We need a Rick Steves book on the Baltics

I will second this. I’m hoping to do a trip of the Baltics in the next year or two and would love RS a guide book.

As a partial, though dated solution, it appears you can still buy (and use with caution) the 2018 Rick Steves guide book that includes Tallinn.

https://store.ricksteves.com/products/helsinki-guidebook?_pos=1&_psq=Tall7&_ss=e&_v=1.0

a bit on Vilnius, Lithuania

Compared with other Central and Eastern European cities, Vilnius took time to find its audience. But that added time has allowed the Lithuanian capital, at the confluence of the Neris and Vilnia Rivers, to come into its own. Today, a burgeoning dining scene marries modern techniques from Scandinavia with local culinary traditions, while a booming tech sector reinvigorates one of the largest surviving Old Towns in Northern Europe.

The Scandinavia guidebook has a section on Tallinn that would be more recent than the Helsinki book.
https://store.ricksteves.com/products/scandinavia-guidebook?variant=46201297731740

I don’t have the Scandinavia guidebook so I don’t know how many pages on Tallinn it includes.

I saw on Thriftbooks (used book site) a 1998 RS book "Russia and the Baltics" condition rated"good" for $6.19. Very dated, but at least post-Russian control. It could be a hoot anyway.
I believe Lonely Planet, DK and Rough guide have specfic books on the Baltics. (You probably already knew that!)
Best of luck in your research.

Good day, everyone.

I am happy that Angie1010 had amazing time in my home country Lithuania.

I am new to the forum, so I'd like to inquire if I am allowed to suggest books on the topic that are not by Rick Steves?

For those interested in Vilnius, The New York Times just posted "36 Hours in Vilnius, Lithuania." Lots of good info there for folks to get started.

I've been to Vilnius five time in the last three years. I'm not a typical tourist, though. Son and his family live there, so I get to visit and play grandfather, grocery shop, run errands, get grandson off to school to camp, etc. Each trip has been great.

Kootah, you can absolutely recommend other guidebooks. Just a reminder of the forum rules that you can not promote your own business.

Thank you, Andrea.

First of all, I would like to start from the official website of Vilnius tourism information “Go Vilnius”: https://www.govilnius.lt/ and I encourage to research their downloadable publications. In fact, most of our cities and towns have their own tourism information office and website. They are a good start. All their publications online are free.

Also:
1) In Your Pocket website: https://www.inyourpocket.com/data/download/vilnius (they ask for an e-mail in return, they never spam or cold mail, you can totally use a bogus e-mail). It is free.

2) Lonely Planet has a guidebook for the three Baltic States https://shop.lonelyplanet.com/products/estonia-latvia-lithuania?srsltid=AfmBOopxrA0Nxl_QsSFyNjCEKutA572V1lUsdaeOycGUbvTv3vcoQjIw but this is not free. On the good side, you can buy the whole book or just chapters you need. In general, I like Lonely Planet series. There are other publishing houses like Routledge, but I personally prefer Lonely Planet’s design to be more visually pleasing.

Unfortunately, there’s not much availability or diversity on the books about the Baltics in English. It all depends on how much translations cost, marketing, etc. Apparently, the market for Lithuania in English is small :-(

If I may, not a guidebook: opera “I LITUANI” by Ponchielli – Lithuanian National Opera & Ballet. It is free to watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiQhHoOvPNI It is very beautiful. I hope you do not have any location issues and the browser plays.

I am willing to answer questions about Vilnius or Lithuania, if you have any.

Kootah, thank you for the great information. Sharing of information is exactly what this travel forum is all about. My grandfather’s family came to the United States from Lithuania (it was Russia at that time) and I’m very interested in going there, as well as the other Baltic countries. We spent two weeks in Poland two years ago and loved it.

Ah, In Your Pocket. I had no idea they were still around. I wonder if they are still the absolutely fabulous resources that they used to be. Loved those guides.

Andrea: historically many Lithuanians emigrated from Russian Empire. They went to the USA, Brazil, even Australia. We have tentative plans to create Museum of Our Emmigration. There was an exhibition about this topic last year or so and it was a massive hit. My family had some of our members escape the Iron Curtain, they finally settled in Detroit, worked at Ford factory.

Kim: In Your Pocket guides are still consistent with their design, which makes me happy. They have clear layout and give updated information. Safe bet, always.

I found something that may be of interest for those who want to know more about Lithuania. Not a guidebook, though.

In the second half of 2013, Lithuania took over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the very first time.The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (URM) realized they lacked a modern, concise, and objective book written in foreign languages that could quickly introduce outsiders to Lithuania’s complex past.To fix this, the Ministry commissioned a special project. They brought together four of Lithuania's most prominent and well-known historians, each specializing in a different era. The book that was created by them is "The History of Lithuania". The book was published by Vilnius University Press.

English version can be downloaded at https://dokumen.pub/the-history-of-lithuania-2nbsped-9786094371639.html free of charge (safe link, not spam).

I have been researching this as I’m planning a trip next month to the Baltic States. As noted, RS has only some coverage of Tallinn. Although he has done TV shows on places for which he doesn’t have a guidebook, such as Romania, as far as I know he’s never issued a guidebook for a place he hasn’t even yet gone for a TV show (and where none of his tours go either) and his only show covering this area is one on Helsinki and Tallinn. It would be nice to see one or two for the other Baltics. I can’t really comment too informatively as I haven’t yet field tested them, but Lonely Planet and Insight Guides have fairly recent books covering all three countries. All the Lonely Planet books are much skimpier and more superficial these days than in the past, and this one appears to be no exception. Insight is very good on historical and cultural background, but not so much on practicalities, or hotel or restaurant recommendations. I also got the Bradt Lithuania guide from our library and it looks like a pretty good one from this British company. Bradt also has individual guides to the other two countries but I haven’t seen those. Rough Guide also published a Baltic States guide but it is many years out of date.

Before my first trip to Lithuania, I found in a Little Free Library box a book titled Experience Lithuania: An Unconventional Travel Guide (2nd Edition) by Columbia J. Warren. It's a bit dated now, but had plenty of good information on culture, food, places to visit, language, history, etc.

Slate,

" Insight is very good on historical and cultural background, but not so much on practicalities, or hotel or restaurant recommendations."

I would rather go online for hotel and restaurant recommendations than trust printed information that may be out of date. Restaurants close all the time. TripAdvisor gives real guest reviews to restaurants and hotels, printed guidebooks do not. Same goes for transport, as schedules and prices change all the time. Just today the general public was informed that one of our Michellin star restaurants is closing soon after receiving the star, and Michellin star seems to be a death's kiss on restaurants in the Baltic states in general.