Latvia Lithuania Estonia

I'm debating whether to make this my summer trip. Has anyone been there as opposed to passed through on the way to Russia. There seems a lot about Russia on this thread but precious little about the Baltic states. I get the impression it's Riga, Tallin and Vilnius plus countryside though I'm sure people must live in other places too. What's accomodation and/or camping like ?
Is Riga Cathedral still full of scaffolding, for example, or have they finished restoring it. And what about language. I don't fancy learning three new ones, and perhaps resurrecting my rusty Russian would be highly un-diplomatic.

I suppose I could just step outside my office in King's Lynn and ask one of the natives !

Hey Barley,

I'm from Estonia and can assure you that you shouldn't hesitate to come here and travel through it.
Besides Tallinn there are many nice small towns here that you ought to visit.
The so-called "summer-capital" of Estonia is a town called Pärnu. It is by the sea and it's very busy during summer and full of motorcycle travellers from Finland. Another nice town is Tartu, it is Estonias University City where our biggest and oldest University, the Tartu university is. Tartu is also very popular amongst motorcyclists and it is situated in southern Estonia and if you're a GS rider, then there are many nice gravel roads around there.
English is not a problem in the cities and amongst the younger folk. I think that Estonia is more English speaking than Latvia or Lithuania, but that's just my opinion.
If you have time, then visit Saaremaa, it is Estonias largest island and the roads for a GS rider there are perfect. You can circle Saaremaa in one or two days and there are nice gravel roads running along the coastline.

Cheers!

Johannes

I agree with the pre post

Been living up here 8+ years now and this is GS country ..... Still loads of unpaved roads and forrest tracks you can ride, if you ride tarmac here your missing the best bits...

For camping and accommodation there are lots of places to stay, and they are typically very cheap, try the Tourist Farms (Google 'Tourist Farms Estonia')

There are loads of interesting places to see on the way, and things to do off the bike, just depends what you are interested in.

Thanks for all that. I'm not actually a GS rider and not really into off roading (though I had to take my fully loaded 1100RT up a 1.5 Km rocky hill track on my last trip to Morocco - not an experience I'm anxious to repeat !). I'm just keen to explore new places, meet new people and find out a bit about the culture and history of the places I visit. But I like to avoid the tourist hot spots and discover the ordinary things. We have many people from the Baltic states in the town where I work, indeed there was for a time a Trabant driving around King's Lynn ! Though that had Polish plates on.

So I'm encouraged by what you say and will get the maps and guidebooks out and start planning. I just feel they should be more than somewhere to pass through on the way to St Petersburg. A bit like Northern France - we all dash through it on the way South but if you stop and explore it's a wonderful area.