https://qa.trip.com/moments/detail/riga-1245-132640090
MostboringdudeeverHong Kong, China
levelIconBeginner traveler

Baltic tornado trip

When I said tornado I actually meant I regretted doing Estonia Latvia and Lithuania in just a few days. What I should have done is to do a deep dive of some 14 days in the three countries. But if 5-6 days are all you have (essentially 1-2 days in each country)… The good thing here is that the capital cities of Tallinn Riga and Vilnius are generally extremely compact and walkable. You can practically do each of the capitals in 1 day. The nice thing is that they have very different vibes and they don’t quite repeat Tallinn you go for the medieval architecture and the very well maintained/refurbished city wall. Riga is gothic. Vilnius is more baroque but has a healthy dose of contemporary art and hipster vibe The museums require some strategising because all 3 countries showcase their ww2 and independence struggles. All 3 capitals feature a liberation museum and a kgb house of sorts. I personally did only the riga ones and cannot compare, but I’d say these are fairly comprehensive exhibitions that can take you 2-3 hours. Do note that different countries have different days where everyone goes to museums for free and days where practically no museums are open. The other thing to plan are the day trips. Day trips from Riga include one to a castle town which I skipped in favour of an outting to the beaches of Jūrmala and the trek around the famous bogs of kemeri. Day trips from Vilnius include another castle town (Trakai) and the mounds of Kernave. There’s generally quite a few things to choose from. But what’s definitely in extra supply in Eastern Europe are castles and city walls….and I’d say don’t wear yourself out with castle after castle unless you are a true architecture enthusiast Not much else to say that you can’t research online. These three countries are truly places you can go cashless (bar latvia where there are still places that don’t do public transport tap and go). Intra city is very well covered by flixbus (4 hour max city to city) Of course if you are renting a car all the merrier there’s so many more places you can cover…
Posted: Jun 3, 2025
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