I got Rick Steves recs for Tallinn, but he doesn't cover Riga, Latvia or Lithuania (Klaipeda & Vilnius). We will not have a car. We like museums, history, culture, eating, walking, hiking, art, architecture, etc. Traveling with my husband and 16-year-old daughter (who has already been to 21 countries & loves art!). What are your must-dos for 5 days in Riga, 2 days in Klaipeda, and 3 days in Vilnius?
Thanks!
Hi. What time of year are you going? My wife and I were in Riga last year for 5 days and really enjoyed it; partly because we happened on great weather. We went to Jurmala and Sigulda by train, biked to Mezaparks, enjoyed walking along the city canal and Esplanade, evenings listening to music in old town, Latvian War Museum, and nightly ice cream at McDonald's. I suggest you get the Lonely Planet book 'Estonia, Latvia, & Lithuania', we found it very helpful. Have a great trip!
Our trip is July 2-17.
Thanks for the tips. I have a different Baltic States book and will consult that as well. The day trips sound fun - I will plan one of them with my daughter while my husband is conferencing.
We did a trip through the Baltics in July a few years ago, just under three weeks (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, with a few days in Krakow and Warsaw on our way home).
We rented a car (picked it up in Vilnius, dropped it off in Tallinn), and were glad we did - it gave us a chance to break out of the just-the-three-capitals route that many visitors limit themselves to. Driving in the Baltics was easy, delightful and rewarding, and allowed us to explore out-of-the-way places. If you are limited to public transportation, you can still reach many places, it just might take more time.
In Vilnius, look for the "old" neighborhoods; we found one that seemed to be the old diplomatic quarter (embassies and consulates from the Soviet era), with a beautiful orthodox church, and old housing stock in every state and condition you could imagine. We wandered through rows of old "collective" housing units that were fascinating (some dilapidated, some with lots of character). Don't miss Trakai, less than an hour by car outside the city (an impressive castle/fortress on an island in a picture-perfect setting).
We didn't spend a lot of time exploring Klaipeda, since when we were there it rained heavily and steadily for 24 hours (worth noting - this was in July - be ready for some rain). The Curonian Spit was tempting but the atmospheric spit gave us reason to move along to the north along the coast - an area which was lovely (tho probably not easily accessible without your own car).
Riga is a great city - if you love architecture, you would be hard-pressed to find a more interesting mix, everything from medieval to Soviet. It's easy to spend days wandering the streets of the old city. Check out the sprawling and lively city market housed in old WWI-era Zeppelin hangars. For day-trips, don't miss Rundale Palace, it reminded me of other grand European royal palaces of the time - Versailles, Schönbrunn, and Nymphenburg - except without the crowds. We also enjoyed Sigulda, Turaida and Cesis. Not sure how easy it would be to do without your own car. The coast along the Baltic and Gulf of Riga are quite pretty if you can get to them.
Hope you get nice sunny weather but be prepared for driving rain, just in case.
I made my second visit to Riga last month. It has become one of my favorite cities.
I am interested in history so the Occupation Museum was on my list and I found it extremely well done.
I just enjoy walking around and seeing some of the memorable sights.
One suggestion I do have is to eat at Lido. (There are a few branches.) It is a cafeteria like restaurant serving traditional Latvian foods. Depending on which one you go to it will be a mixture of tourists and locals. The food is very good and very inexpensive. In general, food in Riga is very inexpensive.
For Vilnius, again, I like to walk around the older parts of the city checkiing out historic sites and monuments. The Occupation museum here was also very interesting.
Thanks for the tips, David in Seattle & Frank II. We will not be renting a car - already have our LuxExpress bus tickets set up. My daughter wants to study architecture/landscape architecture in college, so I think these cities will all be fascinating in that regard. Weather forecast looks more or less ok: coldest/rainiest weather will be in Helsinki, where were are only spending 2 nights/1 day. Insofar as you can trust Accuweather, there might be a few days of rain but otherwise low/mid-60s to low/mid-70s for the rest of the trip. We will bring rain jackets for sure.
