Photo: Capitan Giona

Trips likes to bring you ideas for enjoying notoriously wallet-crushing destinations at little or no cost. Here’s a quick sampling of budget travel guides we’ve published in the past:

A Budget Travel Guide to Iceland
How to Enjoy Paris for Free
Sightseeing in Venice for (Almost) Free
Budget Guide to New York City
Seattle on the Cheap: 7 Tips to Save Cash in the Emerald City

Scandinavia is always way up there on the list of travel-savings destroyers, so we thought it might be handy to point out these two resources we found on About.com’s Scandinavia Travel blog:

10 Free Things in Oslo
10 Free Things to Do in Helsinki

Norway’s capital is the occasional ruler of the world’s most expensive cities ranking, and Helsinki certainly isn’t cheap, but both put on several cost-free annual events. Visiting the cities’ churches and museums can be free as well.

Photo: sidewalk flying

These pages also have links to free city maps and language resources, in addition to weather info.

Winter might not seem like the most obvious season for a Scandinavian trip, but December is actually one of its most popular travel months. There’s free ice skating in Oslo and plenty of Christmas markets to choose from throughout the region. Sightings of the Northern Lights are also common.

If your budget is less of a concern, make sure to check out the ice hotels: Norway’s got one, as does Sweden.

And finally, before you go, hit up Matador’s destination experts with your logistical questions:

Oslo - SophieR
Sweden - Anna Brones

Community Connection

For more Scandinavian fun, check out In Search of the Swedish Companion – Tunnbröd‏, a photo essay by Lola Akinmade, who happens to be another expert on Stockholm in addition to being editor of Matador Goods.