As I was planning our trip to Scandinavia, I decided to add on a couple weeks in the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania).

It was our first time in these countries so we opted for a two-week road trip, starting and ending in Tallinn, Estonia. We loved the experience, and it ended up being a highlight of our overall trip.

Baltic States Road Trip: Renting a Car

After a bit of research, it was obvious we would need to rent a car in order to have the flexibility to visit all of the places we wanted to hit on this trip.

One-Way v. Loop Itinerary: The fees for one-way rentals immediately negated that idea so I created a loop itinerary out of Tallinn, booked AirBnBs with free on-site parking, and reserved a small, fuel-efficient vehicle through Budget.

International Driving Permits: Based on information on the U.S. State Department travel website and the small print in our Budget rental, we ended up getting International Driving permits through AAA in the U.S. prior to our trip. We didn’t end up needing these, but it did provide some peace of mind in the event someone asked to see them.

Car Insurance: We did not pay for additional car insurance via Budget as our Chase Sapphire credit card covers rental car damages. Based on the car we rented, our personal auto insurance, and the card coverage, we felt confident we could cover any needed expenses. Happily there were none!

Baltic States Road Trip: Itinerary

Since this was our first time in the Baltic States, we wanted to make sure we spent some time in each country’s capital city. We prioritized historical sites and museums where we could learn more about each country’s culture and politics as well as restaurants where we could try local cuisine. We love spending time outdoors so we also incorporated visits to each country’s national parks so we could hike and experience the terrain.

Based on these interests, I mapped the following itinerary. Day 2 and Day 11 both had quite a bit of drive time – if we’d had more time, I would have split up those days so we could have spent more time at the parks and less time on the road. We thought we had the right amount of time everywhere else – we were able to get a sense of each place and where we might like to spend more time on future trips.

Day 1 – Arrive in Tallinn, Estonia

Day’s Activities: We arrived in the afternoon after 20+ hours of flights, checked into our hotel, and immediately went to sleep.

Driving: N/A

Overnight: Tallinn, Estonia

Day 2 – Soomaa National Park, Estonia

Day’s Activities: We had breakfast at our hotel before picking up our rental car at Tallinn airport; drove to Soomaa National Park where we stopped in the visitor center, hiked the Beaver Path (just ok), and hiked the Ingatsi Nature Study Trail (interesting boardwalk into the forest and bog with a tower viewpoint); stopped in Parnu for lunch; and drove to Riga to check into our hotel. It was a long day – if I were to do it over, I would break this into two days.

Driving: 201 miles / 324 km

Overnight: Riga, Latvia

Day 3 – Riga, Latvia

Day’s Activities: We wandered Riga’s medieval Old Town and saw the 13th century House of the Blackheads; learned so much about the Soviet Union’s occupation of Latvia at the Museum of Occupation and the Corner House (which was the headquarters of the Soviet KGB in Latvia from 1940-41 and 1944-91); walked along the park and grabbed drinks by the river; admired the Nativity of Christ Orthodox Cathedral; and tried Black Balsam – definitely an acquired taste!

Driving: N/A

Overnight: Riga, Latvia

Day 4 – Hill of Crosses + Klaipėda, Lithuania

Day’s Activities: We drove from Riga into Lithuania and stopped at the Hill of Crosses (not a lot of information at the visitor center so recommend looking into the history ahead of time) before heading to seaside Klaipeda where we visited the Klaipėda Castle Museum (under construction, tons of information and artefacts), tried to spot the many sculptures all over the city, and enjoyed local beer and had a great dinner at the Svyturys Bhouse.

Driving: 194 miles / 312 km

Overnight: Klaipėda, Lithuania

Day 5 – Ninth Fort of the Kaunas + Trakai Island Castle, Lithuania

Day’s Activities: We had a somber and informative morning at the Ninth Fort of the Kaunas – we spent several hours here learning about the history of the fort, including its initial purpose and then its horrible re-purposing during WWII. By mid-afternoon we arrived at the very popular Trakai Island Castle and explored its museums – we would have liked more time to wander around the lake and visit the many boutique shops and eateries around this idyllic spot. It was dinnertime when we checked into our accommodations in Vilnius.

Driving: 200 miles / 322 km

Overnight: Vilnius, Lithuania

Day 6 – Vilnius, Lithuania

Day’s Activities: We spent time in the Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights, which covers the atrocities of both the Nazis and the KGB in Lithuania; furthered our knowledge at the Green House Jewish Museum; and then reflected on our experiences over local cuisine on the patio at Etno Dvaras (including traditional potato dumplings, zeppelins, cold beetroot soup, and local beer).

Driving: N/A

Overnight: Vilnius, Lithuania

Day 7 – Vilnius, Lithuania

Day’s Activities: We had beautiful weather for our self-guided walking tour of Vilnius, including stops in the Old Town to see the Gate of Dawn, Pilies Street (the oldest street in the Old Town), and Rotušės aikštė (Town Hall Square); visits to St. Anne’s Church, Saint Catherine’s Church, Vilnius Cathedral, and the Bernadine Garden created in 1469 by monks near their abbey; an afternoon in the Uzupis neighborhood, which was the former Jewish quarter, where we found the mermaid under the bridge; and a climb up to the 15th century Gediminas’ Tower for incredible views of the city.

Driving: N/A

Overnight: Vilnius, Lithuania

Day 8 – Salaspils Memorial Park, Latvia

Day’s Activities: We returned to Latvia and spent our morning at Salaspils Memorial Park, the location of a former Nazi labor and concentration camp that saw 20,000 people pass through from 1941-1945. This was one of our longer driving days so we enjoyed some downtime at our AirBnB in Silgulda, walked to the nearby Sigulda New Castle and Castle Quarter, and cooked dinner at our place that evening.

Driving: 217 miles / 349 km

Overnight: Sigulda, Latvia

Day 9 – Gauja National Park, Latvia

Day’s Activities: We hiked in nearby Gauja National Park (spotting lots of snails along the trails and enjoying the views at Painters’ Hill); visited the Turaida Museum Reserve and Castle; explored Gutmanis cave, one of the oldest tourist attractions in Latvia featuring wall carvings dating back to the 17th century; and hiked around the Krimulda Castle ruins.

Driving: N/A

Overnight: Sigulda, Latvia

Day 10 – Cēsis, Latvia

Day’s Activities: We drove to Cēsis to tour the castle and old town (after a bit of an adventure finding available public parking) and spent the early afternoon wandering the city parks and seeing our first wild black swans!

Driving: 48 miles / 77 km

Overnight: Sigulda, Latvia

Day 11 – Lahemaa National Park, Estonia

Day’s Activities: Our final day with the car was another long driving day that I wish we had split into two days. We drove back into Estonia and headed to Lahemaa National Park. With only an afternoon to explore, we stopped at the visitor trailer in Loksa for a map of the area and then explored several of the peninsulas by driving their coastlines with stops at Viinistu Harbor, Vosu Village and beach, and Altja fishing village. We ended our time with a short hike on the Viru bog study trail to the observation tower, which gave us great views of the surrounding area.

Driving: 248 miles / 400 km

Overnight: Tallinn, Estonia

Day 12 – Tallinn, Estonia

Day’s Activities: We used a Rick Steves’ self-guided walking tour for our day exploring Tallin’s Old Town, which ended up being the perfect amount of information.

We started by climbing the 155 steps up the Town Hall tower for views of the lower Old Town’s historic square and streets before winding our way up to the upper Old Town walls and towers via the Bastion passages, Maiden tower, and Danish king’s garden.

While the Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is beautiful, the Soviets built it right across from the old Toompea castle as a statement during their occupation of Estonia so it generates mixed feelings. We walked over to the castle to see Tall Herman, an old tower that flies the Estonian flag and has been used as an occupation resistance site through the years, before heading over to the Kohtuotsa viewing platform for stunning views over the city’s rooftops and turrets.

Driving: N/A

Overnight: Tallinn, Estonia

Day 13 – Tallinn, Estonia

Day’s Activities: As in Riga and Vilnius, we prioritized spending a morning in Tallin’s Museum of Occupations and Freedom to learn more about the Soviet occupation in Estonia. Unlike the other museums, this one was conceptual and focused more on storytelling versus historical information. The audio guide didn’t work well, which was a bit frustrating, and overall we thought it was informative but not as enjoyable as the others we visited.

From the museum, we headed through Freedom Square and over to the Old Town gate and turreted towers. There were tons of cruise ship passengers in town this day so we spent our afternoon enjoying an amazing meal at Beer and Barrel – fried smelt and tartar appetizers, and blood sausage and lamb dumpling entrees with sides of sauerkraut and red cabbage.

Driving: N/A

Overnight: Tallinn, Estonia

We covered a lot of ground during our first visit to the Baltic States and learned so much about the history and present day concerns of these countries, both individually and as a region.

We were very pleasantly surprised with our experience – it ended up being a highlight of our overall trip, and it is an area we would definitely revisit if given the opportunity!