Latvia , Estonia, Finland trip

I was there a couple of years ago and loved those countries. Helsinki is super expensive but its a nice town. If you are in to modern architecture there are some good tours there. At the very least, go to the Artek store in the main shopping area and you will see where Ikea stole all there ideas from. Most the furniture in the store was designed by Alvar Alto in the 50's and we did a tour of his studio and home out in the burbs.
Tallin has the most beautiful Old Town I've ever seen but it is unfortunately over-run with tourists. There is an area called Telliskivi Loomelinnak just north of the old town gates with a bunch of shops, food trucks and bars where a lot of locals hang out. We also stayed in an airbnb in this area and so spent most our time there.
We took a 4 hour bus ride from Tallin to Riga that was a super nice bus with wifi. There isnt much of a rail system in those countries I can recall. The Bus was definitely nicer and faster.Riga was our favorite place as it had a vibe about it we liked. Its Old Town is nice but after Tallin is kind of meh. Labietis is a really cool brew pub stuck in an old, crumbling courtyard where we ended up spending 2 nights and met people both nights and ended up talking and drinking with them. Riga Central Market is a huge inside market with vendors selling most anything including Meat and Fish. It seemed to be where the locals buy everything they need. There was a Jewish ghetto in Riga in WWII so there are a lot of jewish memorials there. Žanis Lipke Memorial is across the river in an old house that has been coverted into an interpretive exhibit. The house is where a local family hid jews from the nazis and is a really powerful museum. There is also the old KGB headquarters that is now a museum and was equally as powerful. The jail cells are still there and you could go down some stairs to the "Death Chamber" where they executed dissidents. I got halfway down and decided I didn't want to see that and went and had a couple of beers.

We went on to Vilnius. Lithuania on another 4 hour bus ride and it is worth a visit and then you could fly to sweden from there.

Found my thread w/ pics on our baltics trip. LINK

Enjoyed those trip reports!

In hindsight, your thoughts on going there (those Baltic Countries) compared to some of the other trips you've taken? How much time (i.e. weeks) is logical? Where would you fly into first, then...?

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your thoughts on going there (those Baltic Countries) compared to some of the other trips you've taken?

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The Baltics trip was one of my favorite trips I've taken. Looking at my old thread last night makes me want to go back. There aren't a lot of major sites to see so its more about exploring and taking in the overall "feeling" of a city. The people were all super friendly and lodging and food/drinks was dirt cheap. I think we paid about $40/ night for an airbnb apartment and beers were about $2-3 each.

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How much time (i.e. weeks) is logical? Where would you fly into first, then...?

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We flew into Helsinki as we can get there from DFW with just 1 connection. From Helsinki its a 2-2.5 hour ferry ride to Tallin. So I would recommend spending 2 or 3 nights in Helsinki then on to Tallin for 2-3 nights. We stayed 4 nights each in Riga and Vilnius but you could easily just do 3 nights each. We are pretty lazy though so if you are an ambitious type you could probably see everything in each city in a couple of days. We flew out of Vilnius, which has a small but modern international airport, to Amsterdam. You can get flights to most anywhere in Europe from Vilnius to connect to go home. But you could also keep traveling into Poland or Ukraine (I would like to get there at some point).

I lived in Riga for two years. Tallinn is also really beautiful. I probably can't add anything more, but if you have any questions, I would be happy to answer.

Depends on what you're looking for. I lived in Riga from 2002 to 2004. Is Finland part of the two weeks? I've never been there. 4-5 days each in Riga and Tallinn should be enough. I owned a car and easily drove from Riga to Tallinn a couple of times, and it's interesting to get out and see the countryside. Sigulda and Turaida Castles in Latvia are worth a visit. Both cities have their beautiful old cities, but Tallinn's is neat because it sits up on a hill and you have views of the Baltic. As far as food, the salmon is the best I've ever had anywhere. You go in a big grocery store, and there will be a counter as long as Kroger's meat counter that just has salmon in various forms. I would personally suggest B&Bs over hotels...less expensive and more interesting. That's where I stayed in Tallinn. DOn't remember which one, but I'm sure you can search online. The restaurants in both Tallinn and Riga are amazing.

I'll try and think of some other things. If you are going in summer, it will be daylight for over 20 hours...maybe longer.