Baltic States & Russia

A learning experience that I truly enjoyed - these countries weren't my "stereotype" at all.

Good tour except for two dinner excursions

Except for two outrageously priced dinner excursions, for the price we paid, this was a good and enjoyable tour. Good tour director, clean and centrally located hotels, decent meals, good inclusion of major attractions in the limited time frame. Lala, tour director with two Master's degree teaches college when she is not doing the tours. Very helpful and anticipated problems in advance and hence avoided them ( such as crossing into Russia ). All of the hotels are centrally located although the one in Riga is slightly more far off from old town than the other hotels. Hotel is spartan and not air-conditioned but we did not need air. No buffet as in other tours but these was wine with every meal and the food were well prepared. There was no feast or expensive specialties but food was acceptable and probably slightly above average when compared to other tour companies. The KGB museum was just across the hotel in Vilnius. We visited the museum on our own. Originally the itinerary included Kaunsas, the second largest city in Lithuania. Due to time and distance, it was substituted with the Hill of the Cross which I didn't care for too much. It was a junk pile. The visit to St Isaac Cathedral ( 250 ruble admission )was substituted with a visit to a monastery (admission free) because it was closed on Wednesday. We could have swapped the day of visit with Peterhof. The Peterhof visit included both the palace and the garden. I know some more deluxe touring companies just include the garden. Very difficult to get into the palace on your own. With just two full days each in Saint Petersburg ( and Moscow extension ), some of the attractions are bound to be missed. Go ahead could cut one day each off from Riga and Tallinn and extend one day each in St Petersburg and Moscow. Better still, enter Russia via Helsinki, Finland. This would cut down considerably the bus time. Ferry crossing is a lot more enjoyable. The two dinner excursion are ridiculously priced. Both dinners are similar to included dinners in quality and quantity. At this kind of price ( $99 and $79 ), it is surprising that no choice of food was allowed. The dinners were no feasts at all.

St. Petersburg and the Baltics

Wonderful tour but often wished we could have gone in to see a lot more churches and buildings.The meals that were included were not very good. I would have payed more to get better included meals. The hotel in Riga had no airconditioning. I woke up sweating in the mornings. I was well pleased with everything else including Lala the tour director.

Do yourself a favor – find another tour company.

Very large group (39 people), including many people with mobility issues, made for a slow pace. Touring was primarily drive-by style on a bus so we couldn't see much, we rarely stopped or went inside places, and we obviously couldn't take decent pictures through a dirty bus window with curtains, often from the aisle seat. Hotels were poorly located outside of the main part of town, and several were in a very seedy part of town (Riga and St. Petersburg) where we literally had to walk past drug addicts, hookers and winos lying on the sidewalk to get to the hotel. Many major sites were not included (i.e., KGB Museum in Vilnius, Catherine's Palace in St. Petersburg, and the Armoury and Lenin's tomb in Moscow), and there was not enough free time to do them on your own. This is typical of Go Ahead: you waste hours walking around the Kremlin looking at the outside of office buildings and seeing a tree that was planted by a Russian Cosmonaut, but they don’t bother to include the Armoury museum or Lenin’s tomb in their itinerary, two of the main things to see in Moscow. Additionally, some sights were closed on the day we saw them (St. Isaac's and Church on the Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg). Riga is not interesting enough for 3 days, but it was probably cheap for the company to keep us there. (An extra day in St. Petersburg was definitely needed, however.) A performance and dinner in Riga was touted as the best excursion for $99. It turned out to be a lame organ recital in a church. The ticket price was posted as $10 US and Go Ahead probably paid a cheaper group rate. There was no choice of what we ate at the restaurant so the Jewish people who didn't eat pork had to be satisfied with a few roasted potatoes. Go Ahead should be ashamed to have charged $99 for this. What a rip-off. They probably won't even post this review. The majority of local tour guides were so bad that many people just took off the headsets and gave up trying to hear anything. Many of the headsets malfunctioned anyway and there weren't enough extras since so many didn't work. All included dinners were in the hotel restaurants - no opportunity to sample local cuisine. It was always tough, tasteless, mystery meat in every city. I have taken numerous tours in the past with other companies and they were always great, so I know tours can definitely be the way to go - just not with Go Ahead. Go Ahead has good customer service when you are booking the tour, but the tours do not live up to that good first impression. They make them sound good on paper but in reality they just maximize the profits to the company and skimp on the tour itself. The tour leader was a linguist and was very knowledgeable. She had a great personality and was a lot of fun. She is also very shrewd and well-suited to this job. Unfortunately, she was also a heavy smoker; although she did make an effort to step aside while smoking, it was still unfortunate. None of the 39 people in the group smoked at all, by the way. This tour would be well-suited for the elderly who can’t walk much and just want to drive around on a bus or sit around an un-air-conditioned hotel room. All in all, there is not much value or sightseeing opportunity for your money here.

The Baltics - Delightful treats in small packages!

Although the three small Baltic countries of Lithuana, Latvia, and Estonia share borders, lovely scenery, and similar heritages each is uniquely and delightfully different. Vilnius, is a charming city, with touches of Gothic architecture gracing some cathedrals, and castles rising from its lakes. Vilnius University, a part of the Old Town area, adds a feeling of youthful vitality to an evolving city culture. The "Art Nouveau" influence in Riga is absolutely one of the world's most amazing reflections of the art and architecture from that period. The markets, shops, and museums also offer wonderful opportunities to sample the city's cultural offerings. Tallin, whose 12th century "Old Town" is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of the finest examples of 12th century preservation in the world. Ancient stone walls, cobblestone streets, and buildings dating from the 12th to the 19th century chronicle the city's historic and architectural evolution. St.. Petersburg today is a bustling city offering visitors glimpses of its past history contrasting with modern cultural influences. Cathedrals, palaces, and Venetian like canals, vie with ultra modern malls and chic shops. St . Petersburg's crowning glory is, of course, the Hermitage Museum. It encompasses over three million pieces of art work dating from ancient Greece to modern times. Such a collection makes it one of the premier collections in the world and a compelling opportunity for every visitor.

Just above average

Generally speaking, this is a good trip. The highlight of the trip is St. Petersburg. Therefore it is puzzling that we had only three nights in that city, the same number of nights in Riga. It is a no brainer that the third night in Riga should have been the fourth night in St. Petersburg. Another minus was the 6:20 am flight from St. Petersburg to Frankfurt. We had to get up at 3 am in St. Petersburg to catch the flight. The tour director could have accompanied us in the airport to offer some needed help in the airport because we were quite confused about how to check in and the persons at the check-in counter were not helpful (language problem or attitude problem?)

Excellent trip and tour guide

This trip was on my list of trips I wanted to go on while I was still able to travel. I travel solo, and GoAhead has always provided me a rewarding travel experience. On this trip, the tour guide was brilliant, and went out of her way to make special arrangements for us. In my case, she helped me get to do something high on my "bucket list"- see the Mariinsky(Kirov) Ballet perform Swan Lake in the Mariinsky Theater. Breathtaking.

Great Trip especially if you love history!!!

Honestly, I can't think of a thing that I didn't enjoy about the trip except for the long flight home!! Every trip is different and when asked what trip I've enjoyed the most, I just can't compare the Baltic states and Russia to something like Germany, Switzerland and Austria because they are so different. Loved every minute ... must have walked 20 miles and went up and down 20,000 steps!! But it was all worth it and with my hobby being photography, I got some awesome photos.

I prefer Western Europe over this trip.

I enjoyed the Baltic Sates, especially Vilnius, Lithuania. I would not take the extension from Saint Petersburg to Moscow again. I would recommend an extension from Estonia to Finland. It would inclue a high speed boat trip across the Baltic Sea. This was my 14 tour with EF/Go-Ahead Tours.

The Baltics and Russia

Our guides were always magnificent. This was a wonderful learning experience. The Baltics as a group are different from Western Europe, more medevial, and each of the countries is distinct from its neighbor. Lithuania much more caught up in its history, Latvia more Russian/high unemployment and Estonia seemed the most Western. Russia is very Russian, in many ways still Soviet. For instance, their souvenire shops have no lapel pins with just the flag or "Russia" - gotta have Lenin, the red star and hammer and sickle. I wanted to buy souvenires, but can't very well offer a Chicago friend a Lenin/hammer & sickle t-shirt or lapel pin - wierd marketing. Few Russians speak English; however, I found them the friendliest of all the folk we encountered.