These two international locations constantly rank among the many world’s greatest for livability, sophistication and happiness. So which one must you go to?
World-famous delicacies, or wilderness? Coziness or hardiness? Seaside seashores by the mile, or off-the-grid lakes?
Whereas we’d gladly go for all the above, life is brief. Powerful selections have to be made. And generally, you will need to resolve whether or not to go to Denmark or Finland, two international locations constantly ranked among the many world’s greatest for livability, sophistication and sheer happiness.
We’ve requested two partisans to make the case for why their choose edges out the opposite.
Denmark: hygge for all
A contributor to over 70 Lonely Planet books, Luke Waterson has traveled extensively in Scandinavia – and is drawn to Denmark most.
On paper, Denmark is the dinkiest and least topographically spectacular of the 5 Nordic nations. Nevertheless it thinks mighty huge.
Not solely does it scoop the lion’s share of Scandinavia’s overseas vacationers: it routinely makes the world’s top-20 most-visited international locations, in accordance with UNTWO (United Nations World Tourism Group). What renders it so enticing? After many journeys there, I’d say one issue stands out above myriad others: ease.
This must be the planet’s most easy nation to get round for first-timers. Nearly everybody speaks some English – most to a excessive stage – and all the things you’ll wish to do as a customer is backed up by a complete, English-language web site or app, making communication easy. A stellar railway community connects the nation tip to tail, and buses effectively hyperlink the few different journey locations with out stations. Its capital, Copenhagen, is a worldwide chief in pedal-powered journey: there are free bikes to hire and impeccably maintained cycle lanes.
All this makes stress ranges keep low as you discover – which solely heightens your enjoyment of a spot. Nobody is saying Finland is a navigation nightmare, however the entering into Denmark is an effective deal smoother and speedier. Copenhagen to Skagen (so southeast to excessive north) takes lower than eight hours by rail; to get from Helsinki to Lapland journey hub Inari, you’d want 15 hours by practice after which bus.
Denmark’s small dimension comes with some limitations: there are none of Finland’s fells, no Arctic and fewer forests, which implies no winter sports activities or bears to talk of (until you embrace Greenland, technically a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, during which case Danes outdo Finns for highest summits, Arctic sq. mileage, snow and bears). However “mainland” Denmark sports activities a sandy shoreline some other nation in Scandinavia would covet, and vacationers do tend to choose nice seashores over prevalent bears.
Denmark’s sandy seashores certainly are ubiquitous. You’ll clock them in every single place from Copenhagen’s Amager Strandpark, only a 30-minute cycle from town middle, and thru Baltic holidaymakers’ haven Bornholm. The dreamy, dune-rich Wadden Sea islands Rømø and Fanø boast respectively 12km (7.5-mile) and 15km (9.3-mile) unbroken lengths of fine-grained strand, whereas the Skagen area presents over 60km (37 miles) of beguiling seashores hem the shores.
And what do you want to do a median of 3 times every day day by day you’re on trip? Eat! Denmark, the birthplace of New Nordic delicacies and birthplace of the five-time recipient of the World’s Greatest Restaurant award, noma, would trounce most international locations for wonderful eating (yep, Finland falls into the trounced class). Tally the Michelin stars every nation’s eateries have been awarded: as of 2023, it’s a convincing 45–8 in Denmark’s favor.
As you may count on from an incessantly ingenious nation that gave the world Lego and Google Maps, there is no such thing as a uninteresting, unused house in Denmark. That’s why the offshore waters are stippled with the very best per-capita ratio of wind generators on the earth. Why what can be simply one other harbor in some other metropolis has, in Copenhagen, grow to be an open-air swimming pool and a residential district made up of floating delivery containers, amongst many different issues. And why the once-decrepit industrial stretches in northern Aalborg are actually a blueprint for city waterfront regeneration Europe-wide.
Want historical past to modern innovation in your trip? Denmark was elevating ostentatious castles and good-looking timber-framed cities earlier than Finland ever existed.
On the finish of the day, ask your self this. Would you slightly have a giant serving to of hygge (a state of cozy conviviality that’s an integral a part of the Danish psyche) or be whipped by a stranger with birch branches (as they do for well being in Finland)?
I relaxation my case.
Finland: discover your internal Finn on the earth’s happiest nation
Kerry Walker is a lifelong Finland fan and has traveled the size and breadth of the nation: from distant swamps and forests groaning with bears and berries within the east all the best way to Lapland’s icy northernmost tip.
Finland stole my coronary heart the minute Lapland wrapped its snowy blanket round me greater than a decade in the past. Many journeys later, I nonetheless can’t resist its elemental magnificence.
That first go to to Utsjoki is freeze-framed in my thoughts: the unnerving silence and bone-chilling chilly of the excessive Arctic, twinkling bushes sculpted with hoarfrost, the limitless white tundra, the snuffle of Sámi reindeer within the deep-blue polar night time. I slept in a easy wood cabin and frequently awakened after midnight to search out the northern lights swooping and swaying overhead, as if the gods had flicked the disco lights on.
I immediately felt an affinity with this land and its mind-bending extremes of darkness and lightweight, and this has solely intensified over time. Drive alongside the nation’s ruler-straight roads for miles and all you see is forest, lakes and distant fells on repeat – a endless tapestry of inexperienced and blue. In some areas, you’re extra prone to stumble upon elk and reindeer than individuals. Finland has nature in its bones.
And Finland captures the creativeness lengthy earlier than you’ve even arrived. This can be a nation touched by magic, with its flying reindeer, Moomins and the one-and-only Santa up on the glittering Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi. It’s a rustic the place you may let your internal youngster run wild and free. Whichever method you take a look at it, Finland is the lovable odd one out among the many Nordic international locations, with its Elvish tales; a singsong language that impressed Tolkien’s pen; and fondness for bizarre meals like squeaky cheese (leipäjuusto) you dunk in espresso, salty licorice (salmiakki) and pine-tar liqueur (terwa).
Finland’s outlandish persona reveals itself in mad championships, too: wife-carrying and boot-throwing, swamp soccer and aggressive sauna-going. It’s my type of place.
Sure, Denmark blazes forward in avant-garde design and gourmand delicacies. However whereas the Danes gladly blow their very own trumpet, the Finns whisper modestly about their nation’s charms. Regardless that, to be frank, they’ve lots to shout about. The actual fact Finland is formally the world’s happiest nation within the UN’s World Happiness Report for the sixth 12 months operating in 2023, as an example. Certainly, the longer you linger right here, the extra these pleased vibes rub off. Now they’re even providing a free grasp class in happiness for a fortunate few.
The number-one secret? Dwelling in tune with nature. On this generously spaced land, you may nonetheless hear the rustle of leaves, the frenzy of wind, the flutter of snowflakes. Even the nation’s charismatic, easygoing cities are poised on the sting of massive wilderness. On the breezy Baltic, Helsinki is sprinkled with islands and riven with inlets. Citadel-topped Turku, the gateway to twenty,000 islands and skerries, is island-hopping heaven for kayakers, cyclists and hikers. And in vivacious, cultured Tampere, you may seize a canoe and paddle throughout huge lakes.
A few of my happiest moments have been spent in Finland (statistically, no coincidence there). I’m speaking tell-your-grandchildren moments like spending a hairs-on-end night time in a solo conceal on the Bear Centre in Lentiira, the place brown bears sneak via old-growth boreal forest over to Russia. Or squelching via cottongrass-stippled swamps in quest of amber-hued cloudberries – that almost all uncommon and treasured of Arctic fruits – beneath the never-dying mild of the midnight solar in Ranua. Or feeling the heartbeat of the reindeer-herding Sámi because the aurora dances above Lake Inari.
Many joke concerning the Finns being mirthless – however lurking beneath the floor is a darkish, self-deprecating humor, a severe potential to social gathering, a hatred of idle gossip and a ardour for the deep and significant stuff. This nation was constructed on sisu, an impossible-to-translate attribute embodying toughness, freedom, grit and bravado – the bear hug to Denmark’s air kiss.
So if you wish to discover your internal Finn (and the trail to true happiness), perceive this: strolling for miles in mosquito-infested bogs to search out berries, stripping bare to roast in a sauna, diving right into a gaspingly chilly ice gap and beating your self with a birch department are a Finn’s thought of enjoyable.
And what? They’re mine, too.
