Sweden

[slowpeddler]

Hello

I'm thinking of a Swedish trip this year. What is the best way to get to Gotenburg by ferry and train? I think a cycle camping ride through the lake district to the Baltic and up to Stockholm might be fun but it seems a trek to get to Sweden in the first place as there are no direct ferries.

I would also appreciate it if anyone has experienced the rail journey from Stockholm to Oslo with a bike and if so how did you get on?

Keep peddling

John

[pal]

I did this (or something like this) last year: I took the night ferry from Hull to Rotterdam, cycled over to Utrecht and picked up the night train (the 'Borealis') to Copenhagen (that train starts in Amsterdam, so you could take the Newcastle-Amsterdam ferry instead if that suited you better), arriving in Copenhagen at about 10 in the morning. It takes a while, but it's a nice journey (and the day in Holland isn't really wasted, since you can spend it cycling/sightseeing/eating cheese...). You need a bike ticket/reservation for the sleeper train. You can't buy these online, but the Deutsche Bahn UK sales office can sort them out: they're on 08718 80 80 66.

Alternatively -- and perhaps especially if you're starting from the south of the UK -- you could take the ferry from Harwich to Esbjerg, then take a train from there to Copenhagen.

I started cycling from Copenhagen (up the Danish coast to Helsingor, then a quick ferry hop over to Helsingborg, then up the Swedish coast to Gothenburg: there's a more-or-less signposted cycle route all the way, and the Swedish west coast is great: v. highly recommended, if you have the time). But you could also pick up the 'Oresundstag' train from Copenhagen to Gothenburg -- I'm pretty sure that you can take bikes on those trains (for the price of a child fare).

Not sure about taking bikes from Stockholm to Oslo: Swedish trains can be a bit reluctant to allow bikes (even booked bikes) on their intercity routes. They do seem to relax their policies a little bit more every year, though, so perhaps I'm being too pessimistic...

[westcoaster]

You could also think of Ryanair from Prestwick to Gothenburg. My friends and I cycled up the west coast from Gothenburg to Oslo in '08. Wonderful and good cycling roads (mostly).
Brgds.

[psmiffy]

No idea about Swedish trains except a fragment that I read on the Cycletourer website that it is now possible between the 15th June and the 17th of August - I have used Norwegian trains on a couple of occasions without any difficulty - no help but

However I have cycled across Sweden from Gothenburg to Stockholm

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=RrzKj&page_id=139599&v=PM

and up the coast from Helsingborg to Edsvik (a bit short of Oslo)

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=RrzKj&page_id=163335&v=m

and Umea to Stockholm on the east coast

any queries and I will try to answer them



Have you thought about easyjet to Stockholm - cycle to Gothenburg and then up to Oslo