Readers’ favourite breaks in Scandinavia and Finland

Guardian Travel readers shared favourite short breaks across Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, from summer hiking and wild camping in Jotunheimen to island‑hopping in the inner Oslofjord. Ben described a week’s hiking in Jotunheimen national park, 230 miles north of Oslo, last summer: four days of challenging hiking and wild camping with “hardly anyone else”, lush green valleys and still glacial lakes.

He noted the area still had snow to traverse in July and flagged Norway’s network of signposted trails and huts on the Norwegian Trekking Association website. Other readers recommended coastal and urban escapes. Ben Dunne wrote of a family cabin on the Jutland coast near Aarhus with pine trees, swimming jetties and quiet beaches, plus the Aarhus Kunstmuseum and Cafe Folkeven.

Anisa highlighted Stavanger’s Gamle Stavanger old town, Boresanden for surfing and saunas, Preikestolen for fjord views and a ferry to Flor og Fjære’s tropical gardens (which open 9 May). Esther recommended Lahti in the south of Finnish Lakeland, noting its rail link to Helsinki, small cafes and long walks over the frozen Lake Vesijärvi.

She mentioned Kahvila Kariranta in a former railway station, ice skating and cross‑country skiing, and that saunas in Finland are viewed as a necessity rather than a luxury.

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