Baltic Capitals in a Motorhome
Has anyone visited Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn in a motorhome? If so, any tips you could pass on? What I have read so far about campsites / aires on the outskirts hasn’t given me much enthusiasm. Some city camps / aires tend to be in less salubrious areas, a fair walk from centres.
Any recommendations???
Would it be better just to give up the idea, fly into Tallinn, and back from Vilnius, and make use of the new coordinated rail service which The Man in Seat 61 tells us started this month? But that way we won’t get to dawdle en route and see other sights….
Or just fly on city breaks??? Lately, when city visiting, I have rather preferred to be in good hotels at the centre of things.
Indecision. All advice will be helpful.
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I'm sorry you've not had any responses yet.
I can't help I'm afraid. But I like the idea of motorhoming there - but I would want to feel safe. Your second idea is good, at least you'd see some of the country, if only from a window!
A colleague from work went for a weekend when it all first opened up and loved it. No idea now exactly where, but they flew. I've been retired 8 years and he finished working with us a couple of years before that...
Do let us know what you decide and report back after you've been. It'll inspire us.
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it is a long way to go to get there, a lot of driving. We have been to Sweden several times, with caravan, and twice in Finland, one time by taking a ferry from Stockholm to Turku, then driving north up the Baltic coast, the second time entering from Sweden near Haparanda, but we were on the way to visit relatives in Norway. Both trips involved driving several thousand miles in total.
For visiting the cities you mentioned, I would be looking at city breaks, unless we were doing a long trip, at least 2 -3 months, also involving seeing other areas of those countries and of the countries we were passing through.
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Having spent 3 nights on a motorhome aire (sosta) in the centre of Palermo a couple of years ago, I would say that driving in cities in a motorhome is not for the fainthearted. It may also be difficult to find somewhere secure to park/stay.
Another vote for a flying city break.
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Thank you for the responses.
Yes, if we went in the motorhome it would be very much part of a longer trip. Maybe take the ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki as well? 3 months would be pushing it though – need to keep some days of our 90 / 180 days for other jaunts.
I must admit that the photographs I’ve seen of the m/home stopovers on various blogs do not inspire me with much confidence.
Did a bit more research last night and find that Air Baltic does flights in between the three cities, very cheaply too. Although Ryanair fly to each city from the UK, they don’t fly between the cities – no doubt Air Baltic keeps control!
(In my very much younger days, I travelled to Copenhagen and Stockholm by train. Lately revisited Copenhagen flying with Easyjet. Stockholm is also on my “re-visit” list. Also explored Norway twice, again using ferries, buses and trains. But that was in the pre-retirement era when we had less time for travelling, not the "meandering about for months in a motorhome" days.)
Unless I can find some really good recommendations it will be “city break” holidays I think.
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So far this year my grown up children have done Amsterdam to Hamburg by train, then Faro to Lisbon, and a loop from Seville around southern Spain. Only Montenegro to Albania beat them and they had to use buses as the trains weren’t running. So when I showed them your post they said Ooh that three capitals railway ride is one we will certainly put on our list.
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Oops, not this year, I meant 2024 !
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No idea what has happened. I wrote a reply, which did not appear. So wrote another, replicating the first, and adding a little more. That has not appeared either.
Is it because I gave a link to the train service to which I had made mention?
Puzzled.
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@Not_going_gentle I sometimes find I have to press the "Post Comment" button a second time as the first one doesn't always work. That could just be my keyboard rather than a general problem with the forum, both me and the keyboard are getting old😊 Did you use the "insert media" button at the bottom of the posting pane? Perhaps try again as it sounds interesting.
David
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@Not_going_gentle I have been in contact with our daughter who is a regular visitor to the Balkans for her work and these are a few things she said. There is a newly opened interconnected rail line which takes about 11hrs and 3 changes from Talin, Tartu, Riga to Vilnius. She does say that it would be an amazing journey in a M/H as all 3 countries are beautiful and so very different. She has seen a few campsite on the road between Pamu and Riga but there are often LVs at pull ins especially at the sea side. Fuel is around 1.6€, although slightly different in each country so Latvia might be cheaper for petrol. Her biggest tip, if you intend using hotels is to book them as early as possible, as her contact over there says that they triple in price in the summer if booked then.
If you think of anything else I will get back to her for a possible answer. Hope this helps.
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