The Scanrail Pass - the budget way to see Scandinavia
Scandinavia is such a fantastic place to visit, with its vast rural areas, its clean and quiet towns, its vibrant metropolitan areas such as Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen and Oslo, where you can always find a good night out and more besides. But the thing that always puts the budget traveller off Scandinavia is its expense. Like most countries that have a very good standard of living, the Scandinavian countries tend to be a bit on the expensive side for the visitor.
But the good news is that the Scanrail Pass is here to make your budget stretch further, from the fjords of Norway to the lakes of Finland, from the red painted houses of Sweden to the lush green fields of Denmark.
Basically the ScanRail pass covers Swedish Railways, Norwegian State Railways, Danish State Railways, Arriva in Denmark, Finnish Railways, Connex in Sweden and Norway, and even the Berlin Night Express to Sweden. And if that’s not enough, the pass also covers a number of small railways including the fantastic Inland Railway of Sweden, which runs from Mora to Gällivare. Travelling on the Inland Railway is a holiday in itself - running from central Sweden right up to beyond the Arctic Circle, this railway was originally developed for freight, but runs tourist trains in the summer, with lots of stops to drink coffee and look at interesting features.
So, how does the Scanrail Pass work? The options are that the passes can be bought either for 21 consecutive days, or for 5, 8 or 10 days within a two month period.
Prices range from €165 to €370, depending upon whether you count as youth, adult or senior, and also upon the number of days you choose. There are also reasonable prices for children’s tickets.
The Scanrail Pass opens up some great possibilities for travel within Scandinavia.
