Rapid Travel to Arctic Circle

geoffreywchew

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A buddy and I are planning a trip N-S in September down Norway's West coast, starting from Tromso. By taking the overnight ferry from Travemunde to Helsinki then Finnish railways car- rail service to Kolari you can be in Tromso four days after leaving UK. Approx cost for bike plus rider is £650. Does anyone have experience of this travel option?

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Last time I looked it was close to 30 hours on the Travemunde to Helsinki ferry and the departure was at a horrible time in the dead of the night. It also cost about £500 but that was for one person in a 2 berth cabin so it’s not a cheap option. In the end I knocked it into the long grass, rode from the Hook to Frederikshavn in one day then caught the morning ferry to Gothenburg, rode across Sweden, caught the overnight ferry to Helsinki and was there less than 48 hours after getting off the ferry in the NL. The ferries from Denmark to Sweden and Sweden to Finland were cheap and it’s not a bad ride across Sweden.

I do like the idea of catching the train north from Helsinki though :thumb2
 
After reading your post I just checked the Travemunde ferry prices - US$ 315 in a 3 bed cabin (incl meals) in September for 1 pax plus bike. The ferry leaves at 0300 hrs but you board at 8 pm so it's an easy day's ride from HOH to catch it. Then you arrive 30 hrs later (2 nights accommodation) and have the day to sightsee in Helsinki before catching the car-sleeper at around 5 pm. The rail trip costs US$ 260 for 1 pax plus bike. The timing seems very convenient all round.
However thanks for your post, we'll certainly investigate the Frederikshaven/ Stockholm option but I doubt it will be cheaper and nowhere near as convenient.

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Slight correction needed, ferry meals are extra.

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When I checked it was about 3 years ago and I was only booking 24 hours in advance (I was already on the ferry at Harwich) and that’s never the cheapest way to book a ferry plus my mental calculations over a jug of beer were including a night in a hotel at Travemunde which added on to the ferry made it an expensive way to get there.

The ferries between Denmark - Sweden - Finland came in at just under £150 booked on the day and the Sweden - Finland one was a ferry aimed mainly at freight that left from what appeared to be a new terminal at Kapellskar but the food on that one was included and of the eat all you can type so perfect for some of the hungrier riders that frequent these pages :D

It was a surprisingly easy ride across Sweden and when I left Frederikshavn in the morning I didn’t have any fixed plans, it was only that morning I’d decided to do a truncated lap of the Baltic because the weather going north into Norway looked decidedly grim. The ferry terminal at Kapellskar has absolutely no facilities apart from a portacabin type toilet but a Dutch motorhome owner felt sorry for me because I was sitting looking bored in the early evening sunshine so offered me a large can of refreshingly cold lager which went down very well :beerjug:

It’s slightly frustrating at the moment because we’d booked the crossing from Harwich to the Hook for last Friday and probably would have been heading north in Sweden today with the vague idea being to ride across the top of the Gulf of Bothnia on the way to the MotoGp in Finland next weekend. When we (my wife) looked at the price for 2 bikes and sharing a cabin on the Travemunde crossing we came to the conclusion that the cheaper route into Sweden would save us enough to cover the fuel and hotels going the long way round and would mean we could do a full lap of the Baltic including Kaliningrad. Not to worry, there’s always another year so make sure you do a full report if you use the train to get north because I’m tempted by that idea for a future trip :thumb2
 
This is a good thread, thanks for the heads up about the train.

I have used the ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki several times, as a top rated cabin is the same price as a flight and a hotel. Plus it is very popular with Swedish nurses on hen parties, which adds to the ambience.
 
This is a good thread, thanks for the heads up about the train.

I have used the ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki several times, as a top rated cabin is the same price as a flight and a hotel. Plus it is very popular with Swedish nurses on hen parties, which adds to the ambience.

It’d be a good way to get up to the Lofoten islands quickly and have more time to explore them because I know from past experience that the E6 isn’t the best of routes in summer when it’s full of roadworks and wobbly boxes :D
 
It’d be a good way to get up to the Lofoten islands quickly and have more time to explore them because I know from past experience that the E6 isn’t the best of routes in summer when it’s full of roadworks and wobbly boxes :D

Well, the E6 in Nordland is now mostly NEW road all the way from Majavatn to Saltfjellet. Compared with the old E6 its great, a lot faster, but maybe a bit booring on a bike...
 


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