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23 day Baltic & St Petersburg tour
Best of the Balts plus the Venice of the North!
See the many highlights of Poland, Lithuania, Finland, Latvia, Estonia and Moravia (Czech Pepublic) alongside the opulence and grandeur of Saint Petersburg.
Day 1: Rožmberk
Transfer from Vienna Airport at 2pm to a historic village in the South Bohemian region of the Czech Republic. Rožmberk is an idyllic town of around 330 inhabitants, featuring a picture-perfect castle built in 1253.
Day 2: Český Krumlov
A day trip to a town famous for fine architecture and art. Old Český Krumlov is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Krumlov Castle is the second biggest Czech castle after Prague. A complex of forty richly decorated Renaissance and Baroque buildings and palaces create an impressive noble residence, situated around five castle courts, with the Baroque castle garden spanning an area of ten hectares. The Vltava River snakes through the town, making the inner historical center an island unto itself. Enjoy a guided tour around these historic surroundings.
Day 3: Telc, Čeladná
Transfer from Rožmberk to Čeladná. On the way we will visit Telc, the best preserved of all the Bohemian and Moravian Renaissance towns. The historical heart of the town was registered in 1992 on the UNESCO List of World Cultural Heritage sites. It is astonishingly beautiful thanks to the surrounding fish-ponds that prevented the town spreading, thus preserving the perfect town square, built in the sixteenth century.
Day 4: Kraków
Transfer to Kraków, with afternoon free to relax and take in the historic surroundings. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish scientific, cultural and artistic life. As the former national capital with a history encompassing more than a thousand years, the city remains the spiritual heart of Poland.
Day 5: Kraków
All day sightseeing in the Old Town and Wawel Castle and Royal Apartments. The Stare Miasto (Old Town) is home to about six thousand historic sites and more than two million works of art. Its rich variety of historic architecture includes Renaissance, Baroque and Gothic buildings. Its heart is the Rynek Główny, or Main Square, the largest medieval town square of any European city. Another notable historic district is Wawel Hill, home to Wawel Castle. During the early 16th century King Sigismund I the Old and his wife brought in the best native and foreign artists including Italian architects, sculptors, and German decorators, to refurbish the castle into a splendid Renaissance palace. It soon became a paragon of stately residence in Central and Eastern Europe and served widely as a model throughout the region.
Day 6: Oświęcim
Visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau, largest of Nazi Germany’s concentration camps. In 1947, in remembrance of the victims, Poland founded a museum at the site of the Auschwitz camp. By 1994, some 22 million visitors — 700,000 annually—had passed through the iron gate crowned with the motto “Arbeit macht frei”.
Day 7: Warsaw
Transfer to Warsaw, Poland’s capital and largest city, with afternoon to explore the centre of Warsaw including the World Heritage Listed Old Town and its Royal Castle, King Sigismund’s Column, Market Square, and the Barbican. During the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944, more than 85% of Warsaw’s historic centre was destroyed by Nazi troops. After the war, a five-year reconstruction campaign by its citizens resulted in today’s meticulous restoration of the Old Town, with its churches, palaces and market-place. It is an outstanding example of a near-total reconstruction of a span of history covering the 13th to the 20th century.
Day 8: Warsaw
All day sightseeing in Warsaw including the Historical Museum (WW2 history), monument to the heroes of the Warsaw Uprising, and the Old Town Market (Rynek Starego Miasta) with its unique traditional Polish restaurants, cafes and shops.
Day 9: Vilnius
Transfer to Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, with afternoon free to explore the Old Town, a splendid blend of many different architectural styles. Narrow curved streets meander through the palaces of feudal lords and landlords, churches, shops and craftsmen’s workrooms, with glimpses of intimate courtyards. In 2009 Vilnius was the capital of European Culture.
Day 10: Vilnius
All day sightseeing in Vilnius, visiting its splendid Baroque Churches, Gediminas Castle (where the panorama of Vilnius Old Town can be admired), the neo-classical Vilnius Cathedral on Cathedral Square, heart of the city, and the Royal Palace and Jewish Quarter.
Day 11: Trakai, Kernavė
Trakai is a historic town and lake resort 28km west of Vilnius. We’ll visit the Island Castle (sometimes referred to as “Little Marienburg”) and Peninsula Castle. A distinctive feature of Trakai is that the town was built and preserved by people of different nationalities. Kernavė, a medieval capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and today an archeological village – ‘the Pompeii of Lithuania’ – and World Heritage site. The remains of city, destroyed by the Teutonic Knights in 1390, were covered with an aluvian earth layer, that formed wet peat. It preserved most of the relics intact, and is a treasure trove for archaeologists.
Day 12: Rundāle Palace, Riga
Transfer to Riga, via Rundāle Palace, one of the two major baroque palaces built in the 18th century for the Dukes of Courland. It now often houses foreign heads of state. We’ll also visit its wonderful gardens as well as other nearby castles in the region south of Riga.
Day 13: Riga
Riga, on the Baltic Sea coast, is the largest city in the Baltic states. Its historic centre is a World Heritage Site, the city being renowned for its extensive Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) architecture, which UNESCO considers to be unparalleled anywhere in the world. We’ll spend all day in Riga. Sights include Riga Cathedral, built in 1211 and the largest medieval church in the Baltic states, Saint Peter’s church with its 123m (404ft) high tower offering great views, and Riga Castle, founded in 1330.
Day 14: Tallinn
Transfer to Tallinn with sightseeing in Tallinn, capital of Estonia, on the Gulf of Finland. We’ll visit the picturesque old town (Toompea, a UNESCO World Heritage Site), the Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (built during the period of Russian Empire), the Garden of the Danish King, City Walls and Tower, Latin Quarter and Churches of the Holy Spirit and St Nicholas.
Day 15: Tallinn surrounds
Just outside Tallinn, we’ll visit the Estonian Open Air Museum (Eesti Vabaõhumuuseum) near Rocca al Mare that gives an insight into Estonian rural culture and architecture, as well as Pirita (Kadriorg Park and Monestary of Santa Brigida) and Lahemaa National Park.
Day 16: Helsinki
Today we will catch a ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki, capital and largest city in Finland. It is spread across a number of bays, peninsulas and islands.
Day 17: Helsinki, Seurasaari
Sightseeing in Helsinki including the Art Museum and Cathedral (unofficial symbol of the city) as well as the Seurasaari open-air museum located on a beautiful green island just a few kilometres from the heart of Helsinki. The island is a tranquil oasis in the midst of the city and at the museum the traditional Finnish way of life is displayed in the cottages, farmsteads and manors of the past four centuries that have been relocated from all around Finland.
Day 18: Saint Petersburg
Transfer to Saint Petersberg and afternoon walking tour of the city, capital of the Russian Empire for more than two hundred years (1713–1728, 1732–1918). It is Russia’s second largest city after Moscow and a major European cultural centre, often described as the most Western city of Russia. The Historic Centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Day 19: Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
All day sightseeing in one of the largest and oldest museums of the world. The Hermitage was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been open to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise nearly 3 million items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world. The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors.
Day 20: St Petersburg
All day sightseeing in the Peterhof, a series of palaces and gardens laid out on the orders of Peter the Great as a summer residence and sometimes called the “Russian Versailles”. The opulence of the palaces, cascades and fountains will take your breath away.
Day 21: Catherine’s Palace, Pushkin
Formerly known as Tsarskoye Selo, the “Czar’s Village”, Pushkin is known for its numerous imperial parks and palaces. Catherine’s Palace is renowned as one of the most lavish and opulent – it dazed courtiers and stupefied foreign ambassadors.
Day 22: St Petersburg
Sightseeing at the fortress built by Peter the Great that became known as the “Russian Bastille” – Fyodor Dostoevsky, Mikhail Bakunin and Josip Broz Tito were among its guests. The fortress contains several notable buildings clustered around the Peter and Paul Cathedral which has a 123.2-metre bell-tower (the tallest structure downtown) and a gilded angel-topped cupola. The cathedral is the burial place of all Russian tsars from Peter I to Alexander III. The sandy beaches underneath the fortress walls are very popular in summer!
Day 23: Airport transfer
Transfer to St Petersburg Airport.
Cost & Inclusions
Cost
Price is per person twin share, 15% single supplement.
- Australian dollars: $7,900 AUD convert
Includes all accommodation, transfers, all breakfasts, sightseeing, driver-guide and all travel expenses including petrol, tolls and parking costs.
Accommodation
- 2 nights Pension Royale, Rožmberk
- 1 night Prosper Hotel, Čeladná
- 3 nights Qubus Hotel, Kraków
- 2 nights Polonia Palace, Warsaw
- 3 nights Grotthuss Hotel, Vilnius
- 2 nights Hotel Centra, Riga
- 2 nights Meriton Spa Hotel, Tallinn
- 2 nights Radisson Blu Plaza, Helsinki
- 5 nights Hotel Petro Palace, St Petersburg
Date
- 12 June – 4 July 2010
A visa is required for entry into Russia. It will cost an extra AUD $220 approximately.