Helsinki - Tallin - St.Petersburg - Moscow - Oslo Trip

flyer31

Hi,

Just planning another trip, combining quite a few cities and would like to hear your feedback if we spend enough time in the different places.

Here is a rough itinerary:

Day 1: Arrive Helsinki late at night
Day 2: Helsinki
Day 3: Daytrip Tallin
Day 4: Helsinki
Day 5: Helsinki, night ferry to St. Petersburg
Day 6: St. Petersburg
Day 7: St. Petersburg
Day 8: St. Petersburg
Day 9: St. Petersburg, night train to Moscow
Day 10: Moscow
Day 11: Moscow
Day 12: Moscow
Day 13: Moscow, evening flight to Oslo
Day 14: Oslo
Day 15: Oslo
Day 16: Oslo
Day 17: Oslo, day trip to the Fjordes.
Day 18: Oslo, return flight to London

Not so sure if there is enough to do for 3 days in Helsinki. Probably it is better to spend 4 days in Tallin and do a day trip from there to Helsinki? Is one day enough to explore Tallin and is it worth it?

I have planed 4 whole days in St. Petersburg and 3,5 days in Moscow, hope that allows us to explore these amazing cities without being to stressed

Thanks for any helpful travel advices!

Alan_Bowen

I would spend a week in Helsinki anytime rather than a day in Tallin, did the day trip once, no desire to ever see it again, now even worse with English stag parties arriving on low cost airlines. Helsinki is beautiful but you give no indication of when you plan to travel, weather is an important element in that part of the world. I assume you know that Moscow and Oslo are two of the most expensive cities in the world to live, Oslo was another delightful small city, but the expense was off the scale.

The Fjords are really too far away from Oslo to do in a day, its almost 7 hours to Bergen which is the centre of Fjord region by train and not sure you need as long in Oslo, it really is quite compact and I think you could see most of it in three days or less. The other part of the journey I would change is the ferry to Russia, this is not cheap if buying one way and you can get the new high speed train service in three and a half hours which operates four times a day which would give you more time in both St Petersburg and Helsinki.

Just make sure you take out a second mortgage before travelling!

flyer31

Thanks Alan for the quick feedback. We are traveling end of August, I guess that should be a good perido for this region.

Yes, I am aware that Scandinavia is in general not a cheap place to travel, hoepfully we can still do it without a second mortage. So what you are saying is essentially leaving Tallin out of our travel plans, not even worth one day to go there. However, I am not sure if we find enough stuff to do to fill 4 days in Helsinki.

High speed trains are quite expensive unfortunately, one way per Person from Helsinki to St. Petersburg is 90 Euros ... The ferry goes overnight for the same money, so we could save on hotel accommodation.

Hobsons_Choice

Different experience for me: we spent four days in Tallin in early July last year and loved every minute of it! Beautiful historical town, not too expensive, lovely food and drink and there wasn't a stag party in sight all the time we were there. The only slightly annoying thing was the people off the Cunard ships being herded around the old town most mornings!

charlearose

oslo to bergen if you book the train in advance (nsb) you can get it for 30 one way and the journey is fab

if you havnt booked your return flight back as well you could then go to haugestand ( think that right way ) and fly home from there with ryan air to stanstead they go every other day

also flights from oslo to bergen are cheaper than the train if you book in advance but the train is fab
you don't need that long in oslo you can see what most of it in a short time
i stayed there recently at both the thin opera hotel opposite the opera house and then the chateaux apartments which are about 10 mins outside of the town( walking) good value for money so self catering ect which makes it cheap and you can get them for 70 a night and lots of shops nearby so you can buy food ect

Alan_Bowen

The end of August is very good time to travel, hotels in Helsinki are good value in the summer, there is lots to do, boat trips to the islands, including a trip to the zoo on one of the islands and it is my favourite of the Scandanavian capitals. Tallin is clearly a personal choice, frankly we were back at the port waiting for the ferry to leave and would have no desire to go again.

By the time you add the cost of two meals on the ferry and the pleasure of spending the night with 2 or 3 strangers in the cheapest cabins it wouldn't be my choice but everyone is different