The Beat of the Nordic Heart: Vibrant Copenhagen and Stockholm

Linda and I recently returned from our first Road Scholar trip,"Beat of the Nordic Heart" a nine day visit to the fabulous cities of Copenhagen and Stockholm. If you haven't experienced the warm and vibrant lifestyle of these Scandinavian capitols, this is an excellent way to to get acquainted!

This is a great introduction to two beautiful cities. It was a great midsummer trip.

An excellent experience. A great way to more intimately travel in this great world of ours. Especially loved the educational component.

Great experience. Two wonderful harbor-side cities. Lots of good tours and independent time. Very good food in historic settings. One thing I learned: say yes to the Boar Schnitzel.

Visiting Copenhagen and Stockholm was more enjoyable than I expected due to the outstanding group leaders.

This was a wonder trip. My first time to both Copenhagen and Stockholm. First Road Scholar trip as well. Both group leaders were amazing, informative and enthusiastic. Looking forward to going on another adventure very soon.

I truly enjoyed this trip and the focus on learning about how the Danes and Swedish people live. There was quite a lot of free time on the trip, which I liked. Our tour guides were very knowledgeable and helpful. Lizabet was extremely kind and patient with everyone as was Caroline. Since I usually travel by myself, I was concerned about being with a group of people. However, it was an enjoyable group and having the free time helped me to adjust to the group tour. Many thanks to all.

This was our 4th RS and 7th land tour. We would have been better off doing this trip on our own. The two things we considered value added were the evening spent with a local Dane and the morning spend with a young American mother who had married a Dane. Rooms at the Phoenician were very small and the singles were even smaller. Upgraded at the Hilton so rooms were nice. Group leaders were very good. Two out of the 3 local lecturers/guides in Copenhagen were not up to RS standards. One lunch and farewell dinner in Stockholm were tasty, remainder of the few included meals were adequate. Wine and beer were only included at last meal. Most days started at 8 or 8:30 but early hour usually not necessary to avoid crowds. All sightseeing within city limits. No bus excursions to some of the interesting surrounding places. Lots of free time. We spent quite a bit of money on admissions and meals. Elevators available at railway stations. Had to change trains in Malmo.

Road Scholar introduced me to Copenhagen and Stockholm and I fell in love with both cities--can't wait to return. This was a dream program and trip. Thanks a mil!

This program is an excellent way to be introduced to Copenhagen and Stockholm, two fascinating cities.

I would encourage everyone to consider this program. Our group was the perfect size (15), a mix of couples and singles from many locations in US. Program content let us see the highlights of Stockholm and Copenhagen. Design of program allowed for ample free time to see sites/museums of interest. We arrived 1.5 days before start of program in Copenhagen and stayed 2 extra days after program ended in Stockholm; this extra time helped squeeze in a few more museums. Hotels were nice and included meals were very good. Hanne, our group leader in Copenhagen, was amazing!

Visit Copenhagen and Stockholm - two Scandinavian jewels.

Fabulous tours of Copenhagen and Stockholm. I had so many interesting and new experiences with fun people while and staying in lovely hotels.

Great trip, looking forward to another one in the future

I loved this trip. Our guides were wonderful. The accommodations were in the middle of everything, great locations. I enjoyed the extra free time to explore and expand my horizons. We had an evening in a Danish home, an architectural tour of new, contemporary and green, buildings and a morning in a neighborhood of young families with a young mother as our guide. I think this adventure was exactly as advertised. We knew what was included. There was a lot of walking (which I enjoyed) and the lectures and the sights were informative. I would highly recommend this trip.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first adventure to Scandinavia. I would never have been able to experience Denmark and Sweden the same way had I tried to plan this on my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first experience with Road Scholar. As a solo traveler, I was a bit concerned about feeling out of place but that was definitely not the case. I plan to travel with Road Scholar again very soon.

The Beat of the Nordic Heart exceeded our expectations! Accommodations in both Copenhagen and Stockholm were in central, safe locations and the service there was exceptional. The lectures, tours, meals, and overall experience gets an A+. We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the other 14 participants, just the right group size. Our tour guides, Hanne and Gabriella, went above and beyond throughout the trip. My husband is blind and while we are quite mobile, group members readily stepped up to assist whenever needed. Also of note is the exemplary care we received when my sister became quite ill. Hanne proved to be a compassionate, problem solving, and comforting friend - not "just a tour guide" - but a trusted friend, for which we are ever grateful. Gabriella provided the same care by assisting w/ logistics and even providing for a birthday cake at our farewell gathering. We definitely recommend this trip and look forward to our next Road Scholar adventure!

I really enjoyed our trip to Denmark and Sweden. I am a blind individual and had no trouble negotiating any of the tours or transportation. I found the lectures to be very beneficial and were presented such that I could consume the information without any issues. The tour guides and other participants were very willing to assist me in any way needed, which I truly appreciated. I would certainly attend another Road Scholar tour in the future.

This trip was EXCELLENT! A perfect mix of museums, city overviews, meals, free time; the two hotels were superb. Our Copenhagen experience was slightly better overall than Stockholm, mainly because of the leaders. Hanne Thomsen (Copenhagen) was the best guide I've had on all my nine RS trips -- engaging, caring, funny, knowledgeable, enthusiastic, helpful.... On the other hand, our leader in Stockholm, Annika Swahn, was rather aloof and less engaged. I felt like we were commodities to her and she was simply doing a job of checklists. We were not a "needy" group, but she was only slightly interested in learning our names or sharing the beauties and unique life of Stockholm with us. She seemed to forget that we had not been to her city before and often hurried over information or directions. This, in contrast to all the other guides I've had with RS trips. But, after a wait of two years, I'm SO GLAD I stayed on the list and took the trip. To make it all even better, my son and adult granddaughter flew to Stockholm from Colorado and we spent 4 days in Stockholm, and then rode the train back to Copenhagen for another 5 days. I was able to be our cities guide! Thank you, Road Scholar, for yet another exciting, well-designed foreign experience!!

Road Scholars is an organization that knows what it is doing. You can feel confident that your wellbeing is foremost in their planning and execution. If you want to avoid thee heat of summer, the Nordic adventure is a winner.

This is an excellent tour with great tour leaders. Our Copenhagen leader was knowledgeable and passionate about her country. She was able to learn a bit about each of us over our 4 day stay. She made us feel welcomed and almost like we were visiting her personally. Likewise, our leader in Stockholm was knowledgeable and passionate about the city. She made sure that we understood how to navigate all of the public transportation options to travel around. However I have to comment about Road Scholar Travel department. I have traveled for years using many corporate travel services. Road Scholar Travel is the ABSOLUTE WORST TRAVEL SERVICE that I have ever encountered. Their customer service is poor. When trying to get ahold of them, you get put on indefinite hold if by phone and you can expect a canned email response a week later. Their message to us is effectively, “sorry, we’re too busy taking care of new customer bookings and can’t accommodate you.” It is clear that revenue is priority #1, not customer service and satisfaction. We’re still waiting for a response about how to get a refund for our return flight home that was canceled by the airline. When calling Travel, the operator doesn’t know the answer. Road Scholar Travel has provided such a bad experience, that we will think long and hard before booking another trip.

I was hesitant about doing a tour group, as I tend to like to do things on my own, but I really enjoyed the small group flex program tour. It was a great combination of structure and open time, and I really enjoyed the group leaders and my fellow travellers. I would definitely do it again, and I fully recommend it to others.

Excellent group leaders. Both of the leaders we had on this program were very knowledgeable about their country and did a great job organizing the outings and interacting with the participants.