twosassyk

We have 3 nights post Royal Carribean cruise beginning Sat 7/14 that we need help determining what city to visit. Prior to the cruise we have 4 nights in Vienna, then 4 nights in Tallinn, followed by the 7 night cruise that has stops in Riga, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Visby, Helsinki and Gadnake.

The night after these 3 nights we will be traveling to Frankfurt to stay at the airport for our flight back to the U.S. the next day and to meet friends for dinner. So consideration for the city chosen and travel from there to Frankfurt.

We have had short trips previously to Brussels and Luxembourg City. We have already been to Paris, Frankfurt (and day trips to several cities from Frankfurt).

We are two adults traveling with no kids and are overwhelmed with the options. We have considered Copenhagen, Berlin, Hamburg, Prague? We dock at 7 am on Sat 7/14 to we should be able to arrive in our chosen city by lunch time and would be staying until 7/17 around lunch time before we fly to Frankfurt.

Help / suggestions / ideas?

Cowboy1968

So destination X needs both: good connections from Tallinn, and eventually a good connection to Frankfurt?
Since your plan (arrive by lunch) calls for non-stop flights, you should consult the Talinn airport's website first to know your options.
http://www.tallinn-airport.ee/eng/info/timetable

It looks as if only Copenhagen and Prague would be non-stop services from Tallinn. But Prague is with Czech Airlines which usually have very high o/w fares.
When you check fares, it does not hurt to check for an open jaw Tallinn-Prague, Prague-Frankfurt. While you do not necessarily have to fly Prague-Frankfurt, this combination can be less costly than a o/w Tallinn-Prague only.

I assume you already done that and it's not on your list, but Ryanair flies to Frankfurt-Hahn. Very close to the Moselle river. You could rent a car there and drop it off at the end of your trip in Frankfurt.

To Berlin, you'd probably have to connect in Riga with air baltic.

Hamburg could be reached via Bremen or Hannover (plus 1- 1.5hrs train) -- not sure if that's the type of connection you're looking for...

adrienne

I'm curious. Where is Gadnake? I put it into google and didn't get a location.

Cowboy thinks your cruise ends in Tallinn but can you confirm this. I'm guessing the cruise starts in Tallinn but doesn't have to end there.

smithgardner

I think Copenhagen would be a wonderful choice for 3 nights. It's very compact and the weather will be wonderful that time of year. Wonderful cutting-edge restaurants, great museums, and great day trips: Louisiana, Malmo, Roskilde. This city lacks the blockbuster postcard sites that other European cities have (except maybe the Nyhavn, with which I am smitten), but it is fine living at its best. Such a great city for a quick trip!

longhorn55

I'm basing my choice entirely on the city--not on the ease or difficulty of getting there after your cruise. I have not been to Prague, but I have been to the other 3 cities you mention and Berlin would win, hands down. I lived there for a few years and found it to be a fascinating city with lots to see and do. It's also easy to get around Berlin because the public transportation is so good. I don't know what your interests are but you can find anything in Berlin from palaces in Potsdam to Ping-Pong cafes.

AisleSeat

If I understand you are looking for a 3 day destination within striking distance of Frankfurt. Is that right? Frankfurt airport is such a major air hub you can literally go anywhere in Europe by air fairly easily. How about London or Rome, Barcelona or Munich, Amsterdam or Zurich. Throw a dart at the map and see where you end up. You could spend three days in Egypt or Isreal.

twosassyk

Sorry everyone - the cruise ends in Stockholm (Tallinn is prior to the cruise).

twosassyk

Aisle Seat -
we thought of avoiding London due to possible higher tourist volumes with the upcoming Olympics. Zurich was an option but my responses were it's a business city and due to it's cost other cities would be better.

Adrienne -
I might have spelled it wrong but it's a coastal city in Poland.

Kwoo

You must mean Gdanske in Poland. Since the cruise ends in Stockholm, then Copenhagen might be a logical choice. Smithgardner makes a good argument.

Cowboy1968

Gdansk - without the "e" at the end

Copenhagen sure is nice. I was just wandering if after an extensive cruise to all the major Baltic sea cities it will be just "more of the same".
If that did not matter, I'd rather add those 3 days to Stockholm. It saves you (timewise) the trip to anywhere else. And I find Stockholm slightly more interesting than Copenhagen with many options for day trips to the myriad of islands or to the castles and quaint little towns more inland in an 1hrs distance.

Otherwise, as smithgardner says, once you got to the airport and added up the time to get there, check in, security etc. it would not matter if you stayed an hour on the plane to Berlin or 2 hours to elsewhere.
Just make sure that your luggage meets the limits for intra-European flights, esp. on budget airlines.

twosassyk

Cowboy1968 - thanks for the luggage thought I had just assumed "international" weight limits flying from one country to another. I will add this to my considerations as well.

Great point about the islands and castels in near Stockholm I haven't looked at day trips from there. Several people said if they had 3 nights post cruise they would choose somewhere else so it sorted of steered me away from considering Stockholm.