A comprehensive guide to one of Europe's most fascinating regions. There are definitive accounts of the up-and-coming city-break destinations of Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius as well as full coverage of the countries' unspoilt lakes, forests and national parks. For every city, town and village there are insider's reviews of accommodation, restaurants and nightlife and for outdoor enthusiasts there is practical advice on the best places for hiking, canoeing and birdwatching. Included are over 50 maps and 24 pages of colour photographs.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Transport in the Baltic States presents no real hardships, providing you’re prepared to put up with badly surfaced roads or don’t mind travelling in rural buses that look as if they belong in a transport museum. Gloomy, Soviet-era hotels are everywhere outnumbered by spanking-new establishments offering high standards of accommodation at slightly less than Western-standard prices.
Even though the three national capitals are beginning to take off as popular city-break destinations, the volume of visitors remains low by Western European standards, leaving you with the feeling that there’s still much to be discovered.
When to go
Late spring and summer are the best times to visit the Baltic States, when there’s usually enough fine weather to allow you to stroll around the cities and make significant forays into the great outdoors. On the whole though, the only thing that’s predictable about the Baltic climate is the deep, dark winters – in all other seasons the weather can be changeable in the extreme.
Summers are relatively short (roughly mid-June to late August), and although you may well experience a string of hot, dry days during this period, showers and chilly nights are equally likely. Remember to pack a waterproof jacket and warm sweater alongside your favourite T-shirts.
Temperatures cool down rapidly from mid-September onwards, although autumn can be an extraordinarily beautiful season in which to travel, with the golden-brown leaves of deciduous trees contrasting with the dark-green pines.
The first snowfalls can come as early as mid-November, and by early to mid-December winter sets in with a vengeance. Average daytime temperatures can remain below zero right through until March, plummeting to minus 15–20°C in particularly cold spells. Winter can of course be a magical time, with lakes, rivers and large expanses of the Baltic Sea freezing over, and crunchy snow cover adding an air of enchantment to medieval city centres. However, rural areas can be difficult to get to without a 4WD vehicle (only the main highways are ploughed), and you’ll have to be well togged up in order to endure anything but the shortest of walks. Wherever you are in winter, some form of hat or head covering is absolutely essential.
Even when the spring thaw sets in, the countryside can remain grey and barren until well into April (or even May in northern Estonia), when a sudden explosion of colour transforms the landscape. The countryside takes on a green lushness, drawing cattle and horses out from their winter barns, while city dwellers indulge in a frenzied stampede for the pavement cafés.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well written guide, but needs more details,
By Traveling the world (Heading East...) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Rough Guide to The Baltic States (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)
The Rough Guides are usually written in a colorful, well-researched manner that makes them a joy to have along in order to learn about the places you are visiting while exploring the area, and this book delivers along those lines. Also true to Rough Guide form, however, the book lacks important details regarding transportation: how many buses, how often, where to buy tickets, best routes, etc.The Baltic countries have experienced a major boom in tourism since EU membership in May 2004, and hotel rooms are booked far in advance. As such, Rough needs to expand their listings to include a larger percentage of hotels. In August 2004 we found all the hotels listed in the Rough Guide fully booked in all 3 Baltic capitals! Admittedly, we did not plan very far ahead, and to be fair to this book, we did not find a major guide with more complete hotel listings. The Listings section in each chapter also provides a handy reference. In general, however, Rough should expand this section to make it really useful, as listings are a bit limited. They should also start adding sections such as: Cyber cafes with digital photo downloads, Where to buy a GSM SIM chip, and similar sections for the digital traveler, to really make the listings complete. In each major destination, this book includes walking tours with some interesting information on buildings, churches and monuments, intertwined with history and cultural observations that makes for enjoyable reading and walks. We were glad to have this book along.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Better left at the library,
This review is from: The Rough Guide to The Baltic States (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)
This book provides some interesting background information about the countries, but was not organized very well to serve as a reference on-the-fly. While you may be interested in reading about Latvian daina song-poems from your living room before leaving on your trip, you'll find yourself cursing all that information when you're just trying to find some specific tip on bus routes to the ethnographic museum. If your itinerary is going to focus mainly on the capital cities, as mine did, I would highly recommend the book Bradt Baltic Capitals. It was infinitely more useful than the Rough Guide, cheaper, and half the size and weight.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great guide,
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This review is from: The Rough Guide to The Baltic States (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)
Used this on trip to Estonia and Latvia. Had great historical info and very accurate listings of restaurants, museums, etc. Jam packed with pretty much any information you could want. Excellent assortment of places for all different $ amounts. I was with a tour group, and our guide had a copy of this guidebook for his own reference. That's the second time I've been on an organized tour where the guide has constantly referred to his Rough Guide.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
From the UK and Ireland the most convenient way of getting to the Baltic States is to fly - there's a reasonable choice of direct and non-direct flights taking from three to five hours respectively, whereas the overland journey by car, train or coach can easily run to two or three days. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
beaver trail, forestry museum, singing revolution, rural homestays, juniper heath, seasonal exhibitions, stain square, amber jewellery, till tam, onward connections Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Old Town, World War, Baltic States, Soviet Union, Livonian Order, Art Nouveau, Town Hall, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Western Europe, Middle Ages, New York, Peter the Great, North America, Baltic Sea, Vilnius University, Lake Peipsi, Grand Duchy, Cape Kolka, River Neris, Tsarist Empire, Old Believers, Tartu University, Botanical Gardens, Red Army Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
From the UK and Ireland the most convenient way of getting to the Baltic States is to fly - there's a reasonable choice of direct and non-direct flights taking from three to five hours respectively, whereas the overland journey by car, train or coach can easily run to two or three days. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
beaver trail, forestry museum, singing revolution, rural homestays, juniper heath, seasonal exhibitions, stain square, amber jewellery, till tam, onward connections Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Old Town, World War, Baltic States, Soviet Union, Livonian Order, Art Nouveau, Town Hall, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Western Europe, Middle Ages, New York, Peter the Great, North America, Baltic Sea, Vilnius University, Lake Peipsi, Grand Duchy, Cape Kolka, River Neris, Tsarist Empire, Old Believers, Tartu University, Botanical Gardens, Red Army Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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