Travel
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
northern Europe
DH and I are in the early phases of planning a northern European trip for next summer. We mainly want to see Sweden and Copenhagen. We'd like to be there for 1-2 weeks. We've never been on a cruise before because we like to explore on our own, but a cruise like this may allow us to see more with little time.Would you recommend a cruise or just rent a car/take the ferry?
Has anyone ever been? Any tips?
Do you recommend learning Swedish?
TIA!
Re: northern Europe
I've been on a Baltic cruise and really enjoyed it. While St.Petersburg is worth more than two days, the cruise option takes care of the often-annoying visa situation (if you hire a guide or do a group tour - even independently of the cruiseline - you will be covered by the guide company's blanket visa). Places like Tallinn and Riga are small enough to see quite a bit in a single port day, and thanks to the geography and geology, the ports tend to be very close to the city centers. Also, considering the prices in much of Scandinavia, cruising is very cost effective since your hotel and food are covered at an international price instead of a local one (although if you're considering Oceania, I guess maybe cost isn't an issue).
It can actually be a bit difficult to visit that much of the Baltics by car/ferry/train, since roads tend to be small and often winding, ferries prices can add up, and train service varies by country. However, if you just wanted to explore Sweden and Denmark it wouldn't be too difficult
As for learning Swedish, if you're planning to spend most of your 2 weeks there, it would be nice to know some basics, but it's definitely not essential. Scandinavians tend to be very good at English, and last weekend whenever my friends replied to a Swedish speaker in Norwegian (the languages are similar enough that they can understand each other), the Swedes would switch to English. If you end up doing the Baltic cruise, it really wouldn't be worth learning Swedish, because you could only use it for a few days. You would be better off learning a few polite expressions in all the different languages of the ports (Swedish, Danish, Russian, Finnish, German, Estonian, Latvian, etc).
I'm leaving for a Baltic cruise next week - so excited!
We're visiting Copenhagen and Arhus in Denmark, as well as Oslo, Helsinki, Warnemunde, Tallinn, Stockholm, and St. Petersburg. A cruise is great if you want to visit several different places and to take the headache out of travel concerns. My husband and I self-toured in Ireland last year, and even though we had an absolute blast, we're looking forward to the ship taking us where we need to go! 
If you're only really interested in visiting Sweden and Denmark, then it may be best to do it on your own. I'll be sure to post about the cruise when I get back! 
No need to learn Swedish.
In Copenhagen, try to stay near Tivoli. That's near the center of the city, and the action. It's really a wonderful city.
I definitely suggest a cruise for that area. It's the only way to get into Russia without a pre-arranged visa. A great way to get a taste of the region.
Look at the Norwegian and Princess Cruisline websites. They both offer cruises out of Copenhagen that stop in Russia, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and some even Germany.
If in your budget, stay at Hotel Nimb. DH and I stayed there 2 years ago (we ended up getting engaged there!) and loved everything about it. And, obviously, it is conveniently located near Tivoli.
We stayed at Hotel 27, which was very reasonably priced. They serve a complimentary light later afternoon/early evening meal. With hot food! It's really nice. They also have a lovely complimentary breakfast.
It's also next to an ice bar.