Short break in the Baltic: where to stay, what to do?

[Mr. Tea]

For various reasons we haven't made any firm plans to go away yet this year, but milady and I have got the second week of September off work and are thinking about a last-minute trip to the Baltic. Thing is, beyond the fact that the cities there are meant to be very beautiful and historic, there's likely to be some interesting food and booze* and the locals like to do questionable things to themselves with water at extreme temperatures, neither of us really knows the first thing about any of these countries. Oh yeah, and that they're also on the tedious UK stag lad circuit, but we're hoping to avoid that aspect if possible, obvs. They're also kind of interchangeable, apart from the fact that Lithuanian and Latvian are kind of similar while Estonian is a bit like Finnish. (*if a meal I had in at Baltic in Southwark a few years ago - and Jonathon Meades's Magnetic North - is anything to go by)

So, has anyone been? Which country did you visit, did you stay in the city or venture into the countryside, what was the nightlife/accommodation/food/transport like? Any insider tips on how to see/do/eat/drink cool stuff without breaking the bank?

Cheers all...

 

[Mr. Tea]

Bollocks, looked at prices and we've left it too late now. BUT THANKS ALL THE SAME FOR ALL THE HELP EVERYONE.

 

[craner]

I've been to Latvia. It was pretty and enticing but also depressing around the edges: unspoilt streets with ex-university professors busking on them, that sort of thing. I went about this time of year or even a bit later so I don't think you've left it too late. It was cold, though. We had to smoke outdoors and it was prior to the UK smoking ban therefore still annoying. Everybody was very friendly, and despite being Sophisticates rather than Lager Louts, we got really pissed all the time. It was difficult not to: a pint of gorgeous glowing lager was yours for about 20p, over and over again. It was like a fairy tale.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Sounds good - by "too late" I wasn't talking in terms of climate, only that we've got next week booked off work and have more or less used up most of our leave this year so far, apart from a few days we'll need around xmas/new year. I bet the Baltic's lovely in October, we've got this fantasy about staying in a log cabin in the woods and picking mushrooms every day.

Ah well, maybe in the spring.

 

[IdleRich]

I went to Tallin on (I know) a stag do. Nice city I'd say, some really picturesque streets and good bars and stuff. Would like to go there for longer some time and not go to so many strip bars. It was a strange stag do in fact, I was the only non-muslim but the others were happy to get stuck into the beer and strippers, only drawing the line when they were served pork.
Our mutual Finnish friend would be the person to ask though, I know he's spent some time sailing around and across the Baltic and dropping in at various ports.

 

[baboon2004]

I was regaled with tales of Vilnius this past weekend - apparently it's very good, just about the best of the three capitals. Couldn't tell you why - I was very drunk. However, there's a hostel in Vilnius that organises, as a 'tourist day out', taking people to the border with Belarus, telling them to try to cross it and then evade the guard dogs there by fleeing back through the forest to Lithuania. I can't recall precisely, but it sounded properly mental.