South through Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania
 

Hi All,

I have a trip planned for this June to go up through Norway to Nordkapp, returning through Finland to Helsinki. My plan then is to take the ferry across to Tallin and travel south through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and into Poland. I have been to Norway several times before as well as to many other countries, but I have no experience of these 3 eastern European countries at all. I am looking for a good motorcycle route south from Tallin into Poland. I am looking for scenic "A" and "B" type roads and to avoid boring motorways. I will be solo on a well loaded ST1300 Pan European so goat tracks requiring knobblies may not be entirely suitable!

Has anyone got any experience of motorcycling in these countries that can recommend a good route? I will be camping mostly and would like to know if there are any particular risks with this in these countries.

Thanks All.

If you are planning to travel through Latvia in June, you absolutely MUST stay in Riga on 23rd/24th. It's their Midsummer Festival and, by tradition, Latvians must stay up all night by the light of a bonfire - something to do with young women who fall asleep will never marry, I believe. It is a Pagan festival with much singing and dancing, food, beer and floral head-dresses. So don't bother to eat in a restaurant. Head down to the river and join in the fun. It is a night of pure magic. There are plenty of good cheap hostels around the centre of town, so you won't have to far to stagger back to bed.

hi
i did that trip last may on a "heavily loaded pan " too . Aim towards lake pepsi in estonia there are lots of tiny roads there . then do riga working your way to palanga on lithuanian coast ( lots of very naughty girls there :funmeteryes: ) take ferry to curonian split for a couple of days . i then went via kaunas ( see kgb museum in town ) and crossed border into polish lakes region ( amazing ) . Back via Lublin ( large concentration camp ) krakwo and torun .
Roads on Latvian / Lituanian border were terrible , rest were ok . Rooms are very cheap as is fuel . I cant speak the lingo but managed ok .
Lithuanians are sXXt drivers and tailgate badly , the rest were fine , the polish being the best imho !!
feel free to text me if you want a longer chat 07825 104350 .
Ps lithuania means land of rain enuff said i think :freezing:

Chris has just reminded me that I found the Lithuanian driving terrifying. We were on a tight schedule so we traversed the whole country in a day, sadly missing Vilnius. The main road was, as far as I remember, two lanes in either direction (a dual-carriageway to us Brits). However, there were at least three streams of traffic using each carriageway, with the overflow spilling out onto the hard shoulder. I had a f*cking tour bus up my a*se for a good few miles, literally inches from my rear wheel. I just had to grip the throttle and pray that I didn't hit a pothole or any other unexpected hazard.

Nightmare.

You might enjoy this guide to Estonia by an Estonian. :wink2:

You wont be going for the roads as they are nothing special at all . Where my mate comes from (Jonava ) looked like the germans had just carpet bombed it - again !! that said i enjoyed the visit , the people were mostly friendly when they saw our plates :thumbup1: Am assuming you arent black / coloured because if you are the "N" word is very common and racisim is alive and well im afraid , although i was told by the only black guy i met , its better then ten years ago !!
definately find time to do the Kgb museums - there is one in each capital . The one in Vilinus left me speechless - if they are still showing the video hope you have a strong stomach !!

Thanks for the replies mrsroynie & Chris - much appreciated and just the sort of information I was after.

I haven't given much thought to these 3 countries up to now and they didn't previously hold very much appeal to me. I was (am) in 2 minds as to whether to just quickly transit through them in one day on the main road south to get into Poland quickly, or to spend and extra day or 2 and explore the back roads and the landscape a bit. Your descriptions of the road conditions and standard of driving is a little worrying to say the least and it doesn't sound like much fun. From what I can see of the landscape it is exceptionally flat and rather uninteresting. So, all things considered, I am leaning towards shooting straight through unless I can find a particularly scenic route to enjoy.

Thanks for the link for the YouTube guide to Estonia - it is very informative and clearly highlights the areas that are "not recommend" - brilliant!

personally i would do the curion split and Riga then whizz thru and spend some time in the Polish lakes region , including Malbork castle . Lublin is def worth a look , but thats a fair way south .

Thanks Chris.

The Curonian Spit looks interesting but from what I can see, entry to Kaliningrad requires a 72 hour tourist visa at a cost of €70. Part of the requirements for the visa is evidence of a hotel booking in advance. Since I intend to be mostly camping and not running to any fixed timetable, it's probably not going to be worth the cost and hassle to pass through this way.

How did you go about it when you went there last year?

Hi No you enter via lithuania - there is a small car ferry at Klapedia . The split itself is divided between the two countries . Think the last village on the Lithuanian side is Nida ? there is a large sand dune there that you can climb in order to have a look at the border . they also do some nive boat trips too .

estonea
 

hello 1moremile
im in the same boat as you,ill be doing the same route as you in june. ill be back into finland from russa about 17th june and heading south to estonia and on to poland and as you iv not been hear at all. wot dates are you going to be about ,we could get lost together.i was thinking just going for it but do have some days to wast ill be camping as well, or hostels.

Hi Mike,

I hope to be crossing into Estonia on or about 11th June so I will be a few days ahead of you. Since posting this I have done a little more research and my plans at present are to hit the main road and head for Poland as fast as the speed limits allow. This decision is based on many factors: time, money, minimal interest in these countries etc. I will spend some extra time visiting the concentration camps in Poland instead.

Have a great trip!

no probs we might pass no the road you never know keep in touch, you will like the camp on the 296 just south of zagan in poland, its the camp that, the great escape,was based on,you can go right upto the tunnel openings in the woods, and you must go to colditz and do the full tour.ill porbably do the same as you just go for it,ive only got 2days spare to get back to the boat on the 23rd june.

Hi Chris
thanks for the info
it will be great if you make a route on map and post it here
cheers

Hi Omar
bit above me that , will post a rough list as on holiday at the moment :funmeteryes: as i said the roads arent that special to be honest . A good look thru the Rough Guide should suffice .

Might help. Might not. Wildman's Ride the World 2010 - Scandinavia & Baltic States - ADVrider