We’re cruising this July. On the off chance that the Teeming Millions may have spent some time on this itinerary – what would you recommend as Don’t Miss (or, Stay Away) at these stops?
All of these are one-day stops, except for an overnight in Reykjavik:
Copenhagen
Bergen, Norway
Alesund, Norway
Akureyri, Iceland
Isafjordur, Iceand
Reykjavik
Djupivogur, Iceland
Inverness, Scotland
Edinburgh, Scotland
I can’t be very helpful, but we’re taking a similar cruise after you, so I’ll be interested to see the responses.
Copenhagen is walkable. We strolled out to the Little Mermaid statue and then through Kastellet, a star-shaped military fortress-turned-park.
Edinburgh is great for Scotch tasting. The castle is interesting. There are some Harry Potter/Jo Rowling-related sites (she wrote at a cafe there). The zoo is very nice.
My wonderful post was eaten, so second try.
These were stops from my cruise 3 years ago that match yours:
Bergen - we took a Fjord cruise, and I wish we’d just wandered in town on our own. The area not far from the ship looked very walkable with lots to see.
Edinburgh - we took the train from where the ship anchored into the city, and we explored on our own - at least as much as we felt like exploring in the rain. We lunched at Deacon Brodie’s Tavern - we got a table at a window on the 2nd floor - really nice!
Inverness - Bus trip to Culloden and Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle. We enjoyed it, but my favorite trip in Scotland was when we went to Falkirk and Stirling - the wheel is amazing, and I highly recommend going there if you can.
From Akureyri, we went on a bus trip to Lake Myvatn, Namaskard, Godafoss Waterfall. It was amazing!
From Reykjavik: Lake Kleifarvatn, Krysuvik, Stokkseyri, Eyrarbakki. I loved it and wish we’d had more time in Iceland.
I envy you - it sounds like a great trip!!
It’s interesting you should say that. We spent last night drilling down into Bergen, and it seemed like the thing to do is the fjord, and our choice is whether to drive around it or take a boat across it.
We took the boat down and a bus back, but it was a looooooong ride each way. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the fjord looked pretty much like any river I’d ever been on.
I didn’t really think The Little Mermaid is worth going out your way to see although this statue is not far away!
Depending on your tastes, the Design Museum is great, or there are good views from the top of a couple of towers - one with steps spiraling around the outside, and the other without actual steps at all - just a continuous upward spiral ramp past various interesting rooms; it’s just called the Round Tower.
On our last day, we did the very tourist thing of having a meal outside on the quay at Nyhavn. Very nice.
The Tivoli Gardens are fun, but you can probably make better use of your time.
There are also various boat trips around the city centre’s various canals, which is an easy way to see some of the more historic parts.