The continent across the pond remains the number one overseas destination for Americans, despite the problems of the economy, reduced flight schedules, and insulting-to-the-intelligence airport procedures designed to make passengers think they are being protected from terrorists. France leads the list, with Great Britain running a close second, but the smaller countries should not be overlooked. Here's a run-down on trips available now through spring of 2003 (Note that airport taxes are not included in any of the listings below):
Continental Journeys has a Getaway Program, putting you in Copenhagen, priced from $515, including roundtrip air on SAS from New York, three nights in the Hotel Europe or the Excelsior and daily buffet breakfast. It's available through March 27, 2003. Flights depart on Thursdays and return on Mondays. Add-on airfares from Chicago or Washington D.C are $30, for Minneapolis $120. Other departure cities are available as well. Phone them at 800/601-4343 or go to www.continentaljourneys.com.
Scanam World Tours has a "Two Capitals Tour," adding on Oslo to Copenhagen. You get roundtrip airfare on SAS, six nights in hotels, breakfast daily and an overnight sailing from Oslo to Copenhagen through two historic straights. Prices start at $799 and the program runs through March 31, 2003. If you don't want to visit Oslo at all, you can have a different Two Capitals Tour of just Stockholm and Copenhagen, from $839 per person, including air. Contact Scanam (which means Scandinavian American) World Tours at 800/545-2204 or at www.scandinaviantravel.com.
Helsinki is available from Continental Journeys also, costing as little as $499, including the three nights of lodging at the Hotel Helsinki, SAS roundtrip from New York (Newark), and daily buffet breakfast. Through March 27, 2003. Departures on Thursday nights, return on Mondays. For departures from Chicago or Washington DC/Dulles, add $30 per person, from Minneapolis $120. Again, Continental Journeys is at 800/601-4343, www.continentaljourneys.com.
Icelandair Holidays has a two-night "Adventure" package good through March 31, 2003, costing as little as $449. You get roundtrip airfare into Reykjavik from Baltimore/Washington DC, Boston, Minneapolis, or Orlando, your hotel, daily buffet breakfast and airport/hotel roundtrip transfers, as well as tips and taxes. Icelandair Holidays can be reached at 800/779-2899 or at www.icelandair.com.
For the major capitals of Scandinavia, consider Scanam World Tours' Three Capitals program, which takes you to Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen. Costing as little as $959, it includes air on SAS from New York (Newark), hotel, daily breakfast, an overnight boat trip from Oslo to Copenhagen on the often fierce Skagerrak and problematic Kattegat straights, and air from Copenhagen to Stockholm, where you end the tour and fly back to the USA. This program runs through April 23, 2003. For departures from Washington DC/Dulles add $50 per person, from Chicago $125, from Seattle $250. For departures from April 1 through 23, 2003, add $250 per person. Scanam World Tours can be reached at 800/545-2204 or at www.scandinaviantravel.com.
Ice On Your Igloo, or In?
Two land-only opportunities afford a real treat for snow bunnies or other lovers of extreme cold weather. In Sweden you can sleep in an ice hotel; pick Finland and you'll be snoring away in an igloo of your very own.
Scanam World Tours offers a one-night trip out of Stockholm to the famous Ice Hotel in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden, north of the Arctic Circle in the heart of Swedish Lapland. Every year, the hotel is built from 3000 tons of new snow and ice. The structure includes sleeping rooms, a church, art gallery and bar (where you can get vodka served in cups made from ice, I have been told). Although you spend the night in the Ice Hotel, you go back to a "real hotel" with central heating to have your meals and take showers. The tour price from $785 per person includes SAS roundtrip airfare between Stockholm and Kiruna, transfers, and one night at the Ice Hotel with lunch, dinner, breakfast and a snowmobile safari. Extra nights at $140 per person in a double room at the Ice Hotel or the Wardshuset Hotel.
Even farther north, in Finnish Lapland, you can spend four nights, one of them in an igloo made of snow. (Alternatively, you may choose a glass igloo with normal room temperatures inside.) The Hotel & Igloo Village Kakslauttanen, about 188 miles above the Arctic Circle, is sited in unspoiled wilderness. Because it's so far from city lights, the location is superb for viewing the northern lights (aurora borealis) whenever they appear in the dark night sky. The three nights you're not in an igloo (ice or glass), you stay in rustic log cabins done up in traditional Lapp style. In this case, the Lapp style is augmented by private bath, kitchenette, fireplace and your own sauna. Prices begin at $1195 per person, sharing a double. It's $930 for an extra bed for children under 12 when sharing with two adults; $55 per person extra for overnight in a glass igloo (maximum of two persons per igloo), the snow igloo is no extra charge. Also included in the price are daily breakfast and four dinners, transfers between airport and village, sightseeing per itinerary, taxes and service charges. The sightseeing includes a dog sled trip (with picnic), excursion to a local reindeer farm and a ride in a reindeer sledge, and chance to cross-country ski or ice fish. Inside the snow igloo, temperatures vary from between -3 to -6 °C (for the conversion-challenged, that's 21.2-26.6°F), but you have padded sleeping bags, reindeer hides and woolen rugs to keep you warm. This tour is not escorted and domestic airfares between Helsinki and Ivalo are not included in the price. A minimum of two passengers is required for the tour to operate.