With almost 24 hour daylight, Scandinavia is the place to head to for an action-packed city break during the summer. Whether it’s fun, culture, outdoor lifestyle or quirky attractions you’re after, Scandinavia’s cities are perfect for cramming it all in while the sun’s shining.
Malmö
Where: Sweden
Fun: Kids and adults alike can’t fail to love the Toy Museum, which has collected thousands of dolls, action figures, Happy Meal toys and train sets.
Culture: For a museum fix, Malmöhus is the place to head for. This complex contains royal apartments, the state museum, an extensive art gallery. The technology and maritime museum is just opposite.
Outdoors: Either knock back a few drinks on the cafe terraces of the picturesque square, Lilla Torg, or get the bucket and spade out on the hugely popular Ribersborg Beach.
Quirky: For odd buildings, West Harbour is the place. It’s dominated by the unique Turning Torso skyscraper, while the housing looks hugely futuristic and the giant Oresund Bridge stretches across the sea in the background.
Reykjavik
Where: Iceland
Fun: The drinks are expensive, but the whole city embarks on a massive pub crawl on Friday and Saturday nights. The ‘runtur’, as it is known, is a great city-wide party. Well worth getting caught up in.
Culture: Learn about Icelandic history and see plenty of bloodthirsty Vikings in the excellent Saga Museum.
Outdoors: The ferocious Gullfoss waterfall and the shooting waterspouts at Geysir are two of the highlights of the Golden Circle tour. This easy day trip can be booked through Isango for from £56.
Quirky: Iceland straddles the American and Eurasian continental plates. This is best seen in the Thingvellir National Park – also on the Golden Circle tour. It’s full of bizarre cracks and fissures.
Copenhagen
Where: Denmark
Fun: The iconic city-centre amusement park, Tivoli, is Denmark’s most popular tourist attraction. It has plenty of stomach-churning thrill rides for the kids, as well as extensive gardens and lots of restaurants for the mums and dads.
Culture: The Danish capital is packed with world class museums. Among the more interesting are the Danish Design Centre, the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek and the National Museum.
Outdoors: A short train ride away from central Copenhagen is the lovely port town of Helsingor. The castle is a must visit, and Shakespeare fans will recognise it as Elsinore, home of Hamlet.
Quirky: The Wonderful World of Hans Christian Andersen on Radhuspladsen offers the chance to listen to a huge range of fairy tales, whilst walking through moving scenes from them.
Oslo
Where: Norway
Fun: The forests and hills surrounding Oslo are great for going out and exploring, and the famous Holmenkollen ski jump is nearby. This giant contraption also hosts a Ski Museum.
Culture: There are lots of innovative attractions in Oslo, and amongst the best are the Nobel Peace Centre, the Viking Ship Museum and the Frammuseet. The latter contains the giant ship that Roald Amundsen used on the first successful trip to the South Pole.
Outdoors: Oslo is on a fjord, and on a sunny day, it’s best to do as the Norwegians do. Buy a disposable barbecue from the supermarket, then get the ferry out to one of the Oslofjord islands.
Quirky: Vigeland Park would have to be one of the oddest public parks in the world. It’s full of hundreds of bizarre sculptures, and the central monument is a mass of writhing bodies.
Helsinki
Where: Finland
Fun: Helsinki has a seriously cool bar scene, from rock bars to cafe terraces. The hick-themed Zetor restaurant opposite the train station turns bizarrely popular at night, while some of the coolest hangouts are in the Kallio district.
Culture: There are a whole host of museums in the Cable Factory on the sea front, while the National Gallery and Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art are where art fans should put on their list.
Outdoors: The Suomenlinna island fortress makes for a great half-day trip for the scenic ferry journey alone.
Quirky: A quintessential Finnish experience is having a sauna. Most hotels have one, but the Yrjonkadun Uimahalli is a great place to go – providing you’re prepare to go swimming in the nude and satisfy the no-clothing policy.
This article was originally written for AOL UK.
Copyright David Whitley
