Discover the Baltics

This tour was so much more interesting than I’d expected it to be. Admittedly I knew virtually nothing about the histories of the three countries - other than the fact that they’d all been under Soviet rule - but I hadn’t expected them to be *so* different in terms of their culture, food, architecture, …. I loved the three capital cities - Tallinn’s old town, Riga’s architecture (especially its Art Nouveau buildings) and Vilnius’s university buildings - and also Tartu, Kaunas, Cesis, Jurmala and Klaipeda. I also loved the dunes of the Curonian Spit and walking the Hill of Witches. The Plokstine Cold War Museum visit was chilling (even though I can remember some of the events documented there) and I found visiting the occupation/KGB museums in Tallinn, Riga and especially Vilnius harrowing. Luckily there were much lighter times too: Rundale Palace (where we had a very amusing guide), the beautiful Pazaislis Monastery, the boat trip and walk around Trakai Castle, the amazing sculpture park and reconstruction of Turaida Castle (where I amazed myself by climbing the tower!), the concert in Riga Cathedral, …. So many happy memories of this trip!

A very interesting trip that gave a good overview of the three Baltic States and didn't just concentrate on the three capital cities.

This was a fantastic trip! Each of the countries are unique and there is something to love about all of them. The trip itinerary is really well planned, and there is so much free time in the capitals that you can really feel comfortable just wandering around. I was lucky to be in a group with a really lovely and enthusiastic bunch of people, as well as all the memories, I even came home with a newfound enjoyment of castles.

An excellent trip.Most hotels of a very good standard. Very interesting sights. A few long drives but no early starts. Very relaxing and enjoyable. The trip gave an excellent insight into these Baltic States.

A truly wonderful tour with a lovely group of like minded people led by an amazing guide.

This is a well planned trip through the Baltics which explored Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Wonderful countries with lovely cities, fairy tale castles, grand houses and beautiful coastlines and forests. The itinerary was excellent and when you throw in a great group of fellow travellers and a truly outstanding tour leader you have everything you need to enjoy the trip.

This was a fast paced tour of the three Baltic countries, starting off from Estonia and ending in Lithuania. All three were very interesting countries and much different than I had imagined. Everything worked smoothly and there was never a dull moment.

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.

We arrived at the airport and Jolita the rep met us, but then we had to wait for the transport to come and collect us! She had to ring him to ask him where he was..... The first hotel was being renovated, the room was OKish, but I opened the window and being short couldn't manage to close it without standing on the chair in the room. The breakfast room was far to small for all the guests. All the other hotels were OK, except for the last one, bright lights, music and a bit too far out of town, the room was dull even with the light on, but it had no main light just side lights, and no carpet, it was OK to walk into town during the day but on an evening even though there were street lights it was dim. This was a cultural trip, but towards the end I was a bit "cultured" out. I also got bit/stung by either mosquitoes or horse flies, not nice.

I generally go for a more active holiday but I enjoyed this cultural trip. The rest of the group were very pleasant and our guide (Megle) was very efficient and informative. There were complaints about hotels but I have to say I was perfectly happy with my accommodation. My one complaint would be the Monday spent in Riga (day 6) - the trip to the beach at Jurmala was nothing special, besides it was too cold to swim and you would have had to wade out about 2km to get water deep enough. The boat trip along the canal and river was no great shakes and the free afternoon in Riga was somewhat spoiled by all the attractions being closed (as they are every Monday). It was rather a waste of a day and would be better being omitted altogether - either spending it elsewhere (Klaipeda or Vilnius?) ar cutting the whole trip short by a day. That however is my only grouse and was overall very happy. Up to the usual Exodus standard.