Scandinavia, Europe's Northern territory, continues to enchant visitors with an ancient history steeped in Viking mythology, endless white nights, cosmopolitan cities that reach back centuries, and a scantly populated countryside rich in fjords and natural wonders. Whether you visit the increasingly popular Finland, old staple Sweden, tiny Denmark, or intense Norway -- or do all of them in a combination trip -- your travel experience will be filled with happy people and now, low-priced packages.
Go Today (tel. 800/227-3235; www.go-today.com) has single air/land trips to Scandinavian cities available through the fall and winter. These trips have a purchase deadline of August 10, 2006. A three night air/land trip to Stockholm including round-trip airfare out of New York, accommodations, daily breakfast, and hotel tax starts at $769 for travel during the late fall. A seven night Finland fly and drive trip that starts in Helsinki with rental car and airfare starts at $904 for travel after New Year's. A three night Helsinki only package starts at $749. An Oslo getaway costs $739 for three nights with air and hotel. These trips do not include air security taxes or departure fees. Go Today trips are extremely flexible, allowing you to extensions on your return flight and nights at your hotel for extremely low fees.
If you take a trip to Finland, Cosy Finland (tel. 212/724-7783; www.cosyfinland.com) is a very interesting organization that provides home visits to Finnish families for lengthy dinners, lunches, and tea-type forums with Finnish ladies to discuss Finnish dating and courting formalities. Promoting cultural exchange with the Finns, the companies top billing "Cosy Finnish Evening" includes a full dinner with a complete Finnish family including or excluding children depending on topics of conversation or your areas of interest. It lasts about three hours and costs about $90 per person. A "Cosy Lunch" is similar and costs the same. The "Cosy Finnish Coffee Break" costs $35. Group sizes range from 2 to 4 guests for the lunch and dinner options with the coffee break going up to ten guests and several Finns. This isn't just for English speakers, either. Families fluent in Spanish, French, German and Swedish are available. Cosy Finland can also arrange localized day-trips to museums, saunas, and spas as well as arrange cross-country ski trips during the winter months. As you may know, the Finns are famous for their love of cross-country skiing, and have miles of paths through Finnish woods and countryside. If you have a large group, participants are broken up into several homes. For companies starting to do business in Finland with such multi-national corporations such as Nokia, this is an excellent way for foreign executives to brush up on Finnish social customs.
Nordique Tours by Picasso Travel (tel. 800/995-7997; www.nordiquetours.com) offers trips all over Scandinavia including a seven night eight day land-only "Essential Norway" package starting at $1,499. The package includes seven nights in fine hotels, daily breakfast, three dinners, train transportation from Oslo to Flam, a trip on a fjord boat from Flam to regions beyond, and sightseeing per the itinerary. If you book your flight with Nordique Tours, free airport transfers are included in the price of the trip. Departures are daily everyday through September 26, 2006. Highlights of the trip include visits to the Norwegian Salmon Center, an overnight in the fishing village of Balestrand, and shopping in Bergen, a medieval town with mazes and slanted wooden buildings looking out to the harbor.
Nordique Tours also offers a "Scandinavian Capitals" tour. The eight night, seven day trip visiting Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm includes six nights in first-class hotels, an overnight cruise from Copenhagen to Oslo, first class rail tickets from Stockholm to Copenhagen, and three city tours. Costing $1,399, the trip is good for travel through September 30, 2006. This trip includes a lot of leisure time for you to explore on your own, drink with the locals at pubs, and just sit and admire the cities up close at an outdoor café over looking the busy, industrial, and fishing oriented waterways.
For adventurous and off-the-beaten-path land-only trips, Borton Overseas (tel. 800/843-0602; www.bortonoverseas.com/scandinavia) provides a diverse array of trips to Northern Europe. A six day package to Northern Finland costs $1,228. The trip includes your choice of a night in an igloo made of snow, a glass igloo with sky views, or a rustic Finnish cabin. Activities can include cross-country skiing, a reindeer safari, dog-sledding, and a cruise on an ice-breaking boat. Five dinners are also included in the price of the package, as is transportation to and from Kakslauttanen village. Departures can be daily for this trip with travel good from January to March 2007.
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