NHarness

My wife and I are about to spend a five days in the northern Baltics but haven't found much information about where to go. We have a plane ticket in mid-July that puts us in Tallinn, Estonia but we are not sure where else to go for the next few days. I imagine Tallinn has enough to do for a day or two but we would like to possibly expand our trip to other areas. Does anyone have any suggestions? We are checking out taking the ferry to Helsinki but we are also looking at Riga over in Latvia and other areas. I wouldn't even mind just staying in Tallinn and taking day trips to the countryside but I am not sure where to go. It is hard to find any guidebooks for these areas so...

What do you all think? Any and all suggestion are greatly appreciated. I have heard that the people in this area are wonderful and we are getting so excited for our trip!

agedude

Going to Berlin, Warsaw, Tallinn and Helsinki next month. Spending two days in Tallinn and was disappointed to discover the Kadriorg Palace and art Museum will be closed starting 1 July. Anyhow, I'll spend one day touring the town then plan on spending the next day at the Estonian Open Air Museum. I've been to the open air museums in Denmark and Stockholm and, while a little cheesy, are still fun and a great place for a walk. Here are the links to the Tallinn Tourist site and open air museum:
http://www.tourism.tallinn.ee/eng
http://www.evm.ee/keel/eng/

I am spending 3 days in Helsinki. I booked ferry passage from Tallinn online through Viking and it was quick, easy and simple. What I am looking forward to seeing in Helsinki is the Suomenlinna island fortress. It looks like a great place to walk around with a couple of museums on site. Here is the link:
http://www.suomenlinna.fi/en/

Hope it helps, have a good time.

thursdaysd

I spent time in the Baltics last fall, see http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ne-baltics.cfm

My pick is Riga, but I'm a big Art Nouveau fan.

SloJan2

I used to live in Riga and agree with thursday. Catch the business bus down...it is about a 4 hour ride and has wifi. The art nouveau buildings are gorgeous. You could do a quick jaunt out to Jurmala if you want as well.

Vilnius is also quite nice and is another 3 1/2 hours.

NHarness

Thank you all for your advice. I think we decided to start in Tallinn for a few days and then head to Parnu for one night and Riga for two nights.

Percy

You only have five days in Estonia you say.

You can easy stay 3 days in Tallin to make sure you see almost all of the major places

it is not a long drive to Parnu and then onto Riga.

Once in Riga you might want to go 49 miles further to Rundale Place.

You would then fly out of Riga.