Scandinavian Capitals & the Fjords — 9 Nights

Met at the airport and driven into the city — the airport is close, and you can be on the Nyhavn waterfront within an hour of landing. The painted harbour houses and the evening light on the water are the introduction. Overnight in Copenhagen.

A guided walk through the centre — Amalienborg and the changing of the guard, Rosenborg Castle and the crown jewels, the Round Tower — then the canal boat past the Opera and the Little Mermaid. Tivoli Gardens in the evening, which is Copenhagen's own amusement park and better after dark. Overnight in Copenhagen.

Across the Øresund bridge and up through Sweden by train, or a short flight. Stockholm sits on fourteen islands, and the afternoon is the old town of Gamla Stan — the Royal Palace, the cathedral and the narrow lanes between. Overnight in Stockholm.

The Vasa Museum, built around a seventeenth-century warship that sank on its maiden voyage and was raised almost intact — the single best museum in Scandinavia — then the island of Djurgården around it. The afternoon is a boat into the archipelago, or the City Hall and Södermalm. Overnight in Stockholm.

West to Oslo by train or flight. The afternoon is the harbour front — the Opera House you can walk on the roof of, the Akershus fortress, and the new waterfront quarter — with dinner by the water. Overnight in Oslo.

The Vigeland sculpture park in the morning, then the ferry across to the Bygdøy peninsula for the Fram, the polar ship that took Amundsen towards the South Pole, and the Kon-Tiki raft beside it. The afternoon is the Munch museum or the ski jump above the city. Overnight in Oslo.

The morning train west from Oslo climbs onto the Hardangervidda, the high mountain plateau, with snow beside the line even in summer. At Myrdal the Flåm railway drops nearly nine hundred metres down the valley past waterfalls to the fjord at Flåm. The evening is the fjord itself, quiet after the day boats leave. Overnight in Flåm.

The morning boat through the Aurlandsfjord and the narrow Nærøyfjord, where the cliffs close to a few hundred metres apart, to Gudvangen, and on by bus and train through the valleys to Bergen. The wooden Bryggen wharf and the fish market for the evening. Overnight in Bergen.

The Fløibanen funicular above the city for the view over the harbour and islands, the Bryggen museums and the old Hanseatic warehouses, and an afternoon in the lanes. A last Norwegian dinner. Overnight in Bergen.

A private transfer to Bergen airport for your flight home, usually via Oslo or Copenhagen.