Hi all,

First post in here; registered for something else, and happened to see this come up on a search.

I live in Tallinn, and can only comment regarding the Baltics (mostly Estonia):

• Contrary to what earlier suggested by Tony P, but I would personally avoid the Tallinn -> Tartu -> Valga-Valka -> Riga route at all costs. I did it a few times (catching flights etc), and it is a god-awful boring stretch of totally flat road. Tallinn -> Tartu is also crawling with police and speed cameras (the latter being less relevant to bikes without front license plates). Pärnu is also generally more fun in summer than Tartu.
• In general, unless in a hurry, I'd stay off the main roads. I can suggest an alternate route (within Estonia) if you wish, but keep in mind none of the Baltic countries have much in the way of 'wow' scenery, mostly on account of everything being completely flat (tallest "mountain": 318m).
• Temperatures: for the Baltics, 25-30 average temperature as indicated earlier is optimistic. While this summer is very warm so far (~23 in Tallinn right now), summer temperature can dip down to below 10 during evenings, and some days no more than 15 during the day. You can hope to get lucky, or you can bring a slightly warmer liner/thin thermal shirt.
• Police: Don't try to bribe police in Estonia. Police in Latvia may agree to "fine" you on the spot (aka bribe). Keep a spare wallet with smaller amount of Euros inside.

BTW, drop me a pm if you stop in Tallinn

I have no knowledge of the Tallin - Tartu section, but several times have ridden and driven Tartu - Riga both ways on my way to/from the Rus border at Narva. Whilst it cannot be described as mountainous, flat it is not. Once clear of Riga and turned onto the A3, I saw and was on gently rolling hills all the way.

Rushing for flights, thinking of your destination, in your own land, might put a different perspective on it.

But it is my favourite surfaced road on a journey - to just go there to use it and then go home might also be different too!

Variety in tastes is what stops us all being the same boring replicas of each other!

Welcome, by the way

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You're right, Tartu - Riga is not as flat as Tallinn - Tartu (although I would say 'very gently rolling hills' ).

I often drove them close together, so it kind of blurs into one road.

The Tallinn - Tartu road is by far the biggest snoozefest in Estonia, crawling with police cars which will ticket you for ridiculous things (I got a ticket for doing 74 in a 70 zone. Yes, really.) thus I would still avoid heading that way.

Thanks guys,

I'll give another check at that Tallinn-Tartu stretch but will give the Valga-Riga one a go. For me it's all new and a different land, so all is welcome...

And I'll definitely PM all (Motoreiter too!) for a while on the way, the camaraderie here is really appreciated

Cheers!

The s will be appreciated too.

I had a lot with Motoreiter last week!

We are no strangers - nor to !

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Sorry for hijacking this post but I am planning a similar route and either leaving tomorrow from Stockholm by ferry to Tallinn or on Saturday.
This is the route; Google Maps

The plan is to spend one day/night in Tallinn then ride to Parmu through Paldski (from what I have read there is an old soviet navy base there). I shall spend one night in Parmu. Then of to Riga with a short stop over in Cesis to see the Castle. Was thinking of spending 2 nights in Riga and then of to Moscow. I know the road to Moscow will be boring as its all along the main highway but I cant seem to see anything better on the map. Looking to spend all up 7 days on the road.
Any comments or advice ??

Denis ))

You have probably read my earlier comments.
I would add that apart from the 8+hours at the border, and hitting an Elk at night, my car then got 3 flat tyres (2 with destroyed sidewalls) 3 weeks ago on a particularly bad section of road between 250 and 350Km from Moscow. According to local TV, last week a car and bus collided swerving to miss some of the deep, sharp potholes - 7 died in the ensuing blaze.

Below is someone elses comments tonight, about an alternative route, from a general English language forum here.
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Well in case anyone ever wants to do Riga-Moscow....i can highly recommend taking the E77 out of Riga to the north-east, do 20km of Estonia and then use the Estonia-Russia border near Pskov.

The distance is around 80km more in total but the roads are MUCH better/faster from Riga to the border. We gained more than 1 hour just on that first bit because it was almost exclusively a 90 km/h abandoned road in good condition. it was 100 km/h on cruise control 95% of the way.
Pskov back down to the M9 is reasonable road, not very fast but not slow either.

At the border monday morning around 10:15 AM, there was a short line of cars...we got in around 20 mins after arriving, it did take another hour to clear all of the hurdles but I'm quite confident in total we shaved hours off the trip by not going through Zilupe.

There was a pretty long line on the other side of the border however to get into Estonia. Maybe because it was a Russian holiday (monday 13 june)

Even the border staff seemed friendlier...and let us get away with something they apparently had a rule against, without any bribes even (on the russian side)
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Hi Denis,

By now you should be either back or on the final stretch of your journey. I hope you had a great time! How did it go? Any surprises? Were the hints from the forum helpful?

Also, I was wondering what's about Pärmu that made you decide to spend a day. Would you still recommend it now that you've been there?

Cheers!

Hi Tony,

Do you have a link to the original forum where the Pskov border crossing is suggested? I couldn't find it and I wanted to ask if that would still be better than the Grebnova border crossing if I'm coming from Vilnius.

Thanks!

Different Forum - different Website.
Estonia-Russia border or Latvia-Russia ? - The Moscow Expat Forums

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I changed my route and started in Helsinki and have gone around the Finish Gulf through St Petersburg, Tallin, Parnu and am currently in Riga. I would suggest to go through Petergorf on your way to Tallinn. There is an old palace that used to belong to some Tsar's. Its very very cool and will probably take you an hour or two to explore. Then I would suggest to ride another 20km or so and turn left just before bolshaya izhora and head towards the M11 and into Tallinn. Its a shame that you can't take back roads through Russia as the roads can be quite shocking. Always a good idea to ask a local first if you do decide to take them. I spent a few nights in Tallinn and the road to Parnu. Parnu is called Estonias summer capital. Has a nice beach and I would personally say it's worth a visit. From there I rode to Riga through Cesis. There is a cool Castle that you can explore there. The only other thing I would recommend is take as many back roads as possible as the highways are boring, straight and has plenty of traffic.

Thanks for the info Dennis!

I just got to Moscow yesterday and am picking the bike today to hit the road. Can't wait!! Hope you had fun and got back home safely.

Cheers,

Sandro

Sandro, Hi

I thought of you a couple of days ago, as I was driving through the Baltics on my way back to Moscow for winter.

How did it go?

Tony

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