LATVIA/ESTONIA/FINLAND

Overview

• When: 20 August – 25 August, 2023
• Where (accommodations): Riga, Latvia: Wellton Riverside SPA Hotel; Tallinn, Estonia: Palace Hotel Tallinn; Jurmala, Latvia: Baltic Beach Hotel & SPA
• Transportation: Avis car rental, drive from Lithuania to Riga and Tallinn. Tallink Silja ferry from Tallin, Estonia to Helsinki, Finland
• Sights/attractions: Riga, Latvia: Rifelmen’s Square, Town Hall Square (House of Blackheads), Old Town (Vecriga), Riga Cathedral, Riga Castle, St Peter’s church, Three Brothers, Swedish Gate, Cat House, Town Musicians of Bremen; Tallinn, Estonia: Old Town, Freedom Square, St John’s church, Toompea Hill/Castle, Patkuli Viewing platform, Kohtuosa Viewing platform, Aleksander Nevsky Cathedral, St Mary’s Cathedral, St. Olaf’s church, Tallinn Town Hall Square, Viru Square, Lucky Chimney Sweeper statue, Kadriorg Park, Russalka Memorial, Skywheel of Tallinn, Telliskivi Creative City, The Three Sisters; Helsinki, Finland: Senate Square, Helsinki Cathedral, Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki Central Railway Station, Market (Kauppatori) Square, Bridge of Love, Uspenski Cathedral, Temppeliaukio Church, Stockman department store; Jurmala, Latvia: Jurmala beach, The Turtle, Jomas street, Orthodox church
• Food/drinks: Riga, Latvia: Bars Garaza, Folkklubs Ala Pagrabs; Tallinn, Estonia: Pegasus restaurant, Veinirestoran Dominic, Grenka, Lendav Taldrik, La Muu, Lee Restoran; Helsinki, Finland: Kauppatori Market, Basbas Kulma restaurant; Jurmala, Latvia: 36.line Grill restaurant, Grilbars House of Light

This trip was planned, organized, mapped out, and even hotels booked in the spring of 2020. As they say- man plans and God laughs. Everybody knows what happened that year. Our trip to Lithuania (and consequentially to Latvia, Estonia and Finland) got delayed, rebooked, and finally cancelled all together. We ended up going home to LT in 2021, but COVID restrictions between the Baltic countries were still unstable, so at that time we took a family trip to Croatia.

Here we are in 2023 and, as usual, I am not able to just sit at home and eat mom’s delicious food. We need another adventure!

Frankly, my mom and sister both have been to Latvia and Estonia. I was told I’ve been to Latvia when I was little, but I have no memories from that time. So I think I was a bit ashamed to say that I’ve traveled all over the world, and yet to see basically the sisters of Lithuania- the Baltic countries! The neighbors that are so close, driving distance away. Nobody from my family has been to Finland. To make this less than a week trip more intense, we added a day in Helsinki, because why not?!

Itinerary:

Sunday: Kaunas (Lithuania) to Riga (Latvia) -3hrs 40 min drive, sightsee Riga, overnight.

Monday: Riga (Latvia) to Tallinn (Estonia)- 4hr drive, sightsee Tallinn, night in Tallinn.

Tuesday: No driving, enjoying Tallinn.

Wednesday: 7.30am ferry to Helsinki (2hrs), sightsee Helsinki and 19.30 ferry back to Tallinn, overnight.

Thursday: 4.5 hr drive to Jurmala (Latvia), enjoy the spa and dinner, night at the hotel.

Friday: Relax at the beach and a day in Jurmala. 3hrs 40 min drive back to Kaunas (Lithuania).

When I put it in writing, it sounds like all we did was drive. Yet it was not bad at all (maybe the driver Sean would disagree hehe)!

LATVIA

LET’S GO!

To comfortably fit six people, we rented a seven passenger van from Avis (booked pick up in Kaunas airport) and I have to say, we had a great experience! We called previously to confirm that the car is automatic (the key for Sean), the person we communicated with via phone/text was always super nice and helpful. They actually brought the car to our house in Kaunas because our pick up was scheduled for Saturday evening. The Avis agent had his dad’s birthday party to attend, so he preferred that we take the car earlier in the day. We also extended it by 2 days and returned it in Vilnius airport with a minimal extra charge. It worked out perfectly because both Sean and I, as well as Agne and Cosimo, had the flights out of Vilnius the same afternoon.

6 people, 3 nationalities, 1 driver- what could go wrong 🙂 ? Just kidding! We’ve done family road trips several times, so everyone knew to pack light, wake up early and try to sync up bathroom breaks. We actually stopped only once at the most random, somewhat creepy gas station. Rusty carousel, abandoned tractor, no gas, BUT it had a bathroom, good coffee, and excellent Lithuanian ice cream!

And just like that, in less than 4 hours we are in the capital of Latvia- Riga!

RIGA

Wellton Riverside SPA Hotel

Since we only had one day allocated to sightseeing Riga, we chose to stay close to the Old Town. There are numerous hotels in the city, but Wellton Riverside SPA Hotel attracted us with their spa. We knew that sitting in the car and walking around will require some sort of reward and we were right. Hotel spa, staff, and location did not disappoint.

Comfortable rooms facing the Daugava river and the largest Spa complex in the Old Town- you can’t really ask for much more. Pool, jacuzzi, multiple saunas and steam rooms, plus my favorite- cold plunge pool! Nothing makes you feel more alive than submerging into a nearly freezing water after a hot sauna session : ) .

Vecriga (Old Town)

Due to the time crunch, all we saw was the Old Town and we really enjoyed it. Maze of winding cobble stone streets, medieval churches, lots of restaurants and souvenir shops. We encountered some rude people (parking attendant straight up yelled at us), so at first we were a bit put off. But the more we walked and after we had a great service and a delicious lunch at the Bars Garaza, we decided that we do like Riga a lot.

We talked to our server here and told him he’s improving Riga’s image since he was so polite. He agreed that Latvians are somewhat grumpy. When traveling oversees he said he’s surprised to see people smiling at him while walking down the street. “I was wondering what they want from me” our server recalled 🙂 . Luckily we didn’t have any more bad experiences and the afternoon in Riga flew by sightseeing the most famous tourist attractions.

Rifelmen’s Square was close to our hotel, so we began our tour there. Besides the statue in the middle, there is a large red wall- Memorial to the Victims of the Soviet Occupation– impossible to miss. Museum of the Occupation of Latvia is there as well, but we didn’t have time to enter, so we walked over to the Town Hall Square and its famous House of Blackheads. Originally built in the 14th century the building was bombed in the WWII, then rebuilt and now serves as a museum.

There are a lot of interesting sculptures in Riga-Anteater, Town Musicians of Bremen. And this sad looking rock. Kind of random, but very cool.

So many churches, that it’s overwhelming to try and see them all. No doubt the best money spent was on the ticket to enter St Peter’s Church!

The view from the tower is spectacular. It didn’t hurt that we got perfect weather with amazing visibility, but wow, breathtaking! Riga Cathedral was not that impressive to be quite honest. Also had to buy a ticket to get in (not used to that, typically at least Catholic churches are free to enter).

We walked through the Swedish Gate, checked out a few charming squares, and stopped by the Cat House.

Another important object not to be missed while in Riga- The Three Brothers.

We walked by the Riga Castle, but had no time to get in. It also looked pretty similar to the one we have in Lithuania 🙂 .

We really liked just wandering the streets, looking at the architecture – somewhat similar to Vilnius, but definitely a bigger Old Town.

For dinner we walked into Folkklubs Ala Pagrab, and though busy and pretty slow service, we had a very good traditional Latvian meal while listening to live music.

Nightcap for Cosimo, Agne and me was Riga Balsam at a local bar- black currant, cherry and original- we had to try them all of course! It’s a sweet herbal liquor often considered a national drink of Latvia.

Very strong, not my favorite, but as they say- while in Rome… (or while in Riga in this case!).

ESTONIA

TALLINN

New day, new country! #56 for me personally. Four hour drive to the hotel, where we’ll stay the next three nights- Palace Hotel Tallinn.

Palace Hotel Tallinn

Once again we chose the accomodations based on the location (close to the Old Town) and the fact that it has a spa. Overlooking the Freedom Square, it has comfortable rooms and helpful staff (great recommendations for restaurants!). The spa was much smaller than the one in Riga, but still had a sauna, pool and jacuzzi- more than enough space to relax after all the sightseeing.

First day in Tallinn

We arrived at lunch time, so followed hotel recommendation and went straight to Pegasus Restaurant – excellent decision! Great food, impeccable service- we started outside, then the rain came, so they moved us inside and we spent at least a couple hours enjoying the meals. Sean and Cosimo played cards- we waited out the worst of the rain and were not bored at all.

Rested and happily full we set of to explore Tallinn. It is (or at least felt like) a lot bigger than Riga. We walked through the Old Town-Tallinn Town Hall Square towards the Toompea Hill and Castle.

Definitely different architecture than in Lithuania and Latvia. It reminded us a bit of Germany, at least some of the streets and buildings.

By the time we did this ‘self guided’ tour all of the churches were closed, but just like in Riga, Tallinn has so many of them! St John’s church, Aleksander Nevsky Cathedral, St Mary’s Cathedral, St. Olaf’s church just to name a few.

We walked up the stairs and reached Patkuli Viewing platform. Great place to see the Old Town roofs from above.

You could actually see The Baltic Sea in the distance!

If you want a slightly different perspective- walk over to the Kohtuosa Viewing platform – basically just around the corner.

Aleksander Nevsky Cathedral is definitely impressive, at least from the outside.

So is the Toompea Castle. And the charming streets with the church steeples peeking everywhere.

We made sort of a big loop and got back to the Freedom Square/ hour hotel.

Dinner was at the restaurant recommended by the hotel- Veinirestoran Dominic. Wine cellar below, indoor and outdoor seating, this was a very nice (though a bit pricey) dinner in the Old Town Tallinn.

A bit of a walk around in the evening, and we are ready to call it a night!

I will not call out names, but one of us got pooped on by a seagull on the way to the hotel. Full on air assault 🙂 . They say it’s a good luck! I have to admit that I had a very long laugh 🙂 .

Second day in Tallinn

Technically this is our first and only FULL day because tomorrow we’ll do a day trip to Helsinki, so let’s use this time wisely. Agne found a great breakfast place – Grenka, which we all enjoyed. Portions are pretty big, beware when ordering everything off the menu 🙂 .

It’s a gorgeous day outside, but you never know when it might rain (carry the umbrella, so it doesn’t 🙂 ) – therefore we went to the Kadriorg Park first.

This beautiful urban park was not close to the hotel, so we jumped in the car and drove there. Parking was free for 2 hours, which we realized only after seeing paper clocks inside each car. They marked the time when the owners parked, so as long as it’s under the 2hr mark, there is no fee or ticket. We did not have the clock, so Agne improvised- used her lipstick to write down the time on the back of the receipt that we had in the car and left that in the window.

Beautiful flowers, the pond, manicured walkways around the Kadriorg Palace (formerly Tsar’s summer residence)- definitely could spend an afternoon here without getting bored. But we came, we saw, we conquered – time for the next touristy object- Skywheel of Tallinn!

This Ferris wheel is quite unique- not only is it placed on the hill, but it’s built on top of the mall, which elevates the highest point to 120 meters above sea level. It was a first for all of us to enter a Ferris wheel from the roof of the building!

We’ve seen Tallinn from the birds view, lunch is quickly approaching, and we have one more area to visit- Telliskivi Creative City. This artsy, fun neighborhood has a completely different vibe from the mostly tourists filled Old Town.

We drove there and got lucky with street parking. A few of the restaurants that we had in mind were closed for private events, so we kind of randomly chose Lendav Taldrik.

Indian restaurant was bright, had open floor space, and delicious food. Maybe it would not have been our first pick, but we all left happily full. Now that we were not starving, we could fully appreciate the street art, wander into a few boutiques and even play a game (Alius totally beat Sean).

If in Tallinn, definitely visit this neighborhood, we liked it a lot!

Oh, and great ice cream at La Muu! There is always room for ice cream 🙂 .

After a full day of walking we really appreciated the spa at the hotel prior to going out for dinner. Parents were still full from the late lunch and I am pretty sure had more than enough of walking, so the stayed in.

It was just the four of us that enjoyed the night time Tallinn and an excellent meal at Lee Restoran– modern local food with a Japanese twist. Gorgeous area, delicious meal- we have not had any bad food in Tallinn!

Before going to bed and getting ready for an early morning departure to Helsinki, we walked a bit more around the medieval Old Town.

It’s completely different vibe when the buildings are lit up- makes it even more mysterious and just breathing history.

We randomly walked by the Russian embassy and were glad to see Estonians supporting Ukraine- there were writings and posters shaming Putin.

Overall in Tallinn we felt like Russian language was not welcome. Where in Latvia every restaurant had a Russian menu (for mom and Alius, who do not speak English), in Tallinn they said they do not have it.

And that ends our quick visit to Estonia. We wished we had more time, definitely at least one more day would have been easy to fill, but we have tickets to Helsinki, so time for bed – an early ferry ride awaits!

FINLAND

HELSINKI

Crossing the Baltic Sea

Another new country, this time for all of us. There are several ferry lines connecting Tallinn and Helsinki and they go at various times each day. Finns like to go shopping in Estonia, because Finland is definitely more expensive. I can’t speak for the other companies, but Tallink & Sillja ferries were awesome. On the way to Helsinki we were on MyStar, on the way back we took Megastar -both felt like huge cruise ships. Multiple comfortable areas to sit, places to eat, kids playroom, even a mini casino games.

For around 40 Euros per person (round trip), this is the most convenient way to go between the two countries. We left at 7.30 am and were in Helsinki at 9.30 am. No sea sickness, not even a slight swaying- it felt more stable than a plane ride. On the way back we took the 7.30pm ferry out of Helsinki and were back in Tallinn at 9.30pm.

Important – ferry leaves exactly ON TIME. On the way back it actually left about 10 min early. You MUST to be there and check in at least 20 min before departure, because that’s when the gate closes and there is no way to get on the boat past that time.

Hop on-hop off

Because we only had about 9 hours in the city, and because mom and Alius walked enough on this trip, we decided to first sightsee from the Hop on-Hop off double decker bus. It also looked like it might rain and the bus was covered, so we figured -let’s do a full 1.5hr long loop and see where we want to come back to on foot later.

The bus leaves from the Senate Square, where we arrived from the port in a taxi. We had a bit of time before the tour, so went into the Helsinki Cathedral.

Somehow it looks huge from the outside, but not as spacious from the inside. Definitely an important landmark of Helsinki though.

The bus had the headsets with the recordings in several languages, so we followed along in English, while mom and Alius could hear it in Russian- no need to translate anything. Talking about languages- all signs in Finland are in Finnish and Swedish. Those are the official languages of the country and regardless of the majority of the population speaking Finnish, everything has to be in Swedish as well.

We really liked the city’s architecture. Some buildings looked like they could be in Paris.

The bus tour was informative, we went by the Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Market (Kauppatori) Square, Temppeliaukio Church, Sibelius Park and the famous Stockman department store.

We got a good idea of where we want to go next, but first order of business- lunch at the market. Only a few steps away from the Senate square, where the end of the bus tour dropped us off, made it an easy decision on where were are grabbing some local delicacies.

Everything tasted fresh, we enjoyed the fish soup, Sean got a local venison hot dog and we sampled some ‘made right there’ donuts.

Since the sun came out and we did not need to hide inside, we walked over to Uspenski Cathedral followed by the Love Bridge.

We did not put a lock on it (admittedly did that in Paris), we feel like our love is strong as is 🙂 !

Last church we wanted to visit was definitely unique – Temppeliaukio Church, built directly into a rock! The bus tour referred to it just like that- The Rock church.

We’ve heard that Helsinki has an impressive Central Railway Station, so we walked over to check it out.

I would not say it wowed us, but the restaurant inside definitely looked impressive!

Lastly, we browsed around the famous Stockman – the largest department store in the Nordic countries! We did not even buy anything- prices are definitely high in Finland and it was basically like being in a large Macy’s.

Before getting back on the ferry and knowing that will be a bit late to eat dinner when we return to Tallinn, we decided to have an early meal in Helsinki. Basbas Kulma restaurant was perfect- they seated us six with no reservations and the food was delicious!

On the way to the ferry Cosimo and Sean could not resist- we had the umbrella and the peeing Bad Bad Boy statue was there- perfect photo opportunity 🙂 ! Fun fact- the water is heated, so ‘the boy’ is peeing all year round.

LATVIA

JŪRMALA

One last night in Tallinn and we are on the road again- this time back towards Lithuania. 4.5 hour drive got us to the seaside town in Latvia- charming, with long stretch of beach along the Baltic Sea- Jūrmala. It would be way too long to go from Tallinn to Kaunas in the same day, so this was a perfect location to break up the drive, and to relax before the end of the trip.

Baltic Beach Hotel & Spa

I think you’d get a different answer about this hotel if you asked Agne. We liked it, our room and the bathroom were spacious and renovated, we had a side view of the Baltic Sea from the balcony and we found it fairly priced.

Agne’s and Cosimo’s room was on the different side of the building and even though it cost the same as mom’s (similar room to ours). She said it was outdated and definitely not the 5 stars as this hotel claims to be. So I would say- request high floor (we always do) and if there is an option move to the newly renovated side.

We also picked this place because of the spa- we still favor Riga’s one, but this was not bad. A few saunas, steam room, couple places with jacuzzi jets and a huge pool (with too many kids though). It sort of felt a bit like a community pool and not a resort, but for one night stay it was fine.

Dinner by the Sea

For dinner we went to 36.line Grill restaurant– beautiful sea front location and exceptional meals. I think this is the place that had the best honey cake (similar to the one in Lithuania) from the whole trip.

Portions are large and the service was excellent.

Beachy morning

We had breakfast at the hotel and despite the chilly water, I could not resist and had to jump into the Baltic Sea. More for the childhood memories sake than for the actual need to swim- the weather was not that hot in the morning.

We used to look forward to going to the seaside once a year when we were kids, so to be near the Baltic Sea and to not swim seemed somewhat wrong 🙂 .

We walked around, enjoyed the sun and it was time to check out. We packed the car and left it at the hotel. We wanted to explore the town for a bit before heading back home to Kaunas.

Town center

I don’t know if there is much more to Jūrmala, but we enjoyed a long promenade of Jomas Street. It’s pedestrians only, lined with shops and restaurants, but at least on a Friday afternoon it was very quiet and calm.

There is a nice Orthodox Church at the end of the street and we had a great lunch at the Grilbars House of Light before 3hr 40 min drive back to Kaunas.

And that is it for yet another busy, but fun filled family trip. Trying to avoid road work we entered Lithuania via small unpaved village road 🙂 . Always up for an adventure!

Conclusion

Lots of driving, lots of eating, lots of family time and new memories made together. We are very grateful to have been able to see the Baltics and most importantly to do so with the people we love. We rated the capitals at the end of the trip, and agreed, that our favorite was Tallinn. Followed closely by Vilnius, then Riga and finally Helsinki. All of them have history dating centuries, so it was a privilege to experience at least a fraction of it with our own eyes.