June 8, 2004 -- Call them "Eastern Europe Extreme." The Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia joined the EU on May 1, making these ex-chunks of the Soviet Union newly attractive to Western visitors. And thanks to new low airfares, you can see the Baltics for under $100 roundtrip from western Europe.
The Baltics are compact, attractive, reasonably priced and largely unvisited by tourists. Cheerful medieval capitals, romantic castles and an optimistic sense of building a democratic future are the major attractions here. Many travelers consider Vilnius, Lithuania the friendliest and prettiest of the Baltics' three capital cities, followed by accessible Tallin, Estonia and then largely undiscovered Riga, Latvia.
The big news in Baltic travel right now is the recent expansion of Air Baltic (www.airbaltic.com/public/index.html), the Latvian national airline. Energized by the EU enlargement and a big investment from Scandinavian airline SAS, they're knitting together the Baltics and western Europe with flights that could almost be called low-fare.
With Air Baltic, you can now fly from London, Dublin, Oslo, Milan, Stockholm, Brussels and various places in Germany to Riga, and from several German cities, Copenhagen and Dublin to Vilnius. Find their best fares at www.airbaltic.com/public/internet.html. Roundtrip fares that inspired us included (all currency conversions come from www.oanda.com, and all fares are roundtrip, before taxes, though you can buy them as one-way tickets for half as much):
- Berlin, Hamburg, or Köln-Vilnius: $93 (!)
- Dublin-Vilnius: $113
- Milan-Riga: $170
- Brussels-Riga: $183
- London-Riga: $188
These prices undercut EuropeByAir's $99 each-way fares (www.europebyair.com) though we still recommend looking at EuropeByAir as the best competition for Air Baltic's flights to Vilnius.
Estonian Air (www.estonian-air.ee) isn't sitting still, either. While North American tourists typically see Tallinn as a day or overnight trip from Helsinki (it's a quick ferry ride), Estonia's national airline is trying to look further west. So they're adding routes like mad, and popping up fares at those typical Baltic levels (all roundtrip, before tax):
- Berlin or Hamburg-Tallinn: $159
- Paris-Tallinn: $171
- Amsterdam-Tallinn: $182
Within the Baltics, trains and buses connect most cities. The relatively short distances make the Baltics a great place to ride Eurolines (www.eurolines.lv/en/index.php) buses, which connect Riga and Vilnius (for example) in a five-hour ride for an amazing $13 each way.
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