Scandinavia on €32/Day: Copenhagen, Oslo & Stockholm
DATA DASHBOARD
- Daily Rate (Per Person): €32.25
- Total Trip Cost (2 People): €451.44
- Trip Length: 7 Days
- Route: Copenhagen – Oslo – Stockholm
- Trip Date: May 2026
- Accommodation: Hostels, Guesthouse
- Currencies: DKK / NOK / SEK (€ throughout)
- Primary Tools: Booking.com, Agoda, Flixbus, Lidl, Revolut
| ITEM | COST (2P) | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| Stay | €203.00 | Per person: €17.50 a night – Copenhagen, Bedwood Hostel (Agoda). €24.00 a night – Oslo, Oslo Stay Guesthouse (Booking.com). €21.25 a night – Stockholm, Nomad Cave (Booking.com). |
| Buses | €82.44 | Flixbus, per person: €20.61 – Copenhagen-Oslo (overnight) €20.61 – Oslo-Stockholm |
| Food | €122.00 | €8.71/day per person Lidl (Denmark, Sweden). Rema 1000 (Norway). |
| Sights | €44.00 | Per person: €0 – Munch Museum (free Wednesday evening) €22 – Vasa Museum |
| TOTAL | €451.44 | 7 days at €32.25/day per person |
One week of travel cost me less than a day of work in Australia.
Flixbus
Check Omio for bus connections, but book direct for best price. I did both routes with Flixbus:
- Copenhagen → Oslo: overnight, €20.61/person
- Oslo → Stockholm: €20.61/person
Booked a couple of weeks before. Prices were double closer to departure.
I found a promo code for 25% off. Base fare was around €28. Big savings. 25% is unusually high, but 10% codes are common.
The overnight Copenhagen–Oslo bus mattered a lot here. One fewer hostel night to pay for.
Accommodation
- Booking.com: Booking.com has the widest selection and usually the lowest prices. Manually sort by “Price (lowest first)” and filter “Good: 7+” to remove the bad listings.
Prices on weekends are brutal. A €20 hostel bed on Tuesday becomes €40 on Friday, or higher on some holiday season weekends.
We timed the trip to avoid that as much as possible. Paid per person:
- Copenhagen: €17.50/night. Capsule Hotel Nyhavn63 (Bedwood Hostel is another name for the same place). 2 nights. Agoda offered a discount.
- Oslo: €24/night. Oslo Stay Guesthouse. Double room. Booking.com.
- Stockholm: €21.25/night. Nomad Cave, dorm. 2 nights. Booking.com.
Five paid nights total. Night six was the overnight bus.
First night was technically free. Landed in Copenhagen around 1am and slept at the airport until morning. Many people do the same, there are lots of comfy benches to sleep on. You don’t have to leave the airside (security area) when you land at Copenhagen Airport (quite an unusual set-up for Schengen airports).
Det Kgl. Bibliotek in Copenhagen has free luggage lockers. Useful after checkout or if you arrive too early for check-in. Train station lockers were expensive.
Food
Averaged €8.71/person/day. Supermarkets for almost every meal:
- Denmark, Sweden: Lidl. Prices close to Central Europe.
- Norway: Lidl pulled out of the Norwegian market. Rema 1000 fills the gap. Basics, staples, jars.
Check the Too Good To Go app. Founded in Denmark, strong coverage across all three cities. Surplus food from restaurants and cafes at the end of day at a fraction of the normal price. Good option when you want something hot without paying full Scandinavian prices.
Currency
Three countries, three currencies: DKK (Denmark), NOK (Norway), SEK (Sweden). All three are nearly cashless – cards accepted everywhere, including small cafes, supermarkets, and transit. No need to exchange cash before you go.
Revolut: I use Revolut card. My expenses ended up within 1% of the official rate for the whole trip – very good rate. Note: 1% markup applies on weekends – you can pre-exchange in the app to avoid it. At my spending level, the difference would’ve been cents.
Sights
Munch Museum is free on Wednesday evenings (except for July and August). Around €20 (220 NOK) savings if you time it well.
The Vasa Museum was the one expensive thing we paid for – 240 SEK (~€22). A warship that sank on its maiden voyage in 1628, salvaged in 1961 and almost completely intact. Hard to skip. We took around 2 hours, used their free audio guide.
- Green Kayak, Copenhagen: Didn’t do it, but looked into it. Free kayak rental if you collect trash from the canals while paddling around. Good option on a sunny day.
The Budget System
I consistently keep my daily budget under €20-€30 using two methods:
● €3/Day Rental Car Guide
● Sleeping in Rental Cars Guide
Tips Summary
- Avoid weekends: If possible. Accommodation can double.
- Overnight buses: Big savings, especially on the weekend.
- Copenhagen airport sleeping: Works fine for a late arrival/early departure sleep.
- Lidl: Central European prices in Denmark and Sweden.
- Too Good To Go: Great deals on hot leftover food.
- Munch Museum: Free entry on Wednesday evenings.
- Det Kgl. Bibliotek: Free luggage storage in Copenhagen.
- Green Kayak: Free kayak in exchange for collecting trash.
- Flights: I paid €15 on Gdańsk-Copenhagen and €17 Stockholm-Warsaw (small bag only). Scandinavian airports are big hubs for very cheap flights with Ryanair and Wizz Air.
