Summertime in Helsinki and the Baltic Region

Arrival in Riga, Latvia

Tallinn to Riga is 4 1/2 hours by Lux bus. Booked the "comfort seats" and brought our own lunch on board. Very nice bus with good a/c. Walked 10 min from the bus station to our Riga hotel.

Highlights

Two excellent free guided walking tours (tip based rcd. by the TI in Riga): "Old Riga Tour" and "Central Riga + Art Nouveau."

Central Market located in historic zeppelin hangars. Amazing!

Daugava Riverside walk past the little wooden boats and through the beautiful park.

Cathedral Of The Nativity Of Christ (free entrance, strict dress code)

Riga Dome Cathedral. Lovely church and cloisters.

Jūrmala day trip

How we got around

Walked everywhere

Train (30 min) to Jūrmala

Delicious Meals:

Zviedru Vārti. Cozy, family-run restaurant and our favorite place to eat! We were treated to little shot glasses Riga Black Balsam liqueur.

LIDO Vērmanītis. Great value, home-style Latvian food in a casual setting.

Liberta restaurant. Fun location on main drag!

Folk Club Ala (With a live band!)

B Bārs Restorāns for excellent “business lunch workdays" that includes soup+main or main+dessert for 11.50 Euros.

Fun day trip:

Jūrmala Beach. Direct 30 min. commuter train from Riga to Jūrmala (1.40 Euros each way). Easy walk from train station through the charming town of Jūrmala. Stopped to explore the Dzintary Forest Park on our way to the beach. Afternoon spent leisurely walking along the beautiful, white-sand beach, dipping into the shallow coastal waters and lunch at a beach café. Wonderful day!

Special Events

Delightful "Midday concert" at the Anglican church in Riga.

Arrival in Vilnius, Lithuania

Lux bus again from Riga to Vilnius. (4 hrs. 20 min.) I ate my lunch on the bus, read my book and gazed out the window at the countryside. Walked from bus station to our hotel In Vilnius.

Highlights

Excellent free walking tour (tip based) of Old Town by locals. https://www.vilniuswithlocals.com/

Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania Museum including 2 outstanding special exhibits.

Užupis (a self-declared "republic.")

St. Anne's and Bernardine Churches

Gates of Dawn

Cathedral Basilica

Bernardine Gardens

Trakai Castle

How we got around:

Walked everywhere including to and from bus and train station.

30 min. Train to Trakia Castle Island

Bolt (15 min) to airport.

Delicious meals:

Amatininkų Užeiga. We really enjoyed this traditional Lithuanian "tavern" for both lunch and dinner.

Gabi Restaurant. Pretty courtyard restaurant for lunch.

Georgian House. Excellent Georgian restaurant. We ate there twice!

Casa Della Pasta. Italian food for a change.

Etno Dvaraus. Tasty Lithuanian cuisine. I tried traditional Lithuanian "Voruta" wine made from black currant berries. Delicious!

Kybynlar in Trakai. Family run "Karaties" restaurant. We enjoyed our "kibins" lunch on the balcony overlooking the lake.

Delightful day trip:

Trakia Castle Island. Direct 30 min. train or bus ride from Vilnius to Trakai. Enjoyed the lovely, picturesque walk along the lake from the bus/train station to Trakai Castle Island. The view of the 14thc. castle on the island is stunning! High recommend!

Return home:

6:25 a.m. flight from VNO to FRA. We got up at. 4:00 a.m. (Ugh!) Our hotel packed us a breakfast to go the night before. At 4:35 a.m. we used our "Bolt" app to book a ride to the airport. Driver arrived at 4:40 a.m. Price was 9.80 Euros. He got us to VNO airport in 15 min. Flight was on time and everything went smoothly!

We loved our summertime trip to Helsinki and the Baltic Region!

I’m so happy to see your report! I can’t wait to learn more in person. It sounds like a great trip.

I'm so glad you loved your trip. Thanks for all the Highlights and Delicious Meals to help me plan a return visit. This makes me want to go back!

Barbara N, Yes, it was a great trip and I think you would also enjoy it!

CWsocial, The Baltic region is well worth a second trip and you'll love Helsinki, Finland, too!

Such a useful report - thank you! Like CW, I am now ready for a return! Lots of things you did, I didn’t make it to the first time!

Excellent Lithuania experience.

"I tried traditional Lithuanian "Voruta" wine made from wild berries."- which one? "Voruta" does not have such a line but maybe they introduced a new product?

Christine, this sounds like a fabulous itinerary. I wish I could go back to see the sights and try restaurants you list, that we didn't have a chance to experience on our last trip. Someday, hopefully. Thank you for sharing an excellent trip report!

TexasTravelMom, Thank you! Your trip report really helped me with my planning.

Kootah, I updated my notes to read "made from black currant berries. Delicious! "

DeborahInSeattle, I really appreciate all the info you shared with me! Thank you!

Nice trip report. Thanks for sharing.

I love your trip report and will bookmark it. I hope to make a similar trip in the next year or two. Thanks for sharing.

Christine,

"Voruta" line for black currant is their award winning line and a recognized culinary heritage with certification; the certificate sign is on the actual bottle label. It is also my favourite taste of their production. Lithuania is famous for our fruit/berry/plant wines. The name "Voruta" is the mythical castle of our first and only King Mindaugas, who lived in the 13th century and it is located, according to historians, near the town of Anyksciai, where the production of "Voruta" wines is housed. I am glad you liked it.

Thanks so much for this trip report! Helsinki and Tallinn sound like they would make a great trip for me, my sister, and her husband. I’m always on the lookout for “easier” trips for my sister, who has some health issues and less vacation time.

Both cities sound very walkable, and I love that you were able to walk from the train station to your hotel in Helsinki and from the ferry terminal to your hotel in Tallinn.

Were you happy with the amount of time you spent in each city—four nights in Helsinki and seven nights in Tallinn?

I’m also curious to hear more about what you did during your time in Tallinn.

It sounds like I need to go back and find TexasTravelMom’s trip report. Were Mardee and CWsocial on that trip as well? I seem to remember that they may have written trip reports too.

Carrie, here is my 2023 trip report that includes Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn, where I spent 5 nights.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/3-weeks-4-capitals-solo-after-warsaw-in-3-baltic-capitals

In 2024, I would have visited Helsinki and returned to Tallinn for 4 more nights, but I changed my trip to attend a family wedding in Istanbul.

Lol, Carrie - here’s my Baltics report from 2024.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/baltics-september-2024

CW, Mardee, and I went together to Romania. I just stole a lot of CW’s research and experience for my Baltic’s trip, as well as Carol’s plan from an even earlier trip. https://community.ricksteves.com/users/16796 I don’t think Carol wrote a real report.

Dave, My pleasure! While researching this trip on the RS forum, I remember reading that you also enjoyed traveling in the Baltic region a number of years ago.

Andrea, Great! Keep me posted if you decide to go.

Carrie, I was very happy with the days I allotted for each city, but we tend to enjoy slow travel giving us time to really settle in and soak up our destination. We also enjoy returning to favorite places such as the Balti Jaam Market, Tellskivi Creative City, Rotermann Quarter. In addition to the RS Tallinn walk, I loved wandering the back streets and finding little areas like St. Catherine's Passage. The ramparts are fun to walk, also! Tallinn has an excellent TI that I used several times for ideas.

CWsocial and TexasTravelMom, both of your trip reports were so helpful in my planning. Thank you!!

Wonderful report! These places are at the top of our list! Thanks for sharing.

Tammy (aka Diveloonie), So glad you liked it! Enjoy planning your trip.

What a fantastic report, full of very useful information. Bookmarking it as Baltic region is at the top of my travel wish list.

Wow, thanks Christine, what a fun trip report! I've bookmarked it for tentative plans for the Baltic region, only 'problem' is for a mini-trip which city to pick?! I think it's a toss up between Tallinn & Riga.

Questions - Which city did you find the most museum-worthy places, including churches? And how much did you tip the TI free walking tour guides? Thanks!

PS, CWsocial and TexasTravelMom, yes indeed, thanks for the trip-report links!

Christine, thanks for the additional information.

CWsocial and TexasTravelMom, thanks for the trip-report links. They are very helpful, and I’ve bookmarked them.

Oh, that’s right—Romania! I knew there was a trip the three of you had taken together. :-)

This was a great trip report. Very well organized and easy to read. Thanks!

Joy, Thank you!

Sandancisco, Thanks! It was fun to write, too! For your mini-trip, you can't go wrong with either place. Tallinn is a medieval gem and Riga's art nouveau is like an outdoor museum. I'll pm you some more info to help you decide.

Carroll, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Reading your report beings back many happy memories of our Baltic travels. So glad all went smoothly and you were able to enjoy these interesting countries!

Den, I'm so glad that my report brought back such happy memories from your Baltic travels. Thank you so much for your help with my travel planning.

Hi Christine,

Thank you for sharing your trip report!
I appreciate all the useful details regarding sights, transportation, accommodations, places to eat, etc.

What popular sights (museums, churches, Suomenlinna Fortress, Trakia Island Castle) did you have to book in advance?

Helsinki to Tallinn by Viking Line ferry.

Did you book these tickets in advance?
If so, how far in advance?

How far in advance did you book your Lux bus tickets from Tallinn to Riga, & Riga to Vilnius?

Which of these cities became your favorite?

Priscilla, Good questions!

I did not have to book any of the popular sights in advance. This is one of the many advantages of traveling to the Baltic region!

As far as transportation, I booked the Helsinki to Tallinn ferry on Viking two months in advance and the Lux Express bus tickets one month in advance.

All four cities are lovely and I would happily return to each one. Tallinn, however, may have captured my heart the most.

I sat down last night to re-read your, TexasTravelMom, and CWSocial's Baltic trip reports. It took me several hours to read, cut and paste all the great ideas, so thank you! (Good thing because there really isn't a decent guide book that I could find to the Baltic region.)

TTM's comment, "The cobblestones in the old city centers of the capital cities are fierce. They are the big round kind." Has me thinking I will wear hiking boots if I go. (BTW that fabulous weather you had on your trip is no more, barely heading into September it's cool, rainy and rarely getting above high 60's.) Thanks again Christine!

Christine, what a lovely trip you and your husband took. I too will be bookmarking this report. We visited Helsinki and Tallinn in 2011. Like others, maybe a return trip and adding Vilnius and Riga is needed. Nice weather too. We always travelled up north when still working for this reason.
Hopefully we’ll get back that way, but we are still trying to get to Romania and Bulgaria. So many places left to visit and experience.

Sandancisco, Thank you! TTM and CWsocial's trip reports were a great resource for me, too. I agree that good Baltic guidebooks are hard to find. Yes, a lot of cobblestones in the Baltics! Your feet will be happy wearing the same shoes you wore in Rome.

Barbara, I'm so glad that you enjoyed reading about our trip. Thank you for the idea of simply using bullet points for my trip report.