Route from North Scotland to Stockholm with no air travel

2/6/2023 7:56:03 PM

The rail option

The journey can be done by rail in about 36 hours.

Various options from the UK to Sweden, the most plausible involves the Hamburg to Stockholm sleeper. Unfortunately with the current timetable the connections are somewhat tight, but you can perhaps spend a day in Belgium or Germany to spread things out a bit. Times below are for leaving on Monday 6th February 2023, from Deutsche Bahn

  1. Take the Caledonian Sleeper from either Fort William or Inverness, leaving early evening. If Inverness, a train from Kyle of Lochalsh adjacent to Skye takes about 2h30, eg Kyle 17.13 to Inverness 19.51. The Inverness sleeper departs 20.45. Arrive London Euston about 07.45.
  2. Take the 09.01 Eurostar 9116 to Bruxelles Midi, arriving 12.05 (beware that Eurostar currently have a 90 minute check in time, although you may get away with arriving slightly late)
  3. Take the 13.25 Thalys 9435 to Koeln Hbf, arriving 15.15
  4. Take the 16.04 ICE 1030 to Hamburg Altona, arriving 20.05
  5. Take the 21.19 Euronight 346 to Stockholm Central, arriving 09.55
2/4/2023 10:20:02 PM

They should really consider not taking their car further than Newcastle. That’s 7 hours of driving.

From there it is the ferry to IJmuiden/Amsterdam, then trains to Hamburg (change at Osnabrück), arrive in Hamburg in the evening and directly hop onto the quite new direct sleeper train to Stockholm. They’ll be in Stockholm at 9 in the morning well rested.

2/4/2023 9:14:46 PM

Drive from Skye to Newcastle (~7h). Take overnight ferry from Newcastle to IJmuiden. Drive from Ijmuiden to Travemünde (~6h) and take an overnight ferry to Malmö or Trelleborg and drive to Stockholm (~7h).

2/4/2023 5:17:37 PM

Newcastle to IJmuiden, (also called to Amsterdam at times.)
Drive to Eemshaven and take the ferry to Kristiansand in Norway.

That will leave a longish drive in Scotland as well as one in Norway and Sweden.

Early booking is needed, especially for the ferry to Norway.

2/6/2023 4:50:46 AM

That’s not an easy trip.

FERRY

There are currently no ferries between the UK and Denmark, Norway or Sweden. That means you have to go through France, Belgium or the the Netherlands. If you want to maximize time on a boat, Newcastle->Amsterdam is probably your best choice. Boats are slow: that ferry takes about 16 hours and covers just a small fraction of the total distance. On the upside: it has restaurants, cabins, etc.

You will also have to get onto the Danish Main Island. With a car you will most likely have to take the ferry from Puttgarden to Rødby. Trains tend to go up north through Jutland and take the Great Belt Bridge. That’s also an option for a car, but it’s a big detour. Between Denmark and Sweden both cars and trains can take the Øresund bridge.

(more ferries from the comments and other answer).

Instead of Puttgarden/Rødby you can take Rostock to Trelleborg and bypass Denmark all together. Technically, you can also do Sassnitz to Ystad but that’s too much of a detour.

DRIVING.

You can also use Google Maps for a direct driving direction. It’s a LOT of driving and of course, non-UK Europe drives on the right side. The quickest route seem to go through the Channel Tunnel and than takes the Puttgarden/Rødby ferry (32 hours). You can avoid the car ferry by driving over the Great Belt Bridge (33 hours).

TRAINS

It’s a rather convoluted trip. One option is to go from Skye to Inverness, Inverness to Paris and then Paris to Stockholm. Going through Paris is quite the detour, but it actually looks faster than getting off in Calais and taking the train from there.

COMBOS

You can certainly combine trains and ferries. You can take the train to Newcastle, ferry to Amsterdam and then train again to Stockholm.

CONCLUSION

This is a difficult trip that will require some planning. It will take multiple days and you probably want to put some overnight stop(s) in there to rest up. A lot of this depends on the nature of the medical condition and what your parents are comfortable doing (or not) in terms of driving (left and right), schlepping luggage, maneuvering train stations in different countries, long ferry rides on rough seas, etc.

Ferry Source: https://ferrygogo.com/ferry-to-denmark-from-uk/#:~:text=Unfortunately%2C%20there%20are%20currently%20no,to%20Denmark%20via%20The%20Netherlands.

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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