Baltic Capitals next week

[blowers]

Copenhagen

Tallinn

St Petersburg

Helsinki

Stockholm

 

Any advice on "absolutley must see" on the day stopovers very welcome please

 

Thanks

[Scarlotte]

We walked Tallinn on our own. Ship was docked right about 1 1/2 m from coastal town gate. I did a lot of homework and plotted out what I wanted to see. We covered considerable ground (even though my husband hurt his foot). Absolutely go inside Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. THe beauty of the iconasts (sp?) blew me away. I made my own map - based on something I found on-line; but I put captions in English . If you email me cros1968@bellsouth.net, I'll mail it to you.

 

St Petersburg we did the ships tours, although I've read great things about the local tour guides - Red October. We did catherine's, peteroff, hermitage and city highlights including inside peter and paul. I know one was named Imperial and can't remember the other. The one that went to Catherine's and Hermitage had a 2-hr lunch stop over which took away from touring the sites. I'm thrilled we saw both catherine and peteroff. both were awesome in their own way. Not enuff time in the Hermitage - only about an hour. Be prepared to be rushed thru everything and massive crowds. But it was worth it to see those once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Just go with a sense of humor and awe.

 

Helsinki. Go to this site http://www.hel2.fi/tourism/en/esitteet_Helsinki.asp and download their pdf tourist guide. It is one of the best I've seen. The dream was docked about 5 miles from center town. There was a shuttle bus from dock to town. It was $8 US or 8Euro. The ship did not give you much information on this because they wanted to sell their own tour. The bus dropped us at the corner of Esplanade and Mannerheimint and we walked down Esplanade toward Market Square. Just before Market square on the left (maybe Katar Street) is an information office. We bought an all-day 3T (3B does the same route/only backwards) Ask people - they are very helpful. tram ticket for 6 Euro. What a great deal. It is an on-off tram which goes around the central part of town. It wasn't narrated like a ho-ho; but if you know what you want to see, it's a great deal. We picked up the free 3T flyer which described what to see at each stop. The ticket was also good for the ferry to Suomenlinna. What a beautiful trip!!! I highly recommend you make time to go out there and walk around.

 

At this point my husband's ankle hurt so much, we could not be creative and try things on our own - so we did the ships tours.

 

Copenhagen: The ship offered an evening shuttle/transfer and admission to Tivoli. It was pricey; and I think you could catch a public transportation bus at the dock; but he was hobbling and I didn't want to take a chance. THe next morning we did the city highlights and canal ride. The canal ride was very nice; but the city highlights were disappointing.

 

Stockholm: By all means see inside city hall. The mosaics are gorgeous. We also saw inside of palace (but the palace paled after seeing the magnificent palaces of St Pete). We (that is I) walked around Gamla Stan

[mcca2]

Just returned last week from St. Petersburg and the Baltic ports, on Jewel of the Seas.

 

I would say the most impressive place we saw in SPb was not the Catherine palace or any of the churches, although they are all wonderful, but Yusupov's Palace. It blew the rest of it all away. Absolutely fantastic. Our guide even agreed, but said everyone wants to go to all the other places, and they don't realise what they are missing. So my tip is Yupupov's palace, in St. Petersburg.

[Westaussie]

Just returned from Baltic cruise and can't agree more with mcca2 that Yusopov's Palace was the most interesting. Also Peter I private and favourite palace Montplaisir in the grounds of Peterhof was a good choice suggested by Red October.

[Guest LetMeGo]

Helsinki.

 

...The dream was docked about 5 miles from center town...

 

That can't possibly be right. The pier next to the Helsinki shipyard is no more than 2 miles from the city centre at the most. :confused:

 

Although it might seem longer when there is nothing to see for the first half of the bus ride. :p

[Steamboatin]

The day you go to Stockholm I hope you all go in early morning after the sun has risen. It is the most beautiful part of the entire cruise. The cruise from the sea into Stockholm is a major do not miss. Get up early and enjoy it. By all means bring your camera. When I say get up early I mean no later than 5 a.m.

 

The crew is even sneaking outside to enjoy the view.

 

By the way if you are interested in purchasing amber you can purchase better quality cheaper in Tallinn than in Russia.