Review of the tour "BALTIC EXPRESS - 4 capitals of the North" from the tour operator "Delta Travel"

Review of the tour "BALTIC EXPRESS - 4 capitals of the North" from the tour operator "Delta Travel".

We were on a trip from 10/19/2013 to 10/24/2013.

A wonderful, emotional and very budget tour, considering that we visited Stockholm - one of the most expensive cities and sailed on 3 ferries!

To say that we enjoyed the trip would be an understatement! We visited fabulous gingerbread Tallinn, picturesque with its landscapes and interesting Helsinki, amazing extraordinary Stockholm and stylish Riga. For the organization of such a budget and program-rich tour (and we paid 1600 UAH = $200 for this tour), I gratefully rate 6 points out of 5. I must say right away that this is our 5th bus tour and probably the best in terms of organization (3 trips were with the Accord and 2 with the Delta). Those who have traveled on bus tours know that a good accompanying guide and drivers are 99.9% of the success of the trip. We were accompanied on this tour by a guide Elena Prikhodko and drivers Andrey and Grigory. Guys, thank you so much for your hard work! Elena gave us a lot of useful information about countries and cities during the trip, she always provided informational and moral support to all participants of the tour. She is an excellent storyteller and a competent salesperson for her firm's services. She kept a golden balance between the interests of her company (I'm now hinting at selling additional excursions and dinners on the ferries) and the interests of tourists - everything was quite insistent, but very cultured and without excesses! Believe me, I have something to compare! And also many thanks to the drivers! All borders passed very quickly and without delay, those. stops were made in a timely manner and not on the side of the road, but at gas stations, and of course they put our suitcases and served them in the luggage compartment. The drivers are very attentive, delicate, they drove us so professionally that, sitting almost at the end of the bus, I did not notice the defects of our and Russian roads. Always and everywhere we were on time. In general, a miracle, not an organization! Now about the trip in more detail ..

The most difficult part of the trip is the way there and back and the night crossings of the borders. There 1360km (about 26 hours) to Tallinn, back -1160kt from Riga. When we went there, we first crossed the Ukrainian border, then the Belarusian one, then the Estonian one. Both Belarusians and Estonians forced the border to pass with suitcases, but everything went pretty quickly ...

And thanks to this, we arrived in Tallinn instead of the planned 10 am at 6:30. Tallinn met us with wonderful weather: warm and sunny!

We were immediately taken to the port to the terminal, where we washed, changed, and had breakfast in the terminal cafes. And at 8:30 we were taken to the old part of the city for an excursion, which was included in the price of the tour. The tour was interesting, it lasted about 2 hours, then there was free time, and by 15:00 we were taken to the Pirita hotel. The hotel turned out to be very good, the room is spacious, comfortable, the room has a hairdryer and glasses and that's all. There are no soap facilities or a kettle. Of the minuses - the hotel is quite far from the center (30-35 minutes drive), the fare is 1.6 euros when paid by the driver. On the plus side, the price includes access to the pool and sauna. So bring your swimwear and flip flops. At 16:00 we were already sitting and warming ourselves in a warm sauna, then, having regained strength in the pool, at 18:00 we went to the city to explore the Rotermany quarter and stroll through local shops and cafes.

The next morning, having received from the hotel beautiful cardboard suitcases with breakfast (0.5 of water with a glass, minimars, an apple, yogurt with a spoon and a large sandwich: lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, ham), we went to the Viking Express ferry and sailed for Helsinki. Part of the group that paid for breakfast (additional payment of 10 euros) went to a cafe, but we managed to have breakfast in the room with delicious cuts bought in the evening in the supermarket and cakes from the evening cafe. The transition to Helsinki lasts 2:30, all this time we walked along the deck and fed impudent seagulls, who ate bread straight from our hands, sat in a cafe (you can sit and not buy anything).

Helsinki met us with sunshine and warm weather. The bus and walking tour, which was conducted by the same guide as in Tallinn, was also very pleasant, it lasted about 3 hours with transfers and free time at the monuments. We had to take extra. excursion (20 euros), since on our own we might not even have time to visit the main sights, not to mention our own plans - about 4 hours were allotted for the city. We arrived at 10:30 and at 14:30 we were already taken to Turku. Turku is also a wonderful town, add. the tour cost 5 euros. It is a pity that we saw it only from the windows of the bus, and we spent the rest of the time in the Cathedral. Both the cathedral and the legend told by our guide Elena blocked the slight disappointment from the fact that there was no time to walk around the city.

And then we sailed to Stockholm on the Baltic Princes. Beautiful ferry, great program, duty free shop. In general, never get bored. We did not buy dinner on the ferry - we just went to a cafe and chose what we wanted. For the money we got a little cheaper. Dinner cost 40 euros per person, we spent 26 euros each. Since we planned to walk around Stockholm on our own, we immediately changed money at the reception, took a free city map and bought a travel card for 1 day for all types of transport (about 16 euros).

6:30 am we are in Stockholm! We were left at the port, told how to get to the metro and where and when they would pick us up, all freedom! But Stockholm met us with clouds and wind.

We went to Slussen. We wanted to get to the Katarina observation deck, but the door to the transition from the elevator to the platform was closed and we could not get there. But quite by accident, walking along the streets (in the Nostgatan area), we stumbled upon wonderful viewing platforms for views of the islands with the Town Hall and Gamla Stan. Then we went on foot to Gamla Stan, but we didn’t go around the whole island, as we got to Ridar hills, and from it it was a stone’s throw to the Town Hall - we went there. It began to rain… We explored the Town Hall, waited out the rain for a bit and went along Vasagatan to SergelsTorg in the hope of sitting and warming up there in a cafe. But on Vasagatan we met a nice place with a special offer (coffee and a sandwich 42 crowns) and hung there for almost an hour - there was free WI-FI and a toilet. Then we visited Clara Kirka, walked along Sergels market, walked through the royal garden and went along the bridge with crowns to Skepps-Holmen. We went back to Nybroplan and walked a little along Strandvagen. We drove back on the 76 bus to the royal palace - we wanted to see the guard setting, but alas, we were late for 3 minutes and the action was already over ... We explored the palace and went to finish Gamla camp. Returning from Gamla Stan, we walked along Drotningatan, had a bite to eat in an Arab cafe with something similar to our shawarma and went for a ride through the metro stations (the Royal Garden station was especially impressive). Hiking program completed! We took the metro to the port, where they said goodbye to our bus there and picked us up at 15:15 Swedish time. Landing at the Festival and in Riga! But instead of the Festival there was Isabella. And that night there was a big storm. we were rocked. I had to go to bed and the night program danced without us ...

About 3 hours later we drove through Vilnius. Who did not sleep looked out the window and listened to the tour, which was conducted by Elena. Then there was the Lithuanian border, it was passed without getting off the bus, and then the Belarusian one - we had to fill out coupons and get out, but they didn’t make us carry our suitcases. Then Ukrainian - also sitting on the bus. Toilet stops were only at the borders, but that was enough. (Although Elena warned that if someone needed something, they would stop in the bushes ..) Thanks to the professionalism of the drivers and the fact that they quickly passed the borders and made few stops, we arrived in Kyiv at about 12 o'clock!

What a wonderful, exciting and eventful journey we have! I liked everything so much that I plan to ride this route again with the children and with this tour operator in the summer!

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