We've just returned. It was a great trip! This itinerary was moderately aggressive but we felt that we had enough time in each city to get it's essence! We adapted our itinerary along the way and ended up with this: Copenhagen, Denmark - 3 nights (flight via Baltic Air to); Vilnius, Lithuania - 4 nights (Lux Express Bus to); Riga, Latvia - 4 nights (Lux Express bus to); Tallinn, Estonia - 4 nights (flight via Flybe to); Stockholm - 4 nights (Tallink Silja ferry to);
Helsinki - 2 nights (home to Atlanta).
Posted by
OP
Atlanta
3262 posts
Our favorite city was Tallinn, Estonia. It has a well-preserved-walled city with a port and an interesting Old Town. Just outside the city walls is a very modern city! They have a wonderful newish art museum (Kumu)! Also, very affordable restaurants with delicious, healthy food options! Vilnius was an interesting city also with a lovely Old Town. We stayed in a former monastery (Domus Maria) for about 66 USD per night. We liked the Art Nouveau section of Riga but it was probably our least favorite city of the group. It was a little more touristy and difficult to find good, affordable restaurants. We enjoyed an opera performance and the beautiful park that runs the length of the city. The Scandinavian cities were especially expensive but we found reasonably-priced accommodations and were creative about meals, eating our larger meal at lunch, buying snacks at the 7-Eleven and drinking less wine! Helsinki has a harbor-side market with great lunch options - large plates of freshly grilled salmon with potatoes and veggies plus good open-faced sandwiches on dark brown bread. In Stockholm we stayed at an Omena Hotel that was just newly opened this May. We paid $107 per night which was quite a bargain for Stockholm. The hotel doesn't have a reception area and we were sent a code for the main door and our room via e-mail the day before our scheduled arrival. It worked fine - the room was clean and comfortable with a refrigerator, microwave and small table (we ate some take-out meals) plus a big-screen TV. It was a good option for us! Stockholm is a great city to explore. The highlight was the Vasa Museum. Sundown was about 10:45 pm and sunrise was 3:30 am so it was easy to stay out late just walking! Temps were chilly so fleece jackets were perfect!