Name: Cycling the Baltic States
Brand: Explore!
SKU: N/A
Price: 1840 USD
Availability: LimitedAvailability
Rating: 4.0 (13 reviews)

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Lithuania Tour & Trip Reviews | Travelstride

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Cosmos

A bit of a whirlwind tour although the three Baltic States relatively small, 
green  and flat.  I knew virtually nothing about them before I went but 
learned a lot out there.  In particular their very complicated history - 
waves of invaders of whom the Soviet Union was the last one.  There are 
ex-KGB premises which are now museums - very sobering to visit especially as 
people who were tortured there or sent to gulags still have family alive. 
Very sobering.

The tour was a good mix of cultural and natural sights.  So as well as cities 
and towns there were visits to the coast.  Much of the scenery was very 
attractive with a lot of forested areas
The number of places visited in a day and the amount of information imparted 
was sometimes a bit excessive.  It was hard to absorb it all.  There wasn't 
much free time in some venues except for Riga.
Highlights rather than inspirations:

Art Nouveau architecture in Riga 'New Town' - stunning buildings
Cold War missile base in Lithuania - recent history, very unusual
The Coronian Spit kilometres of white sand and a cormorant colony
Tart(Estonai) u and Vilnius(Lithuania)  Universities campuses


He (Simonas) was very sociable and approachable.  He sang Lithuanian 
traditional songs on the minibus, in public places.  Very unusual and a 
insight into the musical tradition of the country.
Unfortunately there was no group introduction session which might have helped 
cohesion, as he was unable to arrive until the morning of the first day and 
we went straight into a tour of Tallinn.

He had a slight tendency to shoot off ahead of the group - slower individuals 
found it hard to keep up sometimes.  He should have checked everyone was 
there when crossing busy roads in cities.  Though some of the group often 
wandered off so hard to keep tabs on them,

Local guides were generally excellent though the one in Tallinn was less so.
Drivers also good.


Maybe go a day early or stay a day later so that you can see a bit more of 
either Tallinn or Vilnius.
Some days were quite long and tiring
It was more expensive than I had imagined (but cheaper than the UK)
On the whole this is a good introduction to the Baltic States


Hotels in Klaipeda and Vilnius were very noisy and their black out curtains 
were ineffective
Some of the venues for group evening meals were disappointing and the food 
was not very good.
One or two places cloud be left out e.g. a cave in Lithuania, Amber workshop 
and wind vane workshop on Coronian Spit.

Discover the Baltics

This is a well designed trip giving an excellent overview of all three Baltic 
states. This not only included the capital cities but other towns and much 
countryside. We were given expert led tours of all the cities that we visited 
but time was then allowed for us to wander on our own to explore or revisit 
sites. But this is much more than just a city tour. We also visited numerous 
other sites, both natural and man made including museums that record the 
turbulent history of these countries. Highly recommended.
The way that these countries have come together and shaken off the horrors of 
the past. Only 30 years since they became independent of the Soviet Union yet 
they feel like fully developed European countries. The roads are excellent, 
the hotels comfortable and we ate some fabulous meals, both traditional and 
world wide. And so clean - barely any litter at all. Before the trip I 
imagined these countries might be a bit grim and Soviet-like still. 
Absolutely none of it.


We had an excellent group leader. Vaida travelled with us the whole way, 
facilitating tours, hotels and meals. Occasionally she would conduct the 
tours herself, particularly when we got to her native Lithuania.


This is a full on trip. There are some early starts in order to cover the 
miles. The tours involve quite a lot of walking (on some pretty bumpy cobbled 
streets in the old towns) and standing. Some of the older buildings involve 
climbing up steep, tight staircases though these are optional. The weather 
was exactly like the UK.

The Baltic countries are interesting and the old towns are charming. They 
have suffered a lot under various foreign rulers and are proud of their 
independence.
The Cold War Museum was  chilling and reminded us of how close we came to a 
nuclear war.
We enjoyed the tour of Rundale Palace and the visit to the Sand Dunes of the 
Curonian Spit.


We found him quite distant. He didn't encourage or welcome questions. He had 
his agenda and was sticking to it. He was not sensitive to the needs of some 
people in our group. He walked too quickly for some of us and at times he 
didn't wait for us to catch up. In Trakai Castle, he lost 1/4 of the group 
and never even apologized. to us. He said we were going to the great hall, 
and 5 of us were left behind. We missed a turn and went on up to the top 
level while he was still on the main level.
I suggest that he should check to see if all have arrived before he starts 
talking.

Three small countries with a lot of character

I enjoyed discovering an area of Europe I knew little about. Visiting many 
areas of all 3 countries. Guide well organized and itinerary good.  Only 
problems were Tallin hotel (hot weather but no AC and some rooms no windows 
to open) and lunch dinner stops sometimes very slow service.
Hotels in good locations.
History of all 3 countries.


Organized, able to express local passion for small countries surrounded by 
larger powers. Very good.


We flew into Helsinki and took ferry to Tallin so we got a quick Finland 
visit. Ferry docks within walking distance of hotel.

Really interesting trip made extra special by our guide Melia, whose 
knowledge was incredible.  We were really lucky with the weather and had a 
really good group of people.The
The city of Riga


Amazing

This tour gave an overall look at the history, cities, castles and country 
areas of the 3 countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
There were so many highlights it is hard to pick just one.
However, the tour of the Cold War Museum is memorable. Memorable not 
inspirational, as that was such a frightening time in recent history and 
frightening to think we have not learnt from it.


Our group leader had an excellent knowledge and love of the history and 
culture of the Baltics.
Vaida was very well organised, friendly, helpful and nothing was too much 
trouble for her


The free time to explore further in different cities after having done a 
walking tour with the group is very valuable as each of us has different 
interests


Vaida, our guide, is young and enthusiastic and encourages group members to 
enjoy all opportunities