steady pace | 9 nights | from $2,290 per person
Baltic Capitals Vacation Package: 9 Nights at a Steady Pace
Three cities, three nights each, joined by trains and one coach. The old towns are cobbled and you will be on them for a few hours a day.
What the days ask of you
This trip is filed as steady. Everything below is measured, not adjectives.
- Walking on an average day
- four to five miles on a full day in a city
- Longest stretch without a seat
- two hours on the guided half day, with two stops
- What is under your feet
- cobbles almost everywhere in the old towns, and they are the uneven kind
- Climbing
- two towers and one hill fort, all of them optional
- Altitude
- sea level throughout
- Heat
- never a problem. Cold and wet are the risks here
- Times you move
- three, two by train and one by coach, and you carry your own bags
- Who this is not for
- if cobblestones hurt your feet or your hips, this trip is mostly cobblestones
What is included
- Nine nights in three central hotels, three nights in each
- Breakfast every morning
- Seated travel between the cities, reserved: two rail legs and one coach leg
- A half day on foot in each old town with a local guide
- One museum admission in each city, chosen by us and named in your documents
- Airport transfers at the first and last city
What is not included
- Flights into the first city and out of the last, quoted separately
- All lunches and dinners
- City transport beyond the guided half days, which is cheap and easy to buy
- Luggage handling, and there is none at the stations
- Gratuities
- Any excursion outside the three cities
What it costs
from $2,290 per person, on two people sharing.
That is the lowest figure we have actually placed this trip at in the last season. It moves with the month, the room or cabin grade, whether you travel alone and how far ahead you book. Flights are not in it unless this page says they are. The figure is confirmed in writing, with the operator named, before you commit to anything.
When this is worth doing, and when it is not
May to September. June has the long evenings that make these cities worth the flight, and August is warm without being oppressive. November to March the days are short and much of what makes the trip pleasant is indoors by four in the afternoon.
If you dislike cobblestones, say so before you book rather than after. The old towns are almost entirely paved in them, they are uneven, and no amount of planning around it makes them flat.
What gets settled when you confirm
The direction, because running north to south and south to north price differently depending on the flights. Whether the rail legs are booked in first or second class, which on these routes is a smaller difference than people expect. The hotel grade, since the published figure is the lowest of the three we use. And whether you want a fourth night in one of the cities, which usually improves the trip more than adding a fourth city would.