Hey there!
I am a Canadian travelling in Sweden. I am leaving from near Stockholm and heading back into "continental" Europe. Ideally I would get to Copenhagen and then head to Switzerland by train, eventually making my way to Paris. Apparently Swedish trains do not carry bicycles under any circumstances.
Is anyone aware of a bus company or other non-airplane form of transportation that would allow me to get my bicycle out the country? Any suggestions appreciated...some of the Swedish bus company websites are in Swedish only so if you can point the right page to me, that would help :)
Thanks,
Lasha
PS. Not sure if WarmShowers website will notify me of a reply to my post, so maybe email me? Lashask at hotmail dot com
Hi Lasha,
It might be worth double checking your information about Swedish trains. My husband, brother and I traveled from just south of Helsingborg to Malmo with our bicycles without any difficulty in 2009.
Tailwinds Trace
Hi Trace,
Yes, I wish that was still the case. Unfortunately it seems that SJ (the national rail company) has changed its policies "due to security" as of 2011 and no longer accepts bicycles.
Still looking for an alternative, if anyone can make a suggestion :)
Lasha
Yes, the main Swedish railway SJ explicitly refuses to transport bicycles except folders:
http://www.sj.se/sj/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=19137&a=2748&l=en
You can, however, take bicycles on trains of the Öresundståg company who operate in southwestern Sweden an northeastern Denmark. You can also take bicycles on trains of the Tågkompaniet who operate in central Sweden. I don't know about Swedish bus companies.
http://www.oresundstag.se//sv/Destinationer/
http://www.tagkompaniet.se/allt-om-resan/strackor__46
So I see two public transport options for you:
(1) Ride down to Gothenburg or Kalmar (400 – 500 km) and take the Öresundståg from there to Copenhagen. Maybe you can use Tågkompaniet on part of the way.
(2) Take the ferry from Nynäshamn to Poland and take it from there.
http://www.polferries.pl/en/prices2012/gdansk-nynashamn/car
My girlfriend and I just got back from a Copenhagen-Paris tour where we took the SJ2000 from Stockholm as a start. We packed our bikes in the ordinary kind of bike-cardboard boxes and took them on a regular SJ train together with our stuff and it worked out. They were telling us that the packages were a bit too big, but didn't refuse us to take them, so for 145 SEK each we took ourselves and our bikes from Stockholm to Copenhagen. Quite good :)
If you take a bike on SJ2000, make sure to get a place in the last compartment (no 7) where there is more space.
SJs rules says that you can take as much as you are able to carry, and a well-packed cardboard-box with a shoulder strap should be able to carry!
I know this is an old thread but having spent a lot of time worrying about transporting my bike in Sweden I wanted to give an update on my experience:
I called SJ before taking the overnight train from Abisko to Stockholm and they told me that bikes are under no circumstances allowed BUT if you pack it in a bag (I used a clear plastic disposable bike bag) it counts as baggage not a bike and is no problem. This was borne out by my experience. There is a luggage closet at the end of the sleep car where you can strap a bagged bike in place and the conductor helped me so definitely had no problem with it!
I also brought my bagged bike to Arlanda airport on a commuter train line between Stockholm and Uppsala. There was a sign stating that bikes are allowed on these trains EXCEPT in Stockholm Central, Arlanda Central, and during rush hours (week days 06-09 and 15-18). But nobody minded the bagged bike in Arlanda - people even helped with it. I did also take the bagged bike on the subway at one point and had no problems.
So my takeaway is: bagged bike = not a bike so no problem as long as you can carry/manage it ok. But I'd still avoid taking it on public transport during rush hour!