Epic Scandinavian Camping Road Trip
- Nov 16, 2017
- 3 min read
During June/July this year, Vince and I embarked on an incredible 5-week long road trip. We flew into Warsaw, Poland and from there bussed our way over to Berlin, Germany to pick up our rental car. From there we took off to explore Denmark, Norway and Sweden. As ambitious as ever we quickly realised there was not enough time to tick off everything on our list, but what we did see and do was absolutely incredible. We will just have to make sure we go back again in the future to check out the very northern parts of Sweden/Norway/Finland.
Why we flew to Warsaw from London
It was the cheapest way to get there. At the time it cost us only £60 with Ryanair for the both of us with a bag included. It was also an excuse to buy some cheap camping gear before we headed up to the more expensive North. We highly recommend the chain Decathlon. We were able to buy an awesome pop up tent, sleeping bags and mats, jackets, lights, pillows and about 10 boxes of energy bars (because food is expensive in Scandinavia) without breaking the bank.
The bus from Warsaw to Berlin
We booked a bus with FlixBus online (https://www.flixbus.com/). It was about 12 Euros each for a direct 9 hour bus ride. The buses go four times a day at 8.00, 14.00, 20.00 and 23.00. The earlier you book the bus the better, it does go up in price.
We got the bus at Warsaw Młociny Metro (it comes up on google maps as PolskiBus).
Even though we booked through FlixBus, our bus actually had PolskiBus written on the side, so don’t worry about getting on the wrong bus. It should either look like one of the two below…if not, you are probably on the wrong bus.
We arrived at Berlin Central Bus Station (ZOB) which is in the western district Charlottenburg. From there it is a simple 2 minute walk to Messe Nord/ICC station located on the Ringbahn circle line. This line is served by the S-Bahn lines S41/S42 and S46 that are linked to the U-Bahn station of Kaiserdamm…which means you can get anywhere you need to downtown.
Why we rented a car in Berlin
We rented a small car from Hertz mainly because you didn’t need an international drivers licence (in Poland you do) and they allowed us the greatest amount of miles. Whenever renting a car for a roadtrip make sure you check the allowed miles, the charges can be extortionate otherwise.
Initially we planned to take our road trip all the way up through Scandinavia down the other side through Finland and around the Baltics before we headed back to Poland. Of course this turned out to be a ridiculous idea for two reasons: time and car rental limitations. It took us 5 weeks to enjoy going around Denmark, Sweden and Norway without spending every waking moment driving. Also it turns out that most car rental companies are strict about which country borders you can cross. Hertz Germany allowed us to take the car into Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland but it wouldn't allow us to take it through any Baltic countries. To do so you would have to rent in one of said countries.
Nevertheless we had an unbelievable time driving, hiking, boating and generally exploring our way around.
Check out my other posts related to our road trip in Scandinavia.
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