Karlskrona -- Ideal Baltic Stopover

[Dockhead]

We are in Karlskrona at the Southeastern tip of Sweden, taking a break from sailing to do some work (I'm not only not retired, and I'm not even on vacation! ).

For anyone doing a Baltic cruise and needing a place to take a break, this is as good as it gets. The advantages:

1. 3 hours by train direct to Copenhagen airport, which is the best in Scandinavia, and served by cheap airlines to boot.

2. Really excellent marina facilities with some alongside berthing and the rest bows-to with booms.

3. The town is nice, has a great museum, good places to eat and drink, good provisioning, and a decent chandlery.

4. Strategically placed at the corner of Sweden, on the way between Kiel and points further East. About 250 miles of sailing from Kiel, we reached it in two legs with an overnight stop on Bornholm.

5. The marina is incredibly cheap right now; I guess off season rates. Cruisers in other parts of the world will die with envy. I just paid 800 Swedish Crowns (maybe $90) for ONE WEEK of berthing including electricity, on a brand new alongsides pontoon with electric and water. ONE WEEK!

6. The marina has a lovely restaurant overlooking the harbor, cheap and delicious.

7. Did I mention that the marina staff are incredibly helpful and friendly, even by the high standards of Scandinavia. The marina director let me use his personal computer to update my Navionics charts.


Drawbacks:

1. No wifi accessible from the pontoons. This is no big deal for me since I keep a Three data card, 30 euros for 5 gigabytes of traffic. I never count on marina wifi anyway.

2. A long trek through a mini-skaergard to get into the port, and for a big boat, a long trek around the last of the islands to get into the Kalmar Strait, since there is a 20 meter high bridge blocking the shortcut.

3. A bit of a hike from the marina, which is built out of the old commercial port, up to the commercial part of the town for provisioning. Don't forget your granny grocery cart, or a bicycle.

4. Although the town is really lovely, the waterfront is rather charmless. A dead commercial port was turned into a marina but the other usual nice waterfront things haven't developed yet. Still a bit of a desert.


Altogether a great place.

The Northern and Western, Scandinavian shores of the Baltic do not offer many ports with convenient airport access. Stockholm is buried behind a labyrinthine skaergard (itself one of the world's greatest cruising destinations) which takes you a couple of days sailing out of your way each way. Nynashamn is ok for the Ryanair airport nearby, and not too bad access to Stockholm Arlanda. Copenhagen is far out of the way for anyway going further out the Baltic. Helsinki is very good, once you get that far. But that's about it. The Eastern coast of Sweden, wild, beautiful, and remote, is terrible for airport access, and there aren't even decent train connections anywhere. You're actually better off out on Borhholm where you can catch a fast cat ferry to Copenhagen.

[Dauntlessny]

Thanks again for the tip. I plan on stopping there the end of August and it always makes the planning easier having a sense of the what, where and of course, the how much?

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Dauntlessny

Thanks again for the tip. I plan on stopping there the end of August and it always makes the planning easier having a sense of the what, where and of course, the how much?

If you join the Cruising Association, which I recommend, you will have access to a wealth of these reports, and much more, too.

The CA has a fantastic active Baltic cruising section.

My membership paid for itself within weeks with free berthing in clubs they have reciprocals with. Highly recommended.

[Dauntlessny]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

If you join the Cruising Association, which I recommend, you will have access to a wealth of these reports, and much more, too.

The CA has a fantastic active Baltic cruising section.

My membership paid for itself within weeks with free berthing in clubs they have reciprocals with. Highly recommended.

joined last year and even attended the Baltic talk they had in february