At the end of the summer of 2025, I took my bike to Copenhagen one more time. I had to head back there so I could finish a bike trip that I started the year before. Now it was time for the second part of the ride, from Copenhagen to Oslo by bike.
In so many ways, this felt like a different bike ride. I wasn’t as fearful of the road as before. I knew what my body could handle on long rides, and I was comfortable enough with myself, my bike, and my surroundings to try something slightly longer. And that is what I did.
But, before I talk about the bike ride, my experience, and everything else, I believe I have to go back a few years into the past. And share a bit of where this idea came from. Why I had to start cycling from Copenhagen and how I set my mind to arrive in Oslo by bike from Berlin.
Let me tell you how I started cycling from Berlin to Oslo.
Why Copenhagen to Oslo by bike?
I believe everything started back in 2013, when I walked from Berlin to Poland and realized that I could go on small adventures like that and that I truly enjoyed the entire thing. A couple of years later, two friends from Brazil visited me in Berlin, where they started a week-long bike ride to Copenhagen. I remember following their bike ride and becoming even more interested in doing something like that myself.
This is how the idea of cycling from Berlin to Oslo came to my mind. I think I made it public to my friends in 2018 and started planning what I could do, what bike I would need, and so on. Originally, I wanted to arrive in Oslo by the time I would be 40 years old, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed my plans a bit.
Subsequently, I lost my focus when two of my cats passed away in 2022, Baphomet and Zé. In 2023 I was training daily and trying to cycle faster, but it all stopped when I was run over by a car coming back from the office.
Everything changed early in 2024 when the YouTube algorithm started showing me some bikepacking videos and I got excited again. I got back to my plan and organized some longer bike rides around Berlin so I could learn more about the process. I went to Cottbus and started to grasp how far away Oslo really is.
Not only that, but I cycled to Dessau to test some gear, and during that trip, I decided to split the bike ride from Berlin to Oslo into two sections. A two-stage trip, first from Berlin to Copenhagen, later from Copenhagen to Oslo. That felt doable to me, and that is how we got here.
Now that I’ve mentioned all the context behind my cycling adventure, let me tell you how it all went.
Two Wheels, Three Nations: My Journey from Copenhagen to Oslo by Bike
The entire bike trip from Copenhagen to Oslo consisted of eight days on the road cycling. On some of these days, I had more than 90 km to cover, and I felt like that could be doable even with the hills that I learned about when I was planning the routes on Strava.
I believe I only decided to go on with these goals because I had so much fun in the previous stage of the trip. I don’t consider myself a proper beginner when it comes to long bike rides like this, and I decided to see what I could do.
Most of the days, I did exactly like before. I woke up early, organized my bike, had breakfast somewhere (the hotel or a supermarket), and started cycling. My idea was to always arrive at the hotel around the check-in time, and this wasn’t a problem in any of the stops I made.
Now, let me talk about what happened on each day, what I saw on the road, and share the routes from Strava so you can save yourself some time if you feel like planning a trip like this.
Day 00: Copenhagen
I left Berlin on a Friday evening using Flixbus since they offered the most affordable way to arrive in Copenhagen with my gear, bags, and my bike. I arrived in Sudkreuz with everything, and a delay of almost an hour made me more nervous than I was expecting. But that was just a small hiccup.
The bus had to stop around Rostock so the police could check documents and passports inside, but there were no issues. A little later, I saw the sun rise on the ferry that crosses from Germany to Denmark, and it felt like a good starting point for the trip.
My first day on the road was relaxed. I knew I didn’t want to rush things, and that is why I decided to take a day off in Copenhagen. In the morning, I cycled all the way to the north of the city, around the area where I visited Copenhill before. On the way there, I passed by several cool-looking buildings that I know I will have to get back to see again. But the highlight was how empty the area is and the pictures I took there while killing time before my check-in.
My only night in town was spent at the Generator Copenhagen, and I chose it because of how central it is. Next to it, I had some fantastic cheeseburgers at the Gasoline Grill. I passed by this place on the first stage of the bike trip, but I saved it for the second visit. And I can easily say that, despite the long queue, the burgers and fries were fantastic. I’m definitely going back there.
The rest of the day was focused on seeing a friend who moved from Berlin to Copenhagen, and we caught up with some beers!
Day 01: from Copenhagen to Helsingør and from Helsingborg to Ängelholm
My first day cycling from Copenhagen to Oslo started early, and it was a long one. I had to organize my bags in the hostel, and it wasn’t as easy as I had in mind. Probably because it was the first time I was doing that, but… It would get easier.
I cycled all the way to the Copenhagen Town Hall since that is where I stopped my bike ride before. I took my pictures in front of it to mark the start of my adventure and onwards to Helsingør.
Getting out of Copenhagen felt surreal in so many ways. The route followed the sea on the right side, and it had gorgeous views. On the other side, the houses felt like mansions for fancy Danish people. It was great to start the first day cycling on a straight line with such a beautiful view.
I stopped in Helsingør so I could take the ferry to Helsingborg and start the Swedish side of this trip. The ferry was short, but I can easily say that I felt overwhelmed with emotion. I believe I had a small cry thinking about how far I had gone and what was ahead of me.
The coast between Helsingborg and Ängelholm was almost perfect for cycling. I stopped a few times to take pictures of some defensive structures on the coast that were put in place during the Second World War. In a few places, the wind was a bit more than I wanted, but it didn’t bother me much.
One of the highlights of the first day of cycling was the stop I made at the Ängelholm UFO memorial. This monument in the middle of the forest celebrates the moment when Swedish entrepreneur Gösta Carlsson encountered a UFO back in 1946. He considered that encounter to be the reason he was successful in his life and decided to erect the monument in 1972 with flying saucer and spaceship impressions on the floor. It was a weird place to stop, but I love stumbling upon places like this.
After 103 km on the road, split into two sections, I crossed Ängelholm and arrived at the Strandbyn—Destination Råbocka, where I would spend the night. When I booked this place, I knew that the Råbocka beach would be close by, and that is where I went to relax after so many kilometers. I just locked my bike and went to the water with my bike bibs and my sunglasses. What a fantastic way to end the day.
Day 02: Angelholm to Halmstadt
This was my first day fully cycling in Sweden, and I loved every minute of it. Most of the bike ride was going through seaside villages, nature reserves, and beaches. All of those in the famous Kattegattleden, which is Sweden’s first national cycle path. This made the entire route such an experience, and I would come back to Sweden again just to ride this cycle path.
Even the hills that I crossed around Båstad took a hold on me due to the beautiful surroundings. I think the only “bad” part of the day was the detour I took around Laholm to see the remains of an old castle and a historical power plant. Besides that, the day was remarkable, and the highlight was the last kilometers before my stay at the Stugcentralen Lägenhetshotell & Stugor.
I cycled through a nature reserve called Gullbrana och Tönnersa, and it was the first section where I had to pedal in gravel, which made everything more exciting. I even passed by the Påarps Gravfålt, a 2000-year-old gravesite that can be easily missed if you don’t know what the rocks between the road and the sea mean.
The Stugcentralen Lägenhetshotell & Stugor is next to the beach, and, of course, I cooled down from the bike ride in the sea. It was colder than the day before, but it was precisely what I needed.
Every time that I talk to Swedish people about food, they mention an unusual type of pizza. And they vouch for it like it’s the best type of pizza ever. So, my lunch in Halmstadt was a kebab pizza at the Costello Pizzeria. Surprisingly, this was fantastic, and I loved every bite of it.
I will have to eat more next time I’m in Sweden and see if it was just me being hungry from the bike ride or if it’s really that tasty.
Day 03: Halmstadt to Varberg
During this trip, the first thing I did in the morning was to check the weather forecast for the day. I had already seen that this section between Halmstadt and Varberg could have some rain, and it was clear that it would be the case since it drizzled on me while I was setting up my bags on the bike.
The gray skies made leaving Halmstad a bit boring. Especially because the first few kilometers were inland, but everything got better when the scenery changed with the sea to my left.
Halfway towards Varberg, my energy levels dropped a bit more than expected, and I decided to stop in a small village after Falkenberg for an ice cream and a short cycling break. I ended up getting an energy drink as well, and it helped me out perfectly.
While I was planning my routes, I always looked for something interesting to pass by and stop at. In Varberg, I had only one thing in my mind: I needed to see the Danuta Danielsson statue. The woman is known as “The Woman with the Handbag” because of a picture that Hans Runesson took of her hitting a Neo-Nazi with her purse in Växjö, Sweden, on April 13, 1985. And I was so happy to stop by the statue made by Susanna Arwin and see that there is a tree close by where people leave handbags.
I spent the night at Anna’s Bed & Kitchen, and it was an excellent place to relax after more than 100 kilometers on my bike. This hotel is in an old farm outside Varberg, and there was another cyclist there.
We talked about his ride from London to Gothenburg, and it was cool to share the experience on the road with someone else.
Day 04: Varberg to Gothenburg
The weather seemed great when I went out to set up my bags and my bike. And it is unclear to me why, but that day I woke up excited about cycling. Since there was no breakfast offered at Anna’s Bed & Kitchen, I went to a COOP supermarket that was on my way. There I figure out that my CamelBak had a small puncture. I fixed it on the spot with some tape I had, and that was it.
Leaving Varberg was great on the Kattegattleden. I was getting some speed and getting ahead of my schedule, and I even stopped at the Utsiktstornet Kärven and went up the tower for some panoramic pictures.
But everything turned sour around kilometer 35 or so. I was passing by Väröbacka, and I felt like something moved weirdly under my feet. My right pedal broke down. I tried to fix it using some zip ties that I had with me, but it didn’t work. I tried some paracord rope that I had, but it only lasted for a few meters.
Furthermore, I went to a supermarket to check if they had anything that could help me out cycling, but no. I looked at Google Maps, and there were two bike shops close to me. One of them was 20 km back in the direction where I came from, and the other was 35 km ahead, in the direction of Gothenburg. It was a terrible decision to make, but I cycled 35 km with a steel bar under my foot.
I believe I was cycling fueled by anger, and I didn’t stop many times for pictures or to eat anything during those 35 km ahead. When I got to the TeamSportia in Kungsbacka, I was relieved that it was over. I told the gentleman at the shop about my problem, and he was happy to help. We talked a bit about bike trips like this, and I was ready to continue my bike ride with a Shimano pedal under my feet. It was grueling, painful, and a reminder that Copenhagen to Oslo by bike requires mental fortitude as much as leg strength.
On my way to Gothenburg, I was stopped by a couple cycling. I believe their names were Jordan and Julien, and they asked me where I was heading. I mentioned Oslo, and they asked if I needed Norwegian coins. They were coming back from there and forgot to buy anything with it before, and now they were looking for someone to give it away to. I took the coins, and it felt like a sign from the universe that things would get better!
A little before I arrived in Gothenburg, I stopped to see the Mölndals Kvarnby. These waterfalls have a big historical importance to the area since they were used in the Middle Ages to power mills. In the late 1800s, they developed into one of Sweden’s most important industrial areas with paper production and oil storage.
Arriving in Gothenburg was a moment filled with many feelings. Especially after everything that happened during the day. But also because that was the first time I visited the city since 2013. Gothenburg was the first city I visited in Sweden, and it will always have a place in my heart because of it. Getting there by bike made things even better.
To celebrate the city, everything that happened during the day, and to mark the halfway point between Copenhagen and Oslo, I decided to go have some beers and burgers at the 2112 restaurant, and what a fantastic experience it was. There was some heavy music in the air, the bar was full of great beers, and the burgers were tasty!
I slept like a baby at the Scandic No. 25, and I was ready for another day on the road.
Day 05: Gothenburg to Uddevalla
Breakfast at the Scandic No. 25 was everything I needed to start the day going north. Especially because the forecast told me that it might rain during the day. Rain wasn’t something I was excited for since I knew already that between Gothenburg and Uddevalla I would have the biggest elevation gain of the trip so far.
Also, Gothenburg marked the end of my love affair with Kattegattleden, and I knew that I would have to spend some time cycling on the road. Not a big fan of that, but life goes on.
At least the scenery was interesting. I cycled past the Bohus Fästning, a ruined fortress built in 1308 that was quite a sight for me. Around Kareby, I passed by two fighter jets in the parking lot of a car dealership. No idea why they are there. I also could see from the road the massive size of the Tjörnbron, a cable-stayed bridge over Askeröfjorden.
When I arrived in Uddevalla, I was surprised to see that my bike would have to go around a rocky hill, going towards the Strandpromenaden in a wooden pathway over the water. That was the end of my 95 km bike ride, and I was happy to lie down for a moment at the Hotell Viking before I went around to explore the city.
Day 06: Uddevalla to Strömstad
As I mentioned before, I wake up and check the weather to see if there will be rain. Without any surprise, I learned that it would rain somewhere between Uddevalla and Strömstad, and I could already see it in the gray clouds outside my room at the Hotell Viking.
I took my bike to the road, and after less than 15 km of cycling, the drizzle turned into rain. Personally, I don’t really care about rain falling on me when I’m cycling. What really bothers me in the wet ground is that water is going to get to me when I pass by, and the water coming from below is what I don’t enjoy.
There were many hills on my way to Strömstad, and I believe I found a way to enjoy them somehow. Maybe it was the surrounding scenery that was filled with forests that helped out. I don’t know. But they distracted me when I passed by the massive antennas around Tanum Teleport, or else I would have gotten closer to them for some pictures.
At least I managed to find my focus on time to stop and go take pictures of the fantastic Rock Carvings in Tanum. This group of petroglyphs is so wonderful that UNESCO named it a World Heritage Site in 1994. Within the World Heritage Area, approximately 600 panels contain thousands of images known as the Tanum petroglyphs. The ones you can see here are from the area near the Vitlycke Museum, and they made my entire day cycling in the rain so much better.
After another day cycling around 95 km, I arrived in Strömstad, which I believe is the smallest town I stayed in during this bike ride from Copenhagen to Oslo. After I hung my bags and clothes to dry at the Crusellska Vandrarhemmet, I went out to the city since I needed some Swedish food to help my mood.
Based on what I saw on Google Maps, I decided to go to the Helnys kiosk och gatukök AB and try their meatballs. I talked to the people there, and they shared that their burgers are famous around the area, and I decided to get them too. I was starving, and this was one of the best meals of the entire trip.
Before heading back to Crusellska Vandrarhemmet, I stopped at one of the many alcohol shops they have in town. Since Strömstad is one of the last cities before Norway, many people go there to buy “cheaper” alcohol and bring it back home. The size of their shop was a clear sign of this!
Day 07: Strömstad to Moss
This was the day that I was finally going to cross the border to Norway, and I had been dreaming about this day since I started planning this silly little bike trip in 2018. Besides that epic moment, the day started with the glamour of every other day. While I had a sandwich in my hotel bedroom, I checked the weather, and it pointed towards rain, but it was colder than I expected.
When I left Strömstad, my hands even felt a bit cold, but this didn’t last long since I had to cycle to some special places before crossing the border.
The first place I passed by was the Grönehög, a burial mound that was built in the 6th century near the shoreline when the sea around the area was higher. Next to it, I stopped at the Stenskeppet, also known as the Blomsholm Stone Ship.
The stone ship in the burial ground is Blomsholm’s most famous ancient monument, and I had to stop my bike there for some pictures. Measuring 41 meters long and 9 meters wide, it is the third largest stone ship in Sweden. The stones amidships rise about one meter high, while those at the bow and stern reach more than four meters. When the 49 stones that make up the ship were raised around 2,000 years ago, the shoreline was much closer, and waves could crash against the ship.
Many hills and more than 600 km after I started to cycle in Copenhagen, I spotted the bridge that connects Sweden to Norway. And I believe I never felt euphoric like that before. From the bridge, you can see the water below you, and there were ships passing, and I had to stop for a moment and be happy that I managed to cycle all the way there.
The first kilometers cycling in Norway were not the best since I had to spend a lot of time on a narrow road that was busy with cars on both sides. It didn’t feel dangerous, but it was stressing me out. I was relieved when I arrived in Fredrikstad and had to stop cycling for a while to cross the Glomma River by ferry.
According to Strava, this was my personal record in elevation gain, and my legs felt that when I arrived at the hotel I booked in Moss. There I got a message from my girlfriend and my friends from Canal Alemanizando that they were already in Oslo waiting for me to arrive. This trip was almost coming to an end.
Day 08: Moss to Oslo
It was challenging to find a position to sleep in during the night; I was too excited and anxious to be able to rest. When it started getting bright outside my window, I decided it was time to get ready and packed the bike for my last day cycling to Oslo.
When I left Moss, the city was still covered in mist, and it was so humid that the spiderwebs next to the bike lane were covered in morning dew. The closer I got to Oslo, the busier the bike lane got. There were so many people biking on that early Sunday morning, and it felt great to see that. These people were having a great Sunday morning cycling, and so was I.
With each kilometer, I got more excited. When I spotted the Oslo Town Hall, it almost didn’t feel real. When I saw Camila, Rodrigo, and Elissa waving their arms at me, it hit me that I was about to end my bike ride. They had some of those black and white flags that you see in car races, and I was so happy to share that moment with them.
My girlfriend gave me a medal like she did when I arrived back in Berlin after the first stage of this trip. But, this time, she gave in Oslo. I had to stop for a moment to collect myself, and that was it. More than a thousand kilometers later, I finally arrived in Oslo. My dream trip was coming to an end, and I was still speechless.
Since I didn’t need to cycle anymore, it was time to drop my bike and my bags at the Citybox Oslo, take a shower, and go out to explore Oslo since this was my first time in the city.
As a big fan of black metal, the first place I visited in Oslo was the building where, on the night of 10 August 1993, Varg Vikernes stabbed Euronymous to death. If you are familiar with the Norwegian Black Metal scene from the early 1990s, you know what this means.
Close to it, you can find the St. Hallvards Kirke, which was built of brick and concrete exposed both to the interior and exterior. It has a fantastic design that feels brutalist in many ways and won several architectural awards after it was completed in 1966. One of the highlights for me is how the roof of the church room hangs down and gives the lowest height where it is traditionally highest.
From there, we walked towards the Ekeberg Park to see the statues and artwork there. But, before we arrived, we stumbled upon the Dildonissen that reminded me a lot of the Rotterdam Santa Claus that I visited before. It’s difficult to just write a few sentences about what I saw at the Ekeberg Park. I will need a full article about it in the future. The highlights for me were the Nordic Pixel Forest, the Dilemma statue, and the Venus de Milo aux tiroirs by Salvador Dalí.
After a long walk around the Ekeberg Park, we took our cameras to the city center since I wanted to see the Oslo Opera House while it was still sunny outside. The opera house was one of the first things I remember seeing in Oslo, and it was fantastic to be able to walk around and take pictures of this fantastic-looking place.
After several kilometers cycling to Oslo and many more walking around town, we had reindeer kebab for dinner and called it a night after having some beers at Crow Bar, which felt like the perfect way to end my bike ride from Copenhagen to Oslo. I couldn’t be happier about all this.
Day 09: Oslo
Since I didn’t need to cycle anymore, I left the bike at the hotel and went to have breakfast with Camila, Rodrigo, and Elissa at the W.B. Samson–Egertorget bakery. There we had one of the best grilled sandwiches I ever had and planned how to get to the Norsk Folkemuseum.
A short bus ride later, and there we were, walking around the Norsk Folkemuseum and seeing the historical architecture that shows how much Norway has changed through the years. But the highlight there, at least for me, was the Gol stavkirke. Also known as the Gol Stave Church, this is a stave church originally from Gol that dates from 1157 to 1216. Most of the main construction remained intact and in original form, and inside, you can still see original murals and medieval artifacts. It was magical to be able to see this.
As a way to continue with my black metal interest in Oslo, we headed to where Helvete used to be. If you have no idea what Helvete is, besides meaning hell in Norwegian, this is a record shop that was first opened in June 1991 by the late and now-infamous Mayhem’s guitarist Euronymous.
Since I visited the building where he was murdered, I had to visit his old shop since it feels like an unofficial black metal museum. I even tried to buy a Mayhem shirt there, but they didn’t have it in my size, so I got a Neseblod Records shirt, and I’m more than happy about it.
At the end of the day, Rodrigo and Elissa headed to the airport to fly back to Berlin, and Camila and I decided to go for a ferry ride around the islands of the inner Oslo Fjord. We took the B1 line from Aker Brygge, and it was fantastic to see the sky getting dark over Oslo from the water.
Day 10: Oslo to Berlin
One of the things that I was worrying about a lot was how to get my bike safely back home. I never had to deal with taking my bike on a plane before, and I was curious to see how it would work. I followed the rules and guidelines that Norwegian Airlines had on their website, got myself a bike bag, and packed everything so we could leave the hotel to explore Oslo one last time.
We headed towards the gorgeous houses around Damstredet and visited Munch’s and Ibsen’s graves at the Our Savior’s Cemetery. From there we walked towards the Akerselva river for some pictures, and we ended up at the Mathallen Oslo for an early lunch.
As a way to celebrate this massive bike ride, we went to Helt Vilt and decided to have something special. This is how we ended up with a dish called Arctic Journey that is made of grilled steaks of moose, reindeer, and minke whale. I thought that everything sounded so surreal that I needed to try it out. Of course, it was exceptional, and I will always remember this meal.
Before heading back to the hotel to pick up my bike and go to the airport, there was one last place that I wanted to visit. After walking for a few blocks, we arrived in a square that looked like many other places we passed by in Oslo.
But this square is different since this is where the 2011 Norway attacks happened, led by far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik. A car bomb exploded at Regjeringskvartalet, where today there is a museum there called 22. Juli-Senteret, but we didn’t have to visit it.
The last thing I needed to do in Oslo was to get my bike in a bag and carry it to the airport. Even though it felt like a massive thing, it was easy to carry it, and I didn’t have any problems with dispatching it and picking it up again back in Berlin. Maybe I need to do this more often.
The End of My 10-Day Odyssey from Copenhagen to Oslo by Bike
As I mentioned before, in the article I wrote about the Berlin to Copenhagen bike ride, this entire trip felt to me like more than just a physical trip. It almost felt like a pilgrimage of self-discovery where I managed to find time to celebrate the simple pleasures of life. I started as a cyclist that wasn’t fully comfortable on the road and ended as a bikepacker who could handle a broken pedal in a foreign country and a downpour in the Swedish woods.
Even when it was raining and I had to climb hills, it still felt like a fantastic experience. The challenges only made me more determined to cycle and increased my appreciation for everything around me.
And I’m sure that this trip has sparked a fire, a love for bikepacking that will last forever. I will never forget the open road and bike lanes, the flexibility to go at my own speed, and the sense of accomplishment I get from finishing each kilometer.
I’m already planning and looking forward to the next one! This was the beginning of my backpacking journey, and I can’t wait to see where the road leads me next!
