Baltic Countries Tours: 9-day Road Trip

Arrival in Vilnius. Private transfer to the hotel. You hardly be willing to drive today. Night in Vilnius.

The car is delivered to your hotel. Full day in Vilnius – stroll the streets of the Old Town, drive to admire the gorgeous baroque Church of Sts Peter and Paul.

You have just approx 150 km of driving today which gives you freedom at any stop. Our recommendation is to drive to Kernave which is a historical capital of the country (35km, 40min), now a world famous archeological site under World Heritage protection. Later make a stop in Trakai (37km, 35min), yet another ancient capital of Lithuania. Stroll the town with typical wooden buildings, the praying house of the local ethnic minority, admire the medieval Trakai Castle in the middle of a lake, feed local ducks… Have lunch here or at least taste traditional Karaim pastries with lamb.
Then continue to Kaunas where you will find ethnographic open-air museum of household tradition of Lithuania (20 km to Kaunas), the baroque Monastery of Pazaislis, massacre memorial museum of the 9th Fort, Devils’ Museum, Museum of Chiune Sugihara, Art Museum of country’s most reknown artist M. K. Ciurlionis. Night in Kaunas.

Well it’s a long day today. Drive to Klaipeda (200 km), take a ferry to the Curonian Spit and drive to Nida (55 km). The Curonian Spit is a 98 km long and ~1.5 km wide sand-dune spit, separating the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. 51 km of the spit belongs to Lithuania, the rest – to Kaliningrad, Russia. The nature of the spit is on the World Heritage list of the UNESCO. Return to Klaipeda for overnight.

You may reach Riga in just under 4 hours (280km) if in a hurry. But if you are not, you may follow our recommendations, namely: 1st stop at the Hill of Crosses (160 km, 2h). Spend some half an hour there and then proceed to Latvia where you reach (75km, 1h) gorgeous 18th century Rundale Palace with beautiful gardens. It will definitely take at least 2 hours of your time; plus possible lunch. After you should continue to Riga (80 km, 1h + city traffic) for the night.

Riga’s ever lively Old Town is perfect ambience to spend your time in. The majestic Art Nouveau architecture is of course a brand of its own. There’s also a famous resort suburb Jurmala just 20 km away so you may wish to drive there for some hours on the sandy beaches of the Baltic Sea.

There’s a nice Gauja National Park just 55km away from Riga. Drive to Sigulda where they have Tourist Information Office. There you can decide your schedule. Sigulda and Cesis towns are also worth a look. Then you drive to Parnu, Estonia’s resort town on the Baltic Sea (130 km, 1h 50min) and later continue to Tallinn (130km, 1h 50min) for the night.

The medieval Old Town of Tallinn with a flavor of freshly roasted almonds, ethnographic open-air museum representing household traditions of various regions of Estonia, art museums, cozy cafes. No rush, just like Estonians do.

Departure day. Reserve some 30min to drive to the airport where you drop the car before your flight home.