scandanavian ferries

123oleary

hi
does anyone have any experience of scandanavian ferries. i'm looking to get from north germany (prefferbably not hamburg/ cophenhagen) to sweden and the from sweden to helsinki & also from norway to england.
how long do the crossings take and are overnight ferries available ?
also what is the name of the ferry companies that i should be using ?
thanks

Mrdini

123oleary wrote: »

hi
does anyone have any experience of scandanavian ferries. i'm looking to get from north germany (prefferbably not hamburg/ cophenhagen) to sweden and the from sweden to helsinki & also from norway to england.
how long do the crossings take and are overnight ferries available ?
also what is the name of the ferry companies that i should be using ?
thanks

We went the other way round - from Turku (near Helsinki) to Stockholm with Silja Lines. Also on this route is Viking Line. The crossing takes half a day, so an overnight crossing is definitely an option.

As for Norway to England - IIRC Top Gear did this (race from London to Norway, with a McLaren SLR *drools*). AFAIK, only one ferry company - DFDS Seaways. IIRC, this is overnight according to the Top Gear ep We only looked at this option very briefly as it didn't really work for us.

Hope that helps...

Paul_B_8

There are two main options for Germany to Sweden:
Stena Line (www.stenaline.co.uk) from Kiel to Gothenburg, dep 1900 arrive 0900, daily
TT Line (www.ttline.com) from Travemunde to Trelleborg, dep 2200 arrive 0730 (day crossing also available), twice daily
From Sweden to Finland, the Silja Line ships on the Stockholm Helsinki route are by far the best (www.tallinksilja.com), Stockholm to Helsinki dep 1700, arrive 0955, daily
Viking Line are sometimes cheaper though (www.vikingline.fi/index.asp?lang=en), Stockholm to Helsinki dep 1645 arrive 0945, daily
Crossings on the Stockholm - Turku route are a bit shorter and usually cheaper and run twice daily, but leave you further from Helsinki whereas the direct routes dock right in the city centre.
From Norway to the UK there is only one company (www.dfdsseaways.co.uk) who sail to Newcastle, but you can board in Bergen, Haugesund or Stavanger, two/three times per week, timetable varies. Stavanger to Newcastle is about 20 hours; add another 7 from Bergen.
Finally https://www.aferryto.co.uk allows you to book on all these routes and offers a compare prices option, but isn't always as cheap as booking direct.

hjd

If you are on the overnight Stockholm/Helsinki ferry or the reverse, make sure you book the meal as soon as you get on - if they have the all you can eat buffet sittings they get sold out very fast.
If you are still awake be on deck when the ferries pull into Mariehamn - it's fascinating especially when they have the rock concerts there and you can see/hear them.
My 17yo daughter is obsessed with Scandinavia and Finland - so much so that she has applied to study them at university - so I expect we will become experts on Scandinavian travel soon.

Paul_B_8

Almost forgot. It may be that you want to go to Sweden both before and after visiting Finland, but if you want to cut out one leg you could travel from Germany (Rostock) to Helsinki direct (https://www.tallinksilja.com).