Helsinki and the Baltics: Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius

1. Day 1: Arrive in Helsinki

   Helsinki Airport to your hotel in the city centre

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Dinner
   • Stay in Helsinki
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Helsinki Airport (HEL), about 20 km north of the centre. A driver meets you in the arrivals hall at whatever time you land and takes you to your hotel near the Esplanadi, the tree-lined boulevard that runs down to the harbour. Pick-up runs all day; to be in time for the evening briefing, land by about 4 pm, and we confirm the time with your final itinerary. If you arrive early, walk the Esplanadi to the harbour, look into the Old Market Hall, or sit in the Oodi central library, whose top floor looks across to the Parliament. In the evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the ten days: the ferry, the two longer drives and why some mornings start at 9. Then we walk together to a welcome dinner of Finnish food, such as salmon soup, rye bread, and whatever berries or mushrooms the season brings. In June the sky barely darkens, so the walk back feels like early evening.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Helsinki Airport (HEL)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

2. Day 2: Helsinki and Suomenlinna

   Helsinki on foot, then the ferry to Suomenlinna and back

   • By ferry
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Helsinki
   Day 2 details

   We start at 9 am on Senate Square, laid out in the 19th century under Russian rule, with the white Lutheran Cathedral at the top of its steps; we go inside before the tour groups arrive. Then down to Market Square on the harbour, past the stalls and the red-brick Old Market Hall, and up the rock to the Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral. At about 10:30 we take the city's public ferry, about 15 minutes, to Suomenlinna, the sea fortress built from 1748 across six islands while Finland was part of Sweden, and on the UNESCO list since 1991. We walk the ramparts, the dry dock and the cannons at King's Gate, with time in the Suomenlinna museum, and lunch is a sit-down meal on the island. We take the ferry back in the early afternoon, and the rest of the day is free: the Temppeliaukio church cut into the rock, the Ateneum art museum, or one of the public saunas on the waterfront.

   Included

   • Guided walk: Senate Square, Helsinki Cathedral, Market Square, the Old Market Hall and Uspenski Cathedral
   • Return ferry to Suomenlinna
   • Suomenlinna fortress walk and museum
   • Sit-down lunch on Suomenlinna

   Optional experiences

   • A public sauna on the Helsinki waterfront
   • Ateneum art museum
   • Temppeliaukio rock church

   Easier option: Stay near the Suomenlinna ferry quay and the museum while the group walks out to King's Gate; we meet again for lunch.

   More active option: Walk the full length of the fortress to King's Gate and back along the outer ramparts, about 5 km in all.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 6 km on foot over the day, on streets, gravel paths and grassy ramparts, with uneven ground on Suomenlinna.

   

3. Day 3: Ferry to Tallinn

   Helsinki harbour by ferry across the Gulf of Finland to Tallinn

   • By ferry
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Tallinn
   Day 3 details

   After breakfast our driver takes the bags and the group to the West Harbour for a mid-morning ferry across the Gulf of Finland, about 80 km and 2 to 2.5 hours depending on the sailing. The ferries are large and comfortable, with cafés and an outside deck, and on a clear day you can watch the Helsinki islands fall away and Tallinn's spires appear. We arrive around midday, a short transfer takes us to the hotel by the Old Town, and lunch is a sit-down meal together. In summer, cruise-ship passengers fill the lanes until mid-afternoon, so at about 3:30 pm, when most have gone back aboard, a licensed local guide walks us through the lower town: Viru Gate, Town Hall Square and its Gothic town hall, the old Town Hall Pharmacy, the Holy Spirit Church and the merchant houses on Pikk street. The Old Town has been on the UNESCO list since 1997. The walk ends at about 6 pm and the evening is free.

   Included

   • Ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn
   • Harbour transfers at both ends, with your bags
   • Sit-down lunch in Tallinn
   • Late-afternoon walk of Tallinn's lower town with a licensed local guide

   Easier option: Rest at the hotel after lunch and join the walk at Town Hall Square, a few minutes from the hotel.

   More active option: Walk from the harbour to the hotel through the Old Town instead of riding, about 1.5 km; our driver takes the bags.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: About 2 to 2.5 hours on the ferry, then about 3 km on foot on cobbles. Bring your passport for the crossing.

   

4. Day 4: Toompea and Kadriorg

   Tallinn on foot: Toompea, then Kadriorg Park

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Tallinn
   Day 4 details

   We start at 9 am with the local guide and climb to Toompea, the limestone hill where the bishops and the nobility lived, ahead of the cruise passengers who reach it from mid-morning in summer. We pass the onion domes of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, completed in 1900, and the pink Baroque front of the parliament, and look out from the Kohtuotsa and Patkuli platforms over red roofs and spires to the harbour. We come down by Pikk jalg, the steep 'long leg' lane, and lunch is yours in the Old Town. At 2 pm our vehicle takes us about 2 km east to Kadriorg Park, laid out for Peter the Great after Russia took Estonia from Sweden, and we visit Kadriorg Palace, the Baroque summer palace he built from 1718, now an art museum with its formal garden. The Presidential Palace and the Kumu art museum stand in the same park. We are back by about 4:30 pm, and the evening is free.

   Included

   • Guided walk of Toompea with a licensed local guide
   • The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the Kohtuotsa and Patkuli viewing platforms
   • Kadriorg Palace entry and the park

   Optional experiences

   • Kumu art museum in Kadriorg Park
   • St Olaf's Church tower (open in the warmer months)
   • Telliskivi Creative City

   Easier option: Toompea is uphill on cobbles; you can take a taxi up and join the group at the top.

   More active option: Climb the narrow stairs of St Olaf's Church tower in your free time for the highest view over the Old Town.

   Free time: Lunch and evening free

   Activity: About 4 km on foot over the day, on cobbles with a steep section up and down Toompea. Kadriorg Palace's opening days change by season; we confirm them for your dates, and if it is closed we swap in the Kumu museum.

   

5. Day 5: Pärnu and on to Riga

   Tallinn to Pärnu, then down the coast to Riga

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Riga
   Day 5 details

   This is the first of two longer drives, about 310 km and a little over four hours on the road. There is no shorter way between Tallinn and Riga, so we split it in two with a long stop in Pärnu. We leave at 9 am and drive south through farmland and forest, about 1.75 hours, to Pärnu, Estonia's summer resort on the Gulf of Riga. A short walk takes in Rüütli street, the 17th-century Tallinn Gate in the old ramparts, the wide sandy beach and the Art Nouveau Ammende Villa of 1905, and lunch is a sit-down meal in town. After lunch it is about 2.5 hours to Riga on the Via Baltica, with a coffee stop on the way; the Latvian border has no checks. The road runs near the coast through Salacgrīva and Saulkrasti, and we reach Riga at about 5 pm. Your hotel is a short walk from the Old Town, and the evening is free.

   Included

   • Walk in Pärnu: Rüütli street, the Tallinn Gate, the beach and the Ammende Villa
   • Sit-down lunch in Pärnu

   Optional experiences

   • A swim in the Gulf of Riga from Pärnu beach in summer (bring swimwear)

   Easier option: Stay at a café on Rüütli street or on the beach promenade while the group walks; we meet for lunch.

   More active option: Walk out along the stone breakwater at the mouth of the Pärnu river and back, about 4 km, while the others take coffee on Rüütli street.

   Free time: Evening free in Riga

   Activity: About 4.25 hours of driving in two stretches: Tallinn to Pärnu about 1.75 hours, Pärnu to Riga about 2.5 hours with a coffee stop, and about 2 hours in Pärnu.

   

6. Day 6: Riga Old Town and Art Nouveau

   Riga on foot: the Old Town, the Central Market and the quiet centre

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Riga
   Day 6 details

   Riga's historic centre has been on the UNESCO list since 1997 for two things: the medieval Old Town and the ring of Art Nouveau streets built around it. We start at 9 am with a licensed local guide: the Dome Cathedral, the Three Brothers, the oldest houses in the city, the Swedish Gate in the old wall, and the House of the Blackheads on Town Hall Square, rebuilt in the 1990s after wartime destruction, with the coats of arms of four Hanseatic cities on its gable. Then the lift up the tower of St Peter's Church for the view over the roofs and the river Daugava. Lunch is at the Central Market, set in former Zeppelin hangars, where your guide orders smoked fish, rye bread, pickles and Latvian soups to share. In the afternoon we walk past the Freedom Monument to the quiet centre and Alberta iela, where the facades by Mikhail Eisenstein are covered in masks, faces and sphinxes. We finish at about 3 pm; the rest of the day is free.

   Included

   • Guided walk of Riga Old Town with a licensed local guide
   • St Peter's Church tower by lift
   • Lunch at the Riga Central Market
   • Alberta iela and the Art Nouveau quarter

   Optional experiences

   • Riga Art Nouveau Centre (closed Mondays)
   • Museum of the Occupation of Latvia
   • Riga canal boat

   Easier option: Skip the afternoon walk to Alberta iela and rest at the hotel; it is about 20 minutes on foot from the market.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 5 km on foot over the day, mostly flat, with a lift up St Peter's tower.

   

7. Day 7: Gauja National Park and Cēsis

   Riga to Sigulda and Turaida, then Cēsis and back to Riga

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Riga
   Day 7 details

   Gauja National Park, Latvia's oldest and largest, follows the Gauja river through a sandstone valley about an hour north-east of Riga. We leave at 8:30 and reach the Turaida Museum Reserve soon after it opens and before the coaches: the red-brick castle tower begun in 1214, which you can climb for the view over the forested valley, the wooden church and the folk-song sculpture garden. On the way down we stop at Gūtmaņa Cave, the largest cave in the Baltic states, its sandstone walls carved with centuries of names. From there it is a few minutes to Krimulda, on the same side of the valley, where we ride the Sigulda to Krimulda cable car, which starts at 10 am, across the river to Sigulda; our vehicle meets us on the other side. From Sigulda it is about half an hour to Cēsis, one of the oldest towns in Latvia, where lunch is a sit-down meal before we visit the ruins of the Livonian Order's castle; you climb the tower by lantern light. We are back in Riga by about 4:30 pm, and the evening is free.

   Included

   • Turaida Museum Reserve entry, with the castle tower
   • Gūtmaņa Cave
   • The Sigulda to Krimulda cable car across the Gauja valley, from Krimulda to Sigulda
   • Cēsis Medieval Castle entry
   • Sit-down lunch in Cēsis

   Easier option: Skip the tower climbs at Turaida and Cēsis; the grounds and gardens are on the level, and your driver can take you between the stops.

   More active option: Walk down from Turaida to Gūtmaņa Cave on the forest path instead of riding, about 1.5 km with steps.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: About 2.75 hours of driving in three short stretches, and about 4 km on foot with steps and two tower climbs. The cable car runs from 10 am in season; if it is not running on your date, our vehicle crosses the valley by road.

   

8. Day 8: Hill of Crosses and on to Vilnius

   Riga to the Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai, then through Panevėžys to Vilnius

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Vilnius
   Day 8 details

   Today is the longest drive, about 355 km and about 4.5 hours on the road, because the Hill of Crosses sits west of the direct Riga to Vilnius road and is worth the detour. We split it in two. We leave Riga at 9 am and cross the flat farmland of Zemgale and the Lithuanian border, which has no checks, about 120 km and 1.75 hours to the Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai. More than a hundred thousand crosses, rosaries and carvings stand on a low mound; the Soviet authorities bulldozed it several times, and each time people came back at night to replace them. We give it an hour, with time to leave a cross of your own, and then lunch is a sit-down meal in Šiauliai. After lunch it is about 225 km and 2.75 hours to Vilnius on the main road through Panevėžys, with a coffee stop on the way. We arrive at about 5:30 pm, and your guide takes an evening stroll with anyone who wants one from the hotel to Cathedral Square.

   Included

   • The Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai
   • Sit-down lunch in Šiauliai
   • Evening orientation walk in Vilnius

   Easier option: The path from the car park to the hill is level; you can stay at the visitor centre café instead of walking among the crosses.

   Free time: Evening free after the orientation walk

   Activity: About 4.5 hours and 355 km of driving in two stretches: about 120 km and 1.75 hours to the Hill of Crosses, about 10 km into Šiauliai for lunch, then about 225 km and 2.75 hours to Vilnius with a coffee stop; about 1.5 km on foot at the hill.

   

9. Day 9: Vilnius Old Town and Trakai

   Vilnius on foot, then Trakai and back

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Vilnius
   Day 9 details

   Vilnius's Old Town, on the UNESCO list since 1994, is a web of Baroque churches, courtyards and crooked lanes. We start at 9 am with a licensed local guide at the Gate of Dawn, the only gate of the old city walls still standing, where a chapel above the arch holds a revered painting of the Virgin Mary. Down Pilies street we reach Vilnius University, founded in 1579, and its arcaded courtyards, then Cathedral Square, and cross the little Vilnia river into Užupis, the artists' quarter that declared itself a republic in 1997. Lunch and the early afternoon are free. At 3 pm we drive about 30 km to Trakai, where a red-brick castle of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania stands on an island in Lake Galvė. We cross the footbridge after the day coaches have left and walk the courtyards and the ducal palace, then take a short boat ride on the lake. The farewell dinner is in Trakai: kibinai and other dishes of the Karaim, a Turkic-speaking community settled here since the 14th century. Back in Vilnius by about 9:30 pm.

   Included

   • Guided walk of Vilnius Old Town with a licensed local guide
   • The Gate of Dawn, Vilnius University's courtyards, Cathedral Square and Užupis
   • Trakai Island Castle entry
   • Boat ride on Lake Galvė (May to September, weather permitting)
   • Farewell Karaim dinner in Trakai

   Optional experiences

   • Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights
   • Gediminas Tower, if the hill is open on your dates

   Easier option: Leave the morning walk at Cathedral Square and rest before Trakai; the hotel is a few minutes away.

   More active option: Walk up Three Crosses Hill in the free time for the view over the Old Town roofs.

   Free time: Lunch and early afternoon free

   Activity: About 4 km on foot in the morning on cobbles with gentle hills, and about 1.5 km at Trakai, with stairs in the castle.

   

10. Day 10: Depart from Vilnius

    Vilnius to Vilnius Airport

    • Drive about 15 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 10 details

    The last morning is unhurried. Breakfast is at the hotel, and there is time for one more walk before check-out: the Bernardine Garden by the river Vilnia, the stucco interior of the Church of St Peter and St Paul a short taxi ride away, or a coffee on Pilies street. Your guide checks everyone's flight times the evening before and arranges the transfers: our driver takes you from the hotel to Vilnius Airport (VNO), about 6 km and 15 minutes from the Old Town, with the group's departures grouped together where flights are close. Vilnius usually connects to North America through a European hub such as Helsinki, Warsaw, Frankfurt or Copenhagen, so a midday or afternoon flight works well. If you want more time in Lithuania, we can book an extra night in Vilnius, or a night in Kaunas, the country's second city, about 1.25 hours away by road, and quote the cost when you ask.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Vilnius Airport (VNO)

    Free time: Morning free until your transfer

    Activity: Book a flight from Vilnius leaving after about 11 am; earlier flights are fine, with an earlier transfer.

Wildlife and weather: Summer days are long, with around 19 hours of daylight in Helsinki in late June, and mild rather than hot; showers come at any time. May and September are cooler and quieter, with fewer cruise passengers in Helsinki and Tallinn, and the Gauja valley starts to turn gold in late September.

• Helsinki2 nights
• Tallinn2 nights
• Riga3 nights
• Vilnius2 nights