn.

You can plan your journey using the Swedish railways website (and app) and also shows the coach options provided by VyBus4You.

Flixbus also cover the Oslo to Stockholm route and proved the best and cheapest option.

We were heading for Rottneros in Värmland. It was much harder than it should have been to find good information about how to get there. If you'd like to know more about that and the wider issues it raises about travelling beyond the most obvious destinations, see my soapbox rant here.

When we travelled, there were engineering works on the track meaning that part of our journey would have been by bus, so we went for the Flixbus which cost around £15 and was actually pretty good. Three hours was fine for us - long enough to look at the scenery, watch a film or some Nordic noir.

Different options for travelling from Sweden to Finland

You can travel to Finland from Sweden by: 

Stockholm to Vaasa (Finland) via Umeå by night train

I love night trains and in my case it also proved the most time effective way to get to the city of birches, Umeå, where you can catch the ferry to Vaasa.

There are two options for night trains. Either catch a Norwegian night train, ultimately heading for Narvik, or a Swedish one which terminates Umeå.

You can book either through the SJ website or app. There are more pictures of the carriages and journey here.

Crossing the Gulf of Bothnia

There are one or two crossings a day between Umeå and Vaasa (Vasa in Swedish). You will need to get a bus from the town centre to the ferry terminal. You can buy your ticket online up to two hours in advance, along with your ferry ticket.

If you are going very last minute, you can still buy a ticket on the bus and at the ferry terminal but you will pay a bit more. You can find out more details here: https://www.wasaline.com/en/

Why take this route? It's to travel across the curious world heritage Kvarken.

Travelling around Finland

I found using the trains was easy and reasonably priced and it was helped by a pretty good website and app here: https://www.vr.fi/en.

Trains don't go everywhere, so there's a very handy website and app for planning other journeys using coaches and buses: https://www.matkahuolto.fi/ 

Flixbus was also a good option as we will see when wanting to head to the Baltic states.

Finnish railway map - by vr.fi

In the end, I went from Vaasa to Tampere stopping at Seinajoki and then on to Helsinki

Finland is proud of its architects and the role they have played in helping defining the country.

I stopped at Seinäjoki to find out more.

After having my interest piqued in Seinäjoki, I went on an architectural homage around Helsinki and the No 4 tram provided the perfect tour. Here's what I found.

Crossing the Gulf of Finland

Regular Tallink ferries run from the gleaming ferry terminal at Helsinki to the well above average terminal at Tallinn in Estonia and cost around 30 Euros.

However, I found it cheaper to catch a Flixbus from Helsinki to Tallinn, which goes on the same boat. The daily buses start in Vaasa and run all the way to Warsaw stopping at Turku, Helsinki, Tallinn, Parnu, Riga and Vilnius en-route.

For more details on Tallink timetables and costs, see https://www.tallink.com/.

For Flixbus details, see https://www.flixbus.co.uk/.

Travelling around Estonia

Estonian Railways map - pictue by Interrail

Trains in Estonia are currently rather limited.

You can travel east to the Russian border town of Narva, which goes past Sillamäe (stop at Vaivara) or south east to the university town of Tartu. The train carries on to the Latvian border town of Valga, so it is possible to travel from Tallinn to Riga by train.

For more details on using the trains, see https://elron.ee/en

I wanted to go back to Parnu, which I've only seen before in winter, and so a Flixbus from Helsinki to Warsaw (passing through Parnu) was the perfect option for me.

I found that Flixbus and Lux Express seemed to be in direct competition for the Tallinn - Riga route, which probably makes the tickets cheaper but felt like something of a Cannonball Run for both trips I took on this route.

Travelling around Latvia

Latvian railways - picture by Interrail

Railways in Latvia may not be quick, but they have their advantages. As well as being cheap, every train I went on had wifi, even those still sporting their Soviet seats, which even meant trains standing in stations were hotspots. For more details see here: https://www.pv.lv/

Buses (as well as trams and trolleybuses) fill the gaps. You can plan your trips using Autoosta.lv or 1188.lv. There were also three apps suggested by Tourist Info, but I couldn't get any of them to find and then buy a ticket.

For onwards travel to Lithuania, Poland and Estonia, Flixbus and Lux Express both provide reasonable options.  

I took the bus from Parnu to Riga, but to get to Liepaja, I used the train. I also went on a jaunt to Riga's coastal resort of Jurmala, taking the train towards Tukums.

Latvia to Germany

The daily ferry between Travemünde (Lübeck) and Liepeda is a great way to travel between Germany and Latvia (and Estonia and Lithuania). It takes just under a day, setting off in the evening and arriving the following evening.

At the Travemünde end you can take a bus (30, 31 or 40) between the Lübeck and the ferry terminal.

Liepeda isn't so well served by public transport so it's a question of walking (which I did) or taking a taxi. 

Details and booking can be found here: https://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferries-to-latvia

On board, there's a restaurant, bar and small shop, but it's more basic than the Copenhagen-Oslo route. 

Lübeck to Brussels

Getting back to the Eurostar terminal at Brussels meant a chance to try out some fruity through-ticketing. Through tickets allow you to string together multiple train journeys on one ticket. In Germany, the DB Sparpreis ticket allows you to pick journeys with stopovers (including overnight) so that you can explore places en-route. Here are some more details.

I chose a brief stop in Hamburg and an overnight stop in Cologne. The following morning I went to back Aachen before heading up to Brussels. My ticket had me changing trains at Welkenraedt, but instead I hopped off at Verviers (an itch I've wanted to scratch for a few years).

At either end of the journey, I met up with Greeters - locals who will show you around there town for free.

Meet the Greeters

Lübeck

Let's go for a wander around Lübeck with Jürgen and Andrea.

Brussels

Gilles shows me around a part of Brussels I've been to before - but clearly not really seen!

Heading back to Britain - a chance to reflect

On the train back to London, a month after setting off, I had a chance to think about what I'd found out.

Ferries

All the ferries I went on were good - maybe a 'Triangle' reboot might create the stimulus to launch some more ships.

Night trains

Night trains make a lot of sense. We need more - a lot more, so if you want to join the campaign for more night trains, why not get in touch with Back-on-Track?

Through tickets

There are so many places to explore and friendly people to meet. All of this is unlocked by through tickets with flexible stopovers. The only place I was really able to make use of it was in Germany, where it was great, although the DB website and app is a little clunky - maybe a hackathon could help develop something better.

Coaches matter

Coaches are a great compliment to trains. In some cases, head-to-head I've preferred the coach to the train - they go up hills for a start and in terms of green credentials, they are all part of the transition.

For me three hours is long enough to see some scenery, read a book or watch a film without counting down the clock to a destination.

All transport info together!

The lack of integrated transport information made planning harder than it needed to be. For trains, at least there is a common European database, but not all companies feel the need to upload their data. 

It would be great if there were something similar for coaches and ferries, but why not a single platform for all public transport?


Grumbles aside, it was a fantastic experience. Why not try it for yourself?