Baltic Private Guides for Children

[Seahorse Lover]

We are planning a Baltic Cruise on Sky Princess for June of 2021.  Travelling with us will be our son, daughter-in-law and their sons, ages 10 and 12 at sailing time.  We leave and return to Copenhagen and visit Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Tallin and the port for Berlin.  Can anyone recommend private tour guides who would be able to tailor our tours so they are enjoyable for all of us and who are personable with kids?  Also, we would be interested in hearing about any must dos or don't bothers for our days ashore.

Thank you!

[dogs4fun]

Best Guides offer child friendly tours - have you checked them out?

https://www.bestguides-spb.com/

Edited January 9, 2020 by dogs4fun

[trosebery]

In St. Petersburg, we (including our teenager) had a great time with Red Sun Tours this past summer. They helped us design our itinerary and our guide was very kid/teen-friendly. Two sights that my teenager (and I!) really enjoyed that I'd recommend for your tweenagers that are not on the usual tourist itineraries are the Grand Maket (not Market, but Maket -- it's Russia in miniature) and the Soviet Arcade Games museum.

 

In Tallinn, I'd recommend Traveller Tours, especially their walking + bike tour. It was really interesting to see more modern Tallinn, beyond just the Old Town. We also did a chocolate-truffle-making workshop at the Kalev shop in the Rotermann district.

 

On our last trip in Helsinki, since I knew that there was little in the city that would entertain my teenager, we opted to get out of the city with Feel The Nature and visit Nuuksio National Park, where we took a short hike around the forest, picked berries (I especially recommend the bog berries), and fed lichen to the reindeer. (There's also the Haltia Nature Centre there.)

 

In Oslo, I don't know that I'd bother with a private guide as public transportation is included with the Oslo Pass, and it's very easy to get around on. I would recommend the museums on the Bygdoy peninsula (accessible by ferry, included with the Pass), especially the Viking Ship Museum, the Fram Museum (polar exploration), and the Kon-Tiki Museum. One other place I'd recommend with kids is the Vigeland sculpture park.

 

In Stockholm, the kids might get a kick out of visiting Skansen, especially for the Nordic animals. (It's not far from the Vasa Museum.) In Gamla Stan, check out the (free) Royal Armory in the palace (with lots of clothing in addition to weaponry.) Kids also might enjoy the ICEBAR (they have non-alcoholic drinks for the kids). Again, I don't know that I'd recommend a guide here. It's easy to get around by public transportation (and many of the subway stations are sights in themselves -- Google "Stockholm subway tour").

 

How much time do you have in Copenhagen?

Edited January 9, 2020 by trosebery
LOL, chocolate-truffle-making WORKSHOP, not worship, also there was some chocolate-worshipping going on.

[trosebery]

Oh, and are you going to Berlin or staying in Rostock/Warnemunde? It's a long way to Berlin when you've got kids in tow.

[John Bull]

47 minutes ago, dogs4fun said:

Best Guides offer child friendly tours - have you checked them out?

https://www.bestguides-spb.com/

 

 

No personal experience of them, but I've seen many many posts recommending them in particular  for private tours with kids.

 

troseberry makes a good point about the drive (or train) to Berlin, around 3 hours e/w.

I wouldn't consider it with a toddler, you're best-placed to figure if that's OK with your 10 and 12 year-olds 

 

JB 

[profjen]

We are taking our 7 and 10 year olds with us on a similar itinerary this summer. We shopped several St Petersburg agencies for a private tour tailored for kids but not too 'kiddie' for us. We found best value and booked with Red Sun Tours, although Anastasia and Best Guides were tied for a close second. 

[Seahorse Lover]

Thank you very much, everyone, for all of the great suggestions!!!! 

Since the cruise is 18 months from now we haven't decided on when to arrive and fly home from Copenhagen.  I would imagine we would have half a day on our arrival day, at least one full day in the city and the morning that we board the ship.  We may decide to add one more day to that in Denmark.  I am also toying with the idea of a two day layover in Iceland IF the Icelandic airfare (which allows extended layovers on the Island) is competitive with other options.  I think in Copenhagen the boys would enjoy the changing of the guards, Tivoli, the waterfront area and perhaps a canal boat tour.  Please chime in with other kid friendly ideas .

My husband and I did a similar Baltic cruise many years ago and I do remember the exhausting day to Berlin.  The oldest grandson is reading books centered around WWII currently, so we will need to discuss whether his interest warrants the loooong train ride.  I would welcome suggestions for kid-friendly Berlin and Rostock/Warnemunde activities and guides.

Thanks again for your input and keep it coming!!!!!

[trosebery]

Re: layover in Iceland, last time we flew into Copenhagen, Icelandair was the best value. And especially with kids, I'd choose a layover in Iceland over more days in Copenhagen. As much as I like Copenhagen, Iceland is just very different from what you'll see on the rest of your trip -- you can take whale-watching tours from Reykjavik, drive the Golden Circle, or simply visit the Reykjanes Peninsula (by the Keflavik airport) where the Blue Lagoon is.

 

In Copenhagen, I would definitely recommend a canal boat tour with kids. There's one included with the Copenhagen Card, which I'd also recommend as it allows you to hit the highlights and leave before the kids get bored at a number of sights. My daughter's favourite was the Treasury at Rosenborg Slot (go early as it gets crowded later), closely followed by Christianborg Slot, and my son's favourite was the Danish War Museum, closely followed by the National Museum, especially their prehistory and Vikings exhibits. (My kids have never been interested in the changing of the guards anywhere, finding it boring. And Tivoli was quite crowded when we visited -- even though it was a rainy midweek day -- and the lines were quite long.)

 

In Rostock, I've heard many people recommend the Molli Train to Bad Doberan, especially when travelling with kids, although we have not tried it ourselves yet. What we have done is a visit to Rostock and Schwerin, with an audio tour of the castle there. (I'd rate it okay.) And we've done a day where we visited the zoo in Rostock (which is a very nice zoo) and the Marine Science Center (nominally in Rostock but accessed by public ferry from Warnemunde) for their Seal Experience: we went out onto the pontoons with one of the researchers at the centre who explained the types of research they do and how they train the seals. We got to not only pat the seals but also play fetch with them. (Which is as adorable as it sounds.)

 

Let me know if you'd like any more details about what we've done with kids -- including any more details from the posts above or other suggestions. (For example, although last time we went to Nuuksio National Park from Helsinki, the time before that, we did stay in Helsinki, and my kids' favourite there was the Seurasaari Folk Museum.)

[Seahorse Lover]

FANTASTIC SUGGESTIONS!  Thank you so much.  I will be back in touch later as the 6 of us put our heads together to plan a fun inter-generational trip and decide what sounds good to all.

[kitkat343]

My son was much younger (3) but my review has a list of what we did in each port.  We found everywhere but St. Petersburg easy to diy and he had a wonderful time

Edited January 22, 2020 by kitkat343

[Seahorse Lover]

Thank you so much for sharing your helpful review!  All suggestions and comments are greatly appreciated.

[akb5k]

I took my 7 year old on a Baltic cruise last year. We both loved it. We spent 3 days in Stockholm before departing then went to Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Visby. We had a great almost private trip with Alla Tours in St. Petersburg (we did one with the Faberge museum,  only 1 other person with us on the tour). It was a busy 2 days but we had a great time. Everywhere else you don't need a tour, public transportation is easy and the cities are walkable. In Stockholm my kid loved the Vasa and the Royal Palace, she's also an ABBA fan so we went to the ABBA museum. In Helsinki we took the ferry to the zoo which was a nice stop, and then came back and just wandered around and went to the chocolate store. In Tallinn we picked up a free map at the visitor's center and walked around the historic part of town for a while, and then went out to the Seaplane Harbour museum which my kid absolutely loved.

[Desdichado62]

In Stockholm Bergrummet  (Tidö collection) toy museum might be of interest to children. It's a private collection, owned by the von Schinkel family, on display in a former military command bunker made into a museum. 
The museum is quite nice but also quite small.

https://www.bergrummet.com/assets/d69918d79a/en-info-flyer.pdf (Opens a pdf-file for download)

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bergrummet+-+Tidö+Collection+of+Toys+%26+Comics/@59.3257846,18.0768406,16z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x465f9d57b0daaa87:0x37a231523e280240!8m2!3d59.3262745!4d18.0811965

[Kate P.C]

Check out Anastasia Travel http://www.anastasia.travel

They customized our tour and we had two kids in the group who had fun painting the Matryoshka dolls and the ride in the hydrofoil to Peterhof Gardens.

[Seahorse Lover]

Thanks so much for all of these helpful ideas!

Happy travels and stay healthy!!!