Scandinavia & Northern Europe Discovery

Ports

• Stockholm
  

• Visby, Gotland Island
  

• Ronne, Bornholm
  

• Sassnitz, Rügen Island
  

• Warnemünde (Berlin)
  

• Copenhagen
  

  There’s much to treasure in glorious Copenhagen, one of Europe’s most beautiful capital cities. No visit is complete without indulging your inner child at the Tivoli Gardens, a fantastical amusement park and pleasure garden that melds the atmosphere of 19th-century Europe with recreations of Far East architecture, all amid wonderfully manicured grounds. After paying your respects to the city’s iconic statue of Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid, shop to your heart’s content on Strøget, an elegant lane flanked by sophisticated boutiques housed in graceful buildings. Although its exterior is handsomely austere, the interior rooms of the 18th-century Christiansborg Palace are sure to dazzle you with their extravagant stucco ceilings, brilliant chandeliers and gilded furniture. Fast forward to the 19th century at the spectacular Copenhagen Botanical Garden, where innumerable plant species are showcased in absolutely stunning historical glasshouses. Should you have the stomach for it, take in the entire city from the tower of the Church of our Saviour, which must be reached via vertiginous exterior spiral staircase. No matter how you’ve spent your day, a terrific place to wind down is the quayside Nyhavn district, where colorful historic buildings host an eclectic choice of cafés, bars and restaurants.

• Frederikshavn
  

• Oslo
  

  Norway is a land steeped in myth, where irascible gods armed with frost and lightning once inspired Viking clans to plunder foreign lands. These days, genteel customs imported from mainland Europe have softened the country’s hard edges, but traces of an unruly past still abound. The exceptional museums dotting the Bygdøy Peninsula hold some of the city’s foremost attractions, including a thousand-year-old longship that was preserved in mud and the 12th-century Gol Stave Church, an exemplar of Norway’s distinctive wood sanctuaries. No less fascinating is a visit to the 1892 Fram, a legendary ship revered for her vital role in early polar explorations. To witness the evolution of Oslo’s soul, contrast battle-hardened Akershus Fortress, a ruggedly elegant citadel wrapped in nearly impregnable ramparts, with the neoclassical Royal Palace, whose formal exterior encloses sumptuously appointed rooms. You might wish to view Edvard Munch’s iconic The Scream, which hangs in the outstanding Norwegian National Gallery amid priceless European and Scandinavian masterworks. In expansive Frogner Park, wander among Gustav Vigeland’s thought-provoking sculptures, and if you’ve worked up an appetite, choose among the many restaurants and cafés lining the charming waterfront district of Aker Brygge.