Scandinavia July 2018 - Binoculars?

Kazootripper1

According to the Tauck "what to pack" guide they suggest binoculars. Can anyone on past Scandinavia trips comment on if binoculars are good to have or not? Thanks

Ken from Vegas

We almost always take a small pair of binoculars, but seldom use them. I have a camera with a long lens and that usually suffices for me.

As to whether you need them for this trip, I would say probably not. The beauty of Scandinavia is mostly in the sweeping vistas (particularly in Norway) not in anything you need to get a closer view of. Maybe a glacier. I don't recall seeing any wildlife other than in a zoo. It's one of those things that I would treat as a suggestion, not a "you should do this." If you haven't said, "Gee, I wish I had binoculars with me" on other trips, you probably won't miss them here.

Looking back at my pictures from the trip, the only places I might have used them were during boat tours in Copenhagen and Stockholm (we did these on our own - not part of the Tauck tour). Also, I might have used them to view Kronberg Castle (the model for Elsinore in Hamlet) from Sofiero Palace, across the Denmark Strait. That's about it. Others may feel differently.

Johnel5

I always have a pair in my backpack but have only used them maybe once and that was on a cruise ship to see a ship many miles away.

Kazootripper1

Thanks so much for the insight! One less package from Amazon!!