A Road Trip through the Baltics: Days 1-3

Last updated: 25 June 2023

This is the first of three 5posts covering Roaming Required’s Baltic road trip adventure. These three posts cover a day by day breakdown of where we visited, the highlights, the challenges, and what you can expect if you decide to travel through Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Spoiler alert: we loved it!

Right now, how much do you know about Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia? Go on, be honest.

Before we visited each of the 3 countries which comprise the Baltic region, I’ll admit that my knowledge was pretty slim. That might be putting it politely. I think that if anyone asked me to point out the Baltic countries on a map then I’d be pointing to the top of Europe and hoping for the best…

St Peter's Church, Riga — St Peter’s Church, Riga

However, since returning from our Baltic road trip, I’m much more confident pointing at a map and showing where Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are. In fact, I may have even worked the Baltics into a few conversations just so I can point them out on a map. And if you’ve been lucky enough to be subjected to one of those conversations then I’m sorry. Well, kind of..

So if you’re interested in doing your own road trip around the Baltics and looking for some specifics of what to expect then you’ve come to the right place.

Why Road Trip Through the Baltics?

There’s no better way to learn about a country, or 3 countries in this case, than by hiring a car and hitting the road.

Meet "Goldy", our road trip beast — Meet “Goldy”, our road trip beast

And if you’re a regular reader of Roaming Required then you know that there’s nothing we love more than packing our bags, adding ice bricks to our esky, and heading out on the wide open roads and seeing what we can find.

Our Itinerary

The road trip itinerary was basically built around our flights in and out of Riga, Latvia. Since Latvia is located to the south of Estonia and the north of Lithuania, basically sandwiched in the middle of the Baltics, we decided that a figure 8 would be our best friend.

The benefit of going with a figure 8 road map is that it allowed us to double back across all 3 countries just in case we missed anything, and there’s a very good chance of that happening because there’s so much to explore!

How Much Time Do You Need?

A question that doesn’t really have an answer because like all good holidays, exploring will fill the available time. If you have the time to spare then you’re going to find something new and exciting to explore in the Baltics.

There's beauty to be seen on every street in Riga — There’s beauty to be seen on every street in Riga

For a bit of context, over our 10 days we travelled approx 1080 mi (1738 km) and that included having a local day in the capital cities of Riga, Tallinn, and Vilnius. 10 days was a good amount of time to be able to get a feel for the similarities and differences in Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia plus the opportunity to double back ensured that we managed to visit a lot of different places.

Don’t get me wrong, we would have LOVED to spend longer but 10 days is a good amount of time to explore a cross-section of the Baltics.

Let’s talk day by day breakdown.

Day 1: London, UK to Riga, Latvia

Baltic Road Trip - Day 1 — From London Stansted to Riga international airport

The Facts:

Start: London Stansted Airport
Finish: Riga, Latvia
Travel Time: 2.5 hours flying
Transport: Ryanair flight | Rental car | Walking
Main Costs: Flights were about £120 but currently in September they’re available for £60 (skyscanner is always a good place to start)

The Highlights

Attractions:

Don’t miss the House of Blackheads, St Peter’s Church, and Bremenes muzikanti (Bremen Town Musicians sculpture)

Travel Tip:

It’s quite easy to pick up a local SIM card which you can do from the airport or from a local phone store, this is how we did it.

Latvian SIM card — Staying connected with a local SIM card in Latvia

However if you can’t get a SIM card at the airport then connect to WiFi and download an offline map of Riga from Google Maps. It’s quick, easy, and detailed. A lifesaver when trying to find your hotel…

Highlights Gallery:

Russell’s Overview:

An early Saturday morning flight out of London Stansted is always an adventure because it’s generally one of the busiest times to fly, I can only imagine Friday evenings being worse. Nevertheless, we braved the long queues, the seemingly endless security lines, and boarded our Ryanair flight.

We arrived into Riga International airport mid-morning, cleared immigration and customs with no issues and set about trying to find the A5 auto office. Despite the emailed instructions from the company, we managed to find the office a good 5 min walk away from the airport. If you rent a car with A5 then walk out of the terminal, then out of the airport building, turn to the right and keep walking, it’s a separate building across the road.

Enjoying the view of Riga from the banks of the river

After the usual paperwork (signing papers, showing passports, getting insurance, etc) we were handed the keys and told where to get the shuttle bus to the rental car parking area. A quick 5 min bus ride and we were soon loading up the car, plugging in the car chargers, and getting Google Map directions to the hotel.

After checking into the hotel and dropping the bags off, we headed out to explore Riga. We were able to arrange a city tour and it turned out that it was a private tour with our wonderful local guide, Eve.

Eve was so passionate about sharing the history of Riga and Latvia with us that it didn’t take long for us to feel like a local! Eve encouraged us to ask questions and all were answered with such exuberance that it inspired us to ask more. Our walking tour started and finished in the Old Town and by the end we couldn’t believe that it had taken us so long to visit Riga, the history of the city was immense.

A walk through the Old Town, exploring the city markets, and sampling some local foods turned out to be the perfect way to wind down our first day in Riga.

Day 2: Riga, Latvia

The Facts

Start: Riga, Latvia
Finish: Riga, Latvia
Main costs: €5 donations, €10 private tour, €10 lunch, and €20 dinner

The Highlights

Attractions:

The KGB House, Occupation Museum, Freedom Monument, Lido restaurant

Travel Tip:

If you visit the Occupation Museum then speak to the staff about a private tour. We were able to secure a 1 hour private tour for €10 which was an absolute highlight.

Highlights Gallery:

Russell’s Overview

The first stop on Day 2 in Riga was the KGB Corner House, the site of a former KGB (AKA Cheka) headquarters which was used for interrogation and torture against all who stood against the brutal Soviet regime.

This was the first time that we really began to comprehend the state of Europe before and after World War II. We learned that Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia were all occupied by the Soviet Union from 1940-1941, liberated by Nazi Germany from 1941-1944, and then once again occupied by the Soviet Union from 1944-91.

Admission is free to enter and walk through the museum and learn about history of the Soviet Union’s totalitarian regime in Latvia. The majority of the exhibits were written in 3 languages – Latvian, Russian, and English. There are tours available for €3 throughout the day which provide access to the lower levels and dungeons.

I’d definitely recommend visiting the KGB Corner House because it’s a place where the past and present collide and the horrors of the Soviet Union and Nazi occupation can still be felt today.

With our newfound knowledge of the history of Latvia and the other Baltic countries, it was time to continue our history lesson so we headed to the Occupation Museum.

The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia was closed for renovations during our visit however there was a temporary exhibit at a building not far from the Freedom Monument.

This visit was incredible! The amount of detail and history we learned during the few hours that we walked the museum was amazing, made even more impressive by the private tour we were able to secure for €10. We asked plenty of questions and walked away with a pretty in-depth understanding of the last 100 years of Latvian and Baltic history. I cannot recommend the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia highly enough.

Next stop for the day was the Freedom Monument. Located in the very heart of Riga and created to honour the soldiers killed during the Latvian War of Independence (1918-1920). It’s a popular place to visit but it doesn’t take long for people to pass by so plenty of opportunity to take photos.

We decided to dine at Lido, a old-school cafeteria-style restaurant where you grab a tray and choose the items you want. There were plenty of choices and the prices were very reasonable plus a litre of beer was €3.80, no complaints there! Extra travel tip, when you visit you have to make sure you get the mushroom sauce for your chicken or pork, it’s spectacular!