The region Northern Europe extends between the Baltic Sea and the North Atlantic. Scandinavia is part of Northern Europe. Usually Denmark, Sweden and Norway are called Scandinavia combined, while Northern Europe also includes Finland and Iceland.
Countries and regions
Northern Europe includes the following five states, also known as Nordic countries:
You are politically in the Nordic Council organized. Denmark, Sweden and Finland are also EU members.
Then there are the autonomous areas Faroe Islands and the island, which geographically belongs to North America 
Greenland, which are both part of the Kingdom of Denmark, which belong to Finland (but culturally and linguistically influenced by Swedish) Åland Islands and the archipelago belonging to Norway Svalbard.
The region Lapland connects the northernmost parts of the states Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Various traditional communities like the Sami live here, who also speak their own languages.
From time to time, other regions are also included in Northern Europe:
- parts of Northwest Russia, especially the peninsula Kola, can be counted as part of Northern Europe
- South Schleswig forms with the Danish mainland part (Jutland) a common peninsula and is historically and culturally connected to the neighboring country.
- The residents Estonia see themselves more as Northern than Eastern Europeans; the Estonian language is related to Finnish
background
The name Scandinavia means something like "dangerous peninsula". The cultures of the Scandinavian countries are quite similar, and their languages are also closely related. Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese are Germanic languages that descended from the Old Norse language; Icelandic and Faroese are much closer to this language than the other Scandinavian languages.
Because of the meaning of Middle Low German as Lingua Franca The Hanseatic League, especially in Swedish and Danish, numerous words from this language were taken over as loan words, which can still be recognized today. The Scandinavians can understand each other quite well, but there are various dialects in all languages, some of which differ considerably from one another.
Finnish is one Finnish language and not related to the Scandinavian languages. In the northern European countries almost all people speak English very well, in some cases (especially in Denmark) knowledge of German is also quite widespread (this should of course not be assumed).
getting there
By plane
Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo are hubs of the Scandinavian airline SAS. There are usually direct flights from the larger German airports, e.g. with SAS, Lufthansa or Eurowings. Other international airports are e.g. B. in Helsinki (Finnair) and Keflavík, Iceland (Icelandair). Since Kevlavík also has numerous flights to North America are offered, it can make sense to fly to North America via Iceland. Flights to other northern European cities often require a stop in the capital.
In the street
By boat
Finland
- Travemünde - Helsinki (daily) with Finnlines
- Rostock - Helsinki with Finnlines
- Tallinn - Helsinki with Eckerö Line, Tallink Silja and Viking Line
- Grisslehamn (S) - Eckerö (Åland) (daily) with Eckerö Linjen
- Stockholm - Turku with Viking Line and Tallink Silja
- Stockholm - Helsinki with Viking Line and Tallink Silja
- Kapellskär - Naantali with Finnlines
Norway
- Kiel - Oslo with Color Line (all year round; daily)
- Hirtshals (DK) - Kristiansand with Color Line (all year round)
- Hirtshals (DK) - Kristiansand with Fjord Line (summer season)
- Hirtshals (DK) - Langesund with Fjord Line (all year round)
- Hirtshals (DK) - Larvik with Color Line
- Frederikshavn (DK) - Oslo with Stena Line
- Hirtshals (DK) - Stavanger - Bergen with Fjord Line
- Copenhagen (DK) - Oslo (daily) with DFDS Seaways
Sweden
- Kiel - Gothenburg with Stena Line
- Frederikshavn (DK) - Gothenburg with Stena Line
- Gdynia (PL) - Karlskrona with Stena Line
- Grenå (DK) - Varberg with Stena Line
- Travemünde - Trelleborg with TT-Line
- Rostock - Trelleborg with TT-Line
- Rostock - Trelleborg with Stena Line
- Travemünde - Trelleborg with Stena Line
- Saßnitz - Trelleborg with Stena Line
- Tallinn (EST) - Stockholm with Tallink Silja
Denmark
- Sassnitz - Rønne (Bornholm) with Bornholm Ferries
- Puttgarden - Rødby with Scandlines
- Rostock - Gedser with Scandlines
Faroe Islands and Iceland
- Hirtshals (DK) - Tórshavn - Seyðisfjörður with Smyril Line
By train
Denmark
- Hamburg - Lübeck - Copenhagen without changing over the Vogelfluglinie (with embarkation of the trains to cross the Fehmarnbelt)
- Hamburg - Flensburg - Aarhus, also without changing with the Intercity
- Destinations further north of Jutland (e.g. Aalborg) require at least one change, usually in Fredericia
- You can take the regional train to Denmark on the west coast (Hamburg - Niebüll – Tønder). As a rule, you need to change trains more frequently and for longer distances the railway line on the east coast of Jutland is usually faster (e.g. from Hamburg to Esbjerg). It may make sense from Hamburg to Ribe.
Sweden
A direct journey by train to Sweden requires a change in Copenhagen. Examples of travel times from Hamburg:
- Hamburg - Malmö approx. 6 to 7 hours
- Hamburg - Gothenburg approx. 9 to 10 hours
- Hamburg - Stockholm approx. 11 to 12 hours
Norway
Oslo can be reached by train from Germany via Malmö and Gothenburg, travel time at least 14 hours.
