Travel to Scandinavia and the Nordic Countries

Self Drive Iceland Tours

2010-03-08T13:38:00.001Z

Iceland with her amazing and varied landscapes presents great opportunities for a self drive tour... Anyone into geology will be particularly impressed with Iceland's attractions as well as those people that like adventure and excitement on holiday.

Forget packed out beaches, dodgy hotel buffets and over priced pina coladas... The time to go to Iceland is now - since the economic crisis of 2008, the Icelandic Krona is one of the few destinations that hasn't got a lot more expensive thanks to the sinking pound.

From Essex to Esbjerg

2010-02-04T19:57:00.000Z

If you fancy travelling by ferry from England to Denmark, DFDS Seaways sails between Harwich, Essex and Esbjerg in Western Denmark three to four times a week all year round. Have a look at DFDSseaways.co.uk for more travel information.

Denmark Travel Tips

Overall, life seems expensive for us Brits. The Danish kroner has followed the Euro up, versus the pound and the Danish VAT ("moms") is 25%
Even though Carlsberg is one of Denmarks most famous exports, the locals will more often drink "Tuborg".
Cycling is very popular - there are fantastic cycle paths all over - just take care in Copenhagen rush hour when the cycle lanes can get pretty fast!

Norwegian Air Continues Growth

2010-01-07T21:13:00.000Z

Low-cost carrier Norwegian had continued strong passenger growth in 2009 and flew 18% more passengers than in 2008 on board its 737 fleet.

In total, the Norwegian airline which is by some estimates Europe's fourth largest airline opened up 63 new routes, including 30 in Denmark, 18 in Sweden and 15 in Norway. In December the Norwegian low cost carrier flew 815,562 passengers. This is an increase of 163,667, equivalent to 25% compared to December last year.

Passenger growth came at a cost though - Yield for December 2009 is expected to be 17% lower than in December 2008. The change is based primarily on the removal of fuel surcharges and changes to network, as well as phasing in new aircraft with more capacity and lower per passenger seat costs.

Cabin factor for the whole group was 76% in December, which is an improvement of two percentage points compared to the same month last year. In terms of operational performance it was not a good month for time keeping. The company carried 99.4% of its scheduled flights in December, of which 61.8% departed on time. Punctuality for the whole year though was a much more respectable 81%.

"December was an exceptional month in terms of precision. The month was characterized by much snow and bad weather on the continent and along the Norwegian coast. In combination with many travellers in December, staffing, especially at Gardermoen, was too small to handle the traffic fast enough. We have now put more effort into to fix the situation, "says CEO Bjorn Kjos.

London City Copenhagen Flights

2009-12-19T12:03:00.000Z

Cimber Sterling is pulling out of the crowded Gatwick - Copenhagen market (where it has been up against easyJet and Norwegian) and will instead fly to and from London City.

SAS has recently announced it will stop flying between London City and Copenhagen.

When SAS closes its route between London City Airport and Copenhagen, in the spring 2010, Cimber Air will be moving its London route from Gatwick to London City Airport in the heart of London.

"We had already sought slots at London City, so we would be ready to move into if the opportunity arose. And it does now, when SAS withdraws, " said Bjarne Rasmussen, sales and marketing director Cimber Air. "We have a clear expectation that our customers - both business travelers and those who must leave the city, will appreciate that we now move to the inner city."

Cimber Air will fly to London City Airport twice daily. You can not operate larger aircraft at The Docklands airport, so Cimber Sterling will operate propeller-type ATR with room for 46 passengers. Cimber is well aware of the airport when it has flown the route for SAS since the Dash-8 aircraft were grounded.

Cimber Air continues to fly between Billund and Gatwick, twice daily, Monday to Friday.

Ålesund - Norway Photo

2009-11-28T18:15:00.001Z

Nordic Travel Deals

2009-11-19T11:51:00.000Z

It's sale time !

All on the same day I have just got emails from SAS, Iceland Express and Hotel Connect telling me about their great Scandinavia travel deals :

Hotel Connect - Hotel Connect Buy 2 Stay 3 on Christmas market hotels. Stockholm and Copenhagen are included in the promotion as well as a host of other European cities. Shame not to see Gothenburg on the list. It's great for Christmas time.
SAS - SAS have got the start of 2010 on sale. Fly from the fifth of Jan until the fifteenth of March 2010. One way flights start at £59 one way and that is for Gatwick to Bergen as well as Manchester / Heathrow to Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm. Other routes include Scandinavia from Heathrow, Manchester, Aberdeen, Birmingham (only Copenhagen) and Newcastle (only Stavanger). Book Now.
Iceland Express - last but not least and with the shortest booking period is Iceland Express. They are offering flights to Reykjavik from London Stansted and Gatwick for £55 each way. Flights up until the 15th December. Maybe a chance to see The Northern Lights ? Bookings at this special price only at http://www.icelandexpress.com/cluboffer/ and only until midnight (GMT) on Friday 20th November.

Iceland Express to start New York flights

2009-09-29T11:12:00.003+01:00

It seems New York might be getting regular visits from Icelandic low cost carrier Iceland Express before long.

Iceland Express New York Flights

Iceland Express are expected to officially announce that they will be offering flight to The big apple to Europe with a stop (or stopover) in Reykjavik.

No word on prices or schedule yet.

Obama travels to Nordic Region

2009-09-29T10:31:00.002+01:00

Barack Obama is on the way to Scandinavia.
On Friday, he will fly to Copenhagen - to help his hometown Chicago get the Summer Olympics 2016.

Yesterday the White House confirmed that Barack Obama will visit Copenhagen on Friday.

The International Olympic Committee, IOC are meeting to decide whether Tokyo, Madrid, Rio or Chicago will host the summer Olympics 2016 - and the U.S. president wants to give his old hometown as much help as he can.
- He decided last weekend that he would be there and do what he can, says adviser Valerie Jarrett to NBC.
It has long been known that Michelle Obama would be coming, but now it turns out she will be joined by her husband.
- The president does not want to leave anything to chance, "says Jarrett.
Whether the Obama couple would be taking Air Force One away for the weekend and make a little holiday out of it is not known, but the Copenhagen residents can count on tight security and flight passengers flying from Copenhagen on Friday should check in early as there might be delays and extra security checks!

It is also thought that both the president and king of Spain will be in Copenhagen to support the Madrid bid.

Win a northern lights cruise

2009-09-11T06:08:00.000+01:00

Visit Norway and Hurtigruten are giving away an Arctic Highlights cruise in a free to enter online competition. Here is the competition entry form and here are more details on this fantastic sounding cruise which departs from Tromso, Norway and travels north in search for Aurora Borealis.

UK and Eire residents only.

Competition closing date 12th March 2010.

Good Luck !

Iceland Express Stansted flights

2009-09-09T14:59:00.004+01:00

Iceland Express is to resume its London Stansted to Reykjavik, Iceland flights.

As reported here earlier this year Iceland's low cost airline decided to switch it's London airport to Gatwick from Stansted.

Well, that decision hasn't been reversed but the Stansted flights are coming back ! From next summer Iceland Express will be flying from Stansted to Reykjavik twice a week with a convenient Friday and Monday - ideal for a long weekend in Iceland.

Win a holiday to Iceland

2009-08-24T22:59:00.000+01:00

The prize features:

* Return flights from London to Reykjavik and return airport transfers.
* 2 nights accommodation in a boutique hotel including breakfast each day.
* Super Quad Biking, Snowmobiling and RIB glacial lagoon activities.

If you fancy taking a spectacular adventure packed trip to a unique setting in Iceland just answer the following question correctly...

Question: What is written on the military briefcase situated in G.I. Joe headquarters?

a. Command
b. Mars
c. General
To enter simply email us at competitions@skymovies.com (make sure you keep or enter ' G.I. Joe Competition ' in the subject line in the email). Don't forget to include your name, address and mobile/daytime contact number along with your answer!

Closing date: Monday 7th September 2009.

Get more competitions with holidays as prizes at winholiday.co.uk

Link to comp at SkyMovies

Dave goes to Skane erm Skåne

2009-08-17T11:22:00.001+01:00

Opinionated Londoner Dave takes a visit to Malmo erm Malmö

Iceland flights from Birmingham

2009-08-11T21:11:00.003+01:00

Hot rumour :

Iceland Express is to start flying from Birmingham (UK) to Reykjavik from summer 2010.

You heard it hear first ;)

Win a holiday to Finland

2009-08-07T18:07:00.002+01:00

If you have ever wanted to visit Tampere, Finland here is a chance to go for free.

You could win flights from London, 3 nights hotel, dinner and a city tour.

The comp is at the Time Out website

Competition Closes on 23rd August 2009.

Good Luck

Billund Airport 2009 Passengers Down

2009-08-04T08:32:00.002+01:00

During the first six months of 2009, Billund Airport lost over 10% of its passengers compared to last year. Despite being home to Legoland, Denmark Billund which is Denmark's second biggest airport has lost passengers in all sectors - in part due to the loss of Sterling Airlines. There are flights to Billund from Cimber Sterling, BA, KLM and Ryanair among others - though curiously the airport is not served by the Scandinavian flag carrier SAS.

In July 2009 Billund had 282,000 passengers a reduction of approximately 33,000 compared to last year, according to recent figures from Denmark's second largest airport.

Thebiggest decline was in domestic traffic which fell by 17% to 10,000, charter traffic was down 13% to 131,000, while traffic on international routes fell 8% to 139,000.

Iceland to join EU - affect on travel

2009-07-17T19:21:00.004+01:00

It's still a good while away, but it seems as though Iceland will be joining the European Union.

From a travel perspective, this might :

Make flights a bit cheaper - if flight taxes are classed as EU rather than non-EU as now. There are proposals to change UK aviation duty though so don't count on this.
Make it a bit more convenient to go to Iceland, currency wise - you will be able to spend Euros.
Mean you will no longer be able to enjoy duty free goods when flying to and from Iceland, as now.

Cheaper flights to Helsinki

2009-07-17T09:03:00.003+01:00

PING!, Email from SAS thougt I would share. Also look at this flight comparison though as easyJet is also doing Helsinki flights but from Gatwick. Helsinki is in the Euro zone and wasn't cheap to start with so I'm not suprised there is a flight sale on!

"SAS/Blue1 have just reduced their price from London Heathrow to Helsinki; you can now save 15% on flights*. London Heathrow - Helsinki before £69 - NOW £59 one-way! Hurry, sale ends on Monday! Book Now.

Not only that, but you can get a 2 for 1 Audio City Tour (worth £22) to explore the capital. Read more. And remember, kids get 25% discount.

* Fares incl. taxes and charges. Subject to availability. Terms and conditions apply. Travel period: 1 August – 30 September 2009."

Icelandair Glasgow & Manchester Flights

2009-07-16T11:02:00.000+01:00

Icelandair is pleased to announce increased service from Glasgow and Manchester to Iceland and Icelandair’s connecting North American destinations from 25 September 2009. The increased service adds two flights per week to the current autumn/winter schedule from both Glasgow and Manchester. The increased service operates four flights per week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Flights will operate as a "triangle route" using the following routing: Reykjavik (KEF) – Manchester (MAN) – Glasgow (GLA) – Reykjavik (KEF). The schedule fits into Icelandair’s "hub and spoke" system, allowing passengers to connect onwards to Icelandair’s North American destinations. The connection times to North America are short, resulting in elapsed flying times comparable or better than the competition.

Flight departs Reykjavik at 08:00, arriving Manchester at 11:35. Flight departs Manchester at 12:25, arriving Glasgow at 13:30. Flight departs Glasgow at 14:20, arriving Reykjavik at 15:40. These times allow for short and convenient connections to/from Icelandair’s destinations in the United States and Canada.

Travel Insurance

2009-07-06T09:51:00.001+01:00

Quick and easy travel insurance

Your own travel insurance is highly reccomended, many tour operators insist on their customers having comprehensive travel insurance. These days a lot of people build their own holiday or city break with flights+hotels but overlook the travel insurance. Even if you have an EHIC card. It's your peace of mind in case your luggage gets lost, or someone in your family becomes ill.

Get a travel insurance quote now

Win a holiday to Denmark

2009-06-29T10:54:00.002+01:00

Here's a chance to win a holiday to Denmark including ferry travel with DFDS from Harwich in Esssex. It's a motorhome holiday and there is one question to enter for your chance to win.

They are asking how many kilometres of coastline does Denmark have ?

Enter here

This competition closes on 1st July.

If you like free to enter competitions with holidays / flights as prizes check out win holiday

Jamie Oliver and Scandic Hotels

2009-06-12T22:11:00.003+01:00

Apparently Jamie Oliver has designed the kids menu at Scandic Hotels.

Band playing on Iceland Express flight

2009-06-07T00:07:00.001+01:00

In flight entertainment with Iceland Express!

Win a trip to Reykjavik

2009-05-26T22:07:00.002+01:00

Win a weekend break in Iceland

Spotted a chance to win a free holiday to Reykjavik (UK only) with flights and hotel for 2 people over a weekend.

The comp is here and is being run by the cartridge people, who sell printer ink cartridges, paper, that sort of thing.

Closing date for entries is 31st July 2009.

Legoland Billund

2009-04-30T09:22:00.001+01:00

Been looking for information on travelling to Legoland in Denmark and found this page from DFDS

For 2009 Legoland is now a major resort because it is combined with Lalandia, an amazing destination for family holidays with a superb aquadome and excellent facilities including bowling, a huge lego room, tennis, face painting, archery etc etc.

Under 21 Euro football in Sweden

2009-04-23T13:50:00.001+01:00

U21 Euro football cup

What dates are the UEFA under 21 finals games in Sweden ?

The U21 final tournament will be held in Sweden in June 2009. The UEFA Under 21 Football Championship Final will be played in Malmö. The tournament will be from 15th June - 29th June.

Which Teams will be playing ?

For the finals there are two groups :
In group A - Sweden, Belarus, Italy and Serbia
In group B - Spain, Germany, England, Finland

The Venues
More information on the venues
Bizzare story about burgers causing a change of venue!