Baltics/ Russia travel plans...

notmeagain

Hey,

Just a potential travel plan I have for the summer, Fly to Riga, take a bus to Tallin, train to Moscow, train to St. Petersburg, train to Helsinki and a flight home from Tampere- working out at about 15 days.
Just wondering if anyone else has taken a similar trip and
would they reccomend these cities?
Interrailed around most of central and eastern europe last summer so looking for something a bit different. Have about €1000 to spend, any alternate suggestions welcome..
Thanks..

deecom

Sounds like a great idea, haven't done the Russia thing but once you get a visa, it should be no problem. Been in Riga Tallin and Helsinki, and love all of those places, and besides if you have interrailed it should be fine. Would love to do Russia too! So any advice on that would be great.:)

notmeagain

Yeah Russia is a bit of an unknown for me too like, don't know anyone who's been there to be honest.. any advice would be really appreciated..

notmeagain

Any further advice?

drrnwbb

im in helsinki and ive done short visits to st. petersburg (a weekend) and tallinn (only a few hours)

st. p was nice, the whole place has a faded beauty feel to it - plus the whole "falling apart" feel too. a very overwhelming place to be honest, id need to go back again to get a proper feel for it.

tallinn was nice from what i saw (the old city), far too many tourists though.

not much use to ya then. helsinki is pretty nice though, as is tampere. should be pretty nice during the summer, long days, short nights. dont forget to bring anti mosquito stuff as they are quite common. damn them.

dw

notmeagain

thanks for the reply... anyone else have any experiences of these places?

carrotcake

i was tallinn this time last year, and it was beautiful. not many tourists, probably because it was freezing! anyway get the tallinn card, which is available at the tourist centre, and you'll get public transport covered and a load of other discounts plus a guide book

Number6

I was in Russia for a few days. The visa requirements are a bit annoying (you need to be accounted for everyday / night on the visa - and be prepared to bribe the cops if your paper's "aren't in order")

Our man in Havana

You are supposed to register your visa at the local FSB(formally the KGB) office with 24 hrs. Your hotel should do this for you.

Otherwise prepare for some unpleasantness on your attempt to leave. Tip, if you are bribing border guards only offer hard currency, dollars or euros. They don't want any roubles!

jonny68

Needless to say whilst in Russia you seriously need to know some of the lingo as they cannot or will not speak English to you.

Number6

Ah now, that's not true.

I had a great time in Russia, talking a mixture of English and Russian. Obviously, I'd recomend a good phrase book (one made AFTER the fall of the union ). The locals are lovely, although the can seem very ignorant in public.