Winter Packing Tips for N. Europe

Posted by Lisa Sabol-Sikorski Sep 17, 2006

Are you planning to travel to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, or Iceland this winter? You probably want to travel light, so you don't want to bring too many bulky clothes but you want to stay warm. What to bring?

It depends on what you will be doing. Are you headed to the Arctic Circle? Bring sturdy boots for walking on the snow and ice, a down filled waterproof jacket, hat, gloves, and scarf. Bring enough long underwear to wear under your clothing every day. For me, that means enough to wear them twice. If you plan on skiing, snowmobiling, or doing other outside activities, you might want to bring waterproof pants, like ones made with Gore Tex.

For visiting the cities of Scandinavia and Finland I would only bring one or two pairs of long underwear for a week of travel, since it can get hot with multiple layers on when you are going in and out of museums, restaurants, bars, and stores. If you will be visiting between December and March, a wool overcoat may not be warm enough for walking around outside, touring cities. I would bring a down jacket, and maybe a wool overcoat, if I could fit it in my suitcase. Gloves, hats, and scarves will come in handy.

Many Nordic cities do not completely clean the snow and ice from the sidewalks, like they do in North America. They usually clear some snow from the sidewalk and put down gravel to prevent the surface from becoming slick. My theory is that because it snows a little bit almost every day in some parts of Scandinavia during the winter, it would be too hard to make the sidewalks bone dry.

Needless to say, the sidewalks eventually become quite slippery, so don't plan on wearing fashionable leather boots to walk around town. Bring warm shoes with sturdy soles that will stabilize you on the ice. What if you plan on going to a performance of the Danish Royal Ballet in Copenhagen, or to the opera in Stockholm? Don't despair, do like the Finns and Scandinavians do when they go somewhere nice: carry your stylish leather shoes in a shopping bag and change into them when you arrive at your destination. There will be a coat check at the door, where you can leave your clunky outdoor boots, bulky overcoat, scarf, hat, gloves...