Riga City Break

Hello Daina

Excellent trip. Airport transfers very good. Friendly driver who gave us lots of information. Went to kgb and occupation museum.  Did two guided walks old and new town. Took the train to jumala. Had a look at the market.enjoyed the park with a canal boat trip. Really enjoyed the cafes and food and a cocktail at the skyline radioson.  Beautiful city with plenty of colour in flower bed. Everyone so nice.

Regards Michael 

Dear Daina

Just to thank you for organising this excellent holiday, which we thoroughly enjoyed.

The balance of 4 days in Riga and 3 in Tallinn was absolutely correct and we arrived in Riga the day after their first snowfall which made it even more magical.

The Dome in Riga was very comfortable and our room was upgraded since the hotel was very quite. Coupled with the weather we had hope for the other advantage was that in January all was very quite, just enough people and the locals had time ,we were made to feel very welcome. We also had an evening at the Opera House to watch Latvia's National Ballet Company perform The Nutcracker first class.

Excellent restaurants in both Riga and Tallinn and we were very impressed with the quality of the food overall, although we did not choose the cheapest.

The journey between Riga and Tallinn went well it took 4 hours with some heavy snowfall.

Tallinn in the snow is Christmas card perfect and both cities had retained their Christmas  decorations which made it even more pretty. There was more snow in Tallinn which set the city at its best. The 3 Sisters Hotel was very comfortable and once again we were upgraded. Although both hotels were excellent we preferred The Dome they tried a little harder and the breakfast was far better.

We were also wise to take walking guided tours in each city. Both cities were ideal to just stroll around and take in the sights.

We will certainly try to book with you again, our next winter destination for next year will be Poland which I don't think you include.

We are also interested in Greenland, having about 10 years ago on The icebreaker "Polar Star" visited and cruised around Svalbard.

If you do have any special opportunities or late booking deals please let us know we are fairly flexible. We will also give consideration to The Faroe Islands.

The flights were good and on time, Air Baltic being rather superior.

With best wishes and thanks once again,

John and Catherine O

Inga

We had a really good time in Riga.  Outward travel went perfectly, the Hotel Justus was fine and well placed for the city.  We got to see a couple of the art museums, the central market, the top of St Peter’s and the KGB museum which was hard to find but fascinating.

Food was good – Valtera restaurant definitely a must and it was a different experience for us overall in terms of culture.

Unfortunately the return flight was delayed for nearly 3 hours just as it was taking off so we were stuck in the plane for nearly 6 hours!  Just one of those things I guess!

Anyway we would certainly use Baltic Travel again – I am keen on Estonia and my wife would love to see the Northern Lights next year.

Regards

Chris

We had a great time in Latvia. It all went very smoothly with the transfers and tours etc. The hotels were fantastic, The Dome spa, we very luxurious and exactly what we were after. The Hotel Garden Palace was also lovely and we had a sauna in our room!!! Thank you for the champagne at the Dome spa, all of the hotels had complimentary gifts for us which made us feel  very special. We absolutely LOVED Riga, such a beautiful and interesting old town and the walking tour was fantastic. Dikli palace was also fantastic. The only slight hitch was that it rained for a day and a half which really limited us without a car. However all the staff were great and we had an amazing massage. We also found the food absolutely brilliant the whole time, we have been telling everyone how fantastic the food was! Overall we had an amazing time, we couldn't imagine a better honeymoon; the perfect balance between relaxing and interesting things to do. Thank you so much to you and your whole team for arranging such a seamless trip. We will definitely being looking to Baltic travel company again for further tours in future as we hope to explore lots more of the Baltic in the years to come. 

Regards

Carley and Hugh

Dear Daina

Just a brief note of warmest thanks to you and Baltic Travel for organising our latest trip (to Riga and Stockholm).  Everything worked perfectly, both hotels were excellent and both my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  A great experience all round.

With best wishes, Bill

Hi Daina,
Many thanks. Yes, I had a lovely time, thank you. All arrangements were perfect and I had a great day birdwatching with an excellent guide. Loved the city, with its parks, and beautiful buildings.
Thank you for organising it, including the ballet which was also a special highlight.
Thinking I might like to do a trip to Greenland in the next year or two. If so, I will certainly arrange through your company,
Thank you for all you did to make the holiday such a great success,
Best wishes,
Carol

Hi Inga, just to let you know we had a great time in Riga at hotel Justus and thank you very much for the anniversary fizz.

We may be interested in a trip to St Petersburg next year with  stay in Tallinn - Helsinki.

We will be in touch I'm sure.

Kind regards,
Martin

I would like to say how very much my friend, Josephine Campbell, and I enjoyed our trip to Riga last week.  Your travel arrangements were excellent and we had no problems at all.  We were greeted by a very pleasant young “transfer car” driver at Riga Airport, despite the fact that the flight was over an hour late, and collected for the return transfer in good time by an equally pleasant and helpful young man.  The Hotel Gutenbergs is quirky and welcoming, had all the facilities we needed and our room was delightful and very unusual!  Also, by being so close to the cathedral, we could always find our way back to it...

We were lucky enough to have hot and sunny weather throughout our stay, so that apart from breakfast we never had a meal indoors.  Food was good everywhere and the unhurried service didn’t bother us as we weren’t there on business. Fascinating museums, interesting architecture (both ancient and modern), fun or elegant statues, pretty parks and a relaxing boat trip – all among the more memorable ingredients of our holiday.  The city was also immaculately clean – which is more than I can say for UK towns and cities! And your countrymen and women in the shops and cafes were smiling and polite and spoke enough English for us non-Latvian speakers to get by. Prices throughout were reasonable.  I rate Riga very highly.

There are just two things I’ll do differently next time I go:
1)    I will swot up on Latvian history beforehand! It’s so complex! We eventually found a booklet entitled Old Riga and wished we had found it earlier because it was readable and informative.
2)    I won’t pack any high heels! Fortunately I was wearing trainers and had some flat shoes with me, but my higher heels never left my suitcase, as those cobbles would have crippled me.

I have dozens of photos of the town, old and Art Nouveau buildings, the panorama from St Peter’s spire, street musicians etc. but I don’t want to burden you with them unless you have a use for any.

Thank you very much for your help. I shall certainly recommend Riga and also come back to you when/if we plan another Baltic journey.

Kind regards,
Julia