In the eighth century, the Vikings became historical titans of maritime travel through their spread of influence across Europe. Centuries later, as a titan of assisted solo traveling, I visited my friend studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, with only one preplanned excursion: a minicruise across the Kattegat Strait.<\/p>\n
Maritime travel is crucial in connecting Denmark with its surrounding islands and neighboring countries. And cruising on these waters offered us a leisurely way to immerse ourselves in multiple Scandinavian traditions at once.<\/p>\n
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Ready, Set, Sail<\/p>\n
Danish shipping company DFDS (Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab) notoriously maintained a route from Copenhagen to Oslo, Norway, for over 150 years. Originally used for freight, the route then expanded to passenger travel, offering daily voyages between the capitals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2024, Go Nordic Cruiseline adopted this route \u2014 and it\u2019s now the only company offering it. Guests can travel between Denmark and Norway via overnight passage, choosing either a one-way commute or a round-trip excursion. (We picked a one-way from Copenhagen, which offered us a night on the ship and a day in Oslo after disembarking.) If you choose a round trip, you\u2019ll spend two nights on the ship and get 6.5 hours in Oslo. Round trips and one-way journeys are offered in both directions daily.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Snow Boots on the Ground\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sailing from Copenhagen\u00a0offers shipside sightseeing opportunities, starting with Middelgrunds Fort and Helsingborg, Sweden, to the east and Krongborg Castle to the west \u2014 all visible before the sun sets. When it rises again, you can see Oscarsborg Fortress and Dr\u00f8bak, Norway, before docking in the capital.<\/p>\n
When we got off the ship, we had eight hours to explore before catching a flight back to Copenhagen. While this gave us a little more time than the round-trip cruisers had, we still needed to stick to our itinerary.<\/p>\n
Norway is known for its mountains, but they\u2019re about seven hours from Oslo\u2019s city center by car. So, we opted to vicariously experience them at Norway\u2019s Resistance Museum (Hjemmefrontmuseum). A permanent exhibit trails behind Akershus Fortress, a medieval castle and church, combining Norway\u2019s royal history with its resilience during World War II. It\u2019s a heavy introduction to the country, but it lays historical groundwork that will enrich the rest of your experiences there.<\/p>\n
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The city\u2019s Sentrum section \u2014 an 11-minute walk from the museum \u2014 is full of cultural highlights, like the Oslo Opera House, which you can see when you disembark the ship. When it\u2019s not too icy, you can walk on the roof of the opera house to experience the city from a new perspective. Nearby, you can also explore the Edvard Munch art museum or take a dip in one of Oslo\u2019s many cold plunge huts.<\/p>\n
We didn\u2019t have time to see the art at Norway\u2019s National Museum (Nasjonalmuseet), but walking through the Gr\u00fcnerl\u00f8kka neighborhood\u2019s square blocks offered the next-best thing. The area was full of abstract street art, which felt more at home in a crowd of people than tucked behind protective glass.<\/p>\n
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Hands on Deck<\/p>\n
Like any good\u00a0cruise ship, the Nordic Pearl houses plenty of activities on its six communal decks. Its duty-free store is packed with products from Prada Beauty to postcards, and souvenir prices are significantly lower than what you\u2019ll find at Scandinavian airports.<\/p>\n
Drinks are best served with company, whether on the rocks or on the water. Solen, the outdoor bar, is a prime spot to view landscapes as the ship passes by northern cities. Anker is a pub and hub for live music, serving native spirits from Denmark and Norway. Salong, a cozy cocktail and wine bar, takes care of the taster, with experts to guide guests through a distinctly Nordic drink menu.<\/p>\n
Skagerak, the ship\u2019s buffet restaurant, presented dinner in the most culturally Scandinavian fashion. You can pick from a variety of meats and vegetables \u2014 but expect the seafood to stare back at you. Any crayfish, shrimp or lobster with eyes is safe to eat, as all appendages are fully cooked, and they pair best with the buffet\u2019s array of sauces. Other restaurants on the ship offer coursed meals and comfort foods, but the buffet gives you the chance to taste the most local flavors.<\/p>\n
You can find nighttime entertainment at Club Liva, where I stumbled upon a music trivia game in progress. My lack of Eurovision Song Contest knowledge kept me from faring very well. But watching the finalists learn a dance in five minutes to battle for a bottle of wine reminded me of a kind of humiliation that can only exist in international waters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the eighth century, the Vikings became historical titans of maritime travel through their spread of influence across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[108,38972,35784,1413],"class_list":{"0":"post-71829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-copenhagen","8":"tag-copenhagen","9":"tag-in-this-issue","10":"tag-may-2026","11":"tag-travel"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116493106955031534","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}