Baltic ports DIY

[Korimako]

Hi

I am going on a Baltic cruise in July visiting Tallinn, Visby, Stockholm, Helsinki, Warnemünde, Copenhagen, Skagen and Kristiansand ( not necessarily in that order!) The ship's excursions to be honest, don't look all that exciting and I wondered if anyone could recommend anything else for any of these ports. I'm quite happy to potter off on my own, but would welcome any suggestions.

TIA

 

 

And on another topic - somewhere on these boards I remember seeing a thread about buying a SIM card just for Europe for basic calls and texts. Using my iPhone with a roaming package from home would be eye-wateringly expensive. I'm not based in the US, so advice about US cellphone providers isn't relevant.

TIA again🙂

[ontheweb]

We've been to 3 of those ports.

 

Tallinn---easy to walk it without paying for any excursion. We had a Rick Steves Scandanavia book, and just followed his walking tour.

 

Stockholm---there was way more on our possible to do list than we could have possibly done in our time there. Our #1 attraction was the Vasa Museum.

 

Helsinki--found less to do there than any of our other Baltic ports, and cannot really recommend anything.

[dfilpus]

We did the following ports on our own. Public transit and Rick Steve’s guide to Scandinavia were key.
Tallinn - Old town is fabulous to wander in. The Rick Steve’s tour is great.

Visby - The cruise port is a walk to the walled town. We picked up the tourist map and explored the walls, ruins and churches.

Stockholm - Public transit to get to Old Town and used the Rick Steve’s walking tour of old town. 
Helsinki - We used public transit to Central Market, took a ferry to Suomenlinna fortress and then followed the Rick Steve’s walking tour of Helsinki.

Copenhagen - Publiic transit to Tivoli and the Rick Steve’s walking tour.

 

We got a sim from 3.co.uk that was supposed to work all over Europe. We could call in almost all countries, but could not connect to data in most of them. Your mileage may vary.

[edinburgher]

9 hours ago, Korimako said:

I wondered if anyone could recommend anything else for any of these ports. I'm quite happy to potter off on my own, but would welcome any suggestions.

Some of these ports are super easy to DIY independently.

 

Visby is a compact and pretty little town and a really pleasant place to wander with a  few sights along the way. See Tripadvisor and others for suggestions.

 

Tallinn ditto.

 

Warnemunde.  Here is a copy/paste from an earlier thread A really pretty little seaside town, actually a suburb of Rostock, and you should dock around a 2 minute walk from the train station:

 

There have been quite a number of previous threads about Warnemund V Berlin and what to do if Berlin is decided against, so you might want to find them in the usual way by using the SEARCH tool under your username so you can read them for info and ideas.  Most popular options are to visit Schwerin Castle  then spend time in Warnemunde or visit Rostock then spend time in Warnemunde, but do read past threads to help you decide.  This is probably typical of what you would find if you used the word Rostock, but there will be others if you use the word Warnemunde or even Berlin or Schwerin Castle.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2920861-what-to-do-in-warnemunde-berlin/#comment-64949265

 

We found little to interest us in Kristiansand, and mostly only walked around especially near the waterfront. it was probably the most uninteresting port call we did on that trip so  I would consider a tour here.

 

Skagen  I  am not familiar with.

 

Helsinki we walked and used public transportation to get to the sights/sites we wanted to visit. (Tourist info websites and Tripadvisor)

 

Stockholm we again did our own thing, but we were docked in the city centre and I think it is now more common to dock in a different town which necessitates a train journey. Again, reading past threads would help you.

 

You can of course internet search for tourist Information for all your towns and cities, but also search CC for past threads and posts about each by using the SEARCH tool.  Used correctly it is a quick and really easy way to find past threads and you can choose which of the results to read.

[kitkat343]

We did the Baltic cruise with a 3 year old in tow, and thanks to Europe's amazing public transportation was able to easily DIY all the ports.  

 

Depending upon your level of physical fitness, you might want to take a cab to the top of Toompea hill and then walk down in Tallinn.  The joy of Tallinn is exploring all of the beautiful historic buildings, which you can easily DIY.  It is possible to walk up and down, but that depends on your level of energy.

 

In Stockholm there is so much to do you need to carefully research the options and choose what you are most interested in.  The Vasa gets crowded (and only lets a limited number of visitors in at a time) so try to get there early.  A long time ago, the tour ferries ran from the ship dock directly to Vasa prior to 10 am, so they were your quickest/best option to get there before the crowds.  I was there 10 years ago, so you'd need to check if that's still the case.  Vasa filled up while we were there (we got there right at opening) and it was a much different experience when it was crowded.    Other people on these forums have noted that Vasa is empty later in the afternoon, which I cannot vouch for since we went at opening but know that's true for the museums in NYC.  

 

Copenhagen and Helsinki are also easy to DIY.  If you tell us more about your interests, we might be able to give you more specific advice about what to see.  Helsinki has the tram route 3 which will let you see the historic buildings and stop near the  Temppeliaukio rock church.  We also liked the food at the stalls in market square.  

 

There are nice small towns near Warmeneude, or you can take the train to Berlin.  The Schwerin castle is supposed to be lovely, but was closed on the day we arrived.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visby, Stockholm, Helsinki, Warnemünde, Copenhagen, Skagen and Kristiansand

[sleepingcat]

10 hours ago, Korimako said:

And on another topic - somewhere on these boards I remember seeing a thread about buying a SIM card just for Europe for basic calls and texts. Using my iPhone with a roaming package from home would be eye-wateringly expensive.

The EU took a very dim view of mobile providers charging EU citizens large roaming charges, so it introduced legislation which meant that a citizen of any EU country visiting another EU member state paid the same for their phone use as they did at home. I think this would probably mean that if you buy a temporary SIM card in any EU country you could use it in all EU countries. But note,  the UK is now not in the EU,  so while some UK providers have not introduced roaming packages, others have, so buy elsewhere to be sure. 

Be aware also that cruise ships provide their own  on ship networks which are veeerrrryy expensive, so when on the ship be sure to switch to airplane mode. do a search as lots of advice on this previously on these boards. 

[janetcbl]

8 hours ago, ontheweb said:

We've been to 3 of those ports.

 

Tallinn---easy to walk it without paying for any excursion. We had a Rick Steves Scandanavia book, and just followed his walking tour.

 

Stockholm---there was way more on our possible to do list than we could have possibly done in our time there. Our #1 attraction was the Vasa Museum.

 

Helsinki--found less to do there than any of our other Baltic ports, and cannot really recommend anything.

Helsinki: Fine art museum and modern architecture, (Kaisma). Market (outdoors and indoors) is fun and delicious. The “Rock Church” (Temppeliaukion) is amazing-go inside. The Sibelius Monument is in a lovely area. Then History Museum, if that interests you, can easily take a half day to explore. Many of these places may be closed now , check the websites closer to your journey. As you can tell, I really like this city!

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, janetcbl said:

Helsinki: Fine art museum and modern architecture, (Kaisma). Market (outdoors and indoors) is fun and delicious. The “Rock Church” (Temppeliaukion) is amazing-go inside. The Sibelius Monument is in a lovely area. Then History Museum, if that interests you, can easily take a half day to explore. Many of these places may be closed now , check the websites closer to your journey. As you can tell, I really like this city!

I did like the Church made out of Rock, but DW was not impressed. After Tallinn and St. Petersburg, I just found everything less impressive. I don't remember there being a fine arts museum. DW is an art teacher (now retired), and I don't know how she could have missed that.

[hallasm]

Some inspiration for Skagen - and City map

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by hallasm

[dronnygirl]

Great thread, thank you so much. We sail to the Baltic in June and would love to hear about any not to be missed places or experiences 

[kitkat343]

17 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I did like the Church made out of Rock, but DW was not impressed. After Tallinn and St. Petersburg, I just found everything less impressive. I don't remember there being a fine arts museum. DW is an art teacher (now retired), and I don't know how she could have missed that.

I think the comparison to the other ports, which were so amazing (I'd add Stockholm to your list) makes it harder to appreciate Helsinki so a lot of people feel this way.  Another option is to take the ferry to Suomenlinna, and have a nice pleasant walk around the island.  The ferry to Suomenlinna leaves from Market Square, where you can pick up the 3 tram to the rock church and take a pleasant, easy affordable tram tour of the city.  You can stop at the market in Market Square and eat from some of the stalls.  And the ferry is pleasant too.  But this is a good day to take it easy since you will be running around everywhere else with lots of amazing places to see.

[ontheweb]

55 minutes ago, kitkat343 said:

I think the comparison to the other ports, which were so amazing (I'd add Stockholm to your list) makes it harder to appreciate Helsinki so a lot of people feel this way.  Another option is to take the ferry to Suomenlinna, and have a nice pleasant walk around the island.  The ferry to Suomenlinna leaves from Market Square, where you can pick up the 3 tram to the rock church and take a pleasant, easy affordable tram tour of the city.  You can stop at the market in Market Square and eat from some of the stalls.  And the ferry is pleasant too.  But this is a good day to take it easy since you will be running around everywhere else with lots of amazing places to see.

I used those 2 ports as a comparison because those were the ones we really saw churches and other architecture. Yes, Stockholm was also truly an amazing port, one which I really wish we had a lot more time. Our other ports were Oslo, which was another amazing port, and Gdynia for Gdansk Poland, a less amazing port.

 

It's truly a shame that no one is cruising to St. Petersburg now or any time in the foreseeable future.

[ljandgb]

We did a ship excursion in Helsinki, to go feed reindeer.  It was the least "cultural" activity we did the whole trip, and saw very little of the rest of Helsinki, as it required a 90 minute drive out to a reindeer refuge.  It was, however, a lot of fun.

 

Not very DIY, but the one city we did that I don't regret the ship tour.

 

There weren't enough spots on the reindeer tour, so the rest of the family did a speed boat tour thru the little islands there.  They came back with so many good stories I almost peed my pants at dinner when we all got back together.

Edited January 1 by ljandgb

[janetcbl]

On 12/31/2023 at 1:45 PM, ontheweb said:

I did like the Church made out of Rock, but DW was not impressed. After Tallinn and St. Petersburg, I just found everything less impressive. I don't remember there being a fine arts museum. DW is an art teacher (now retired), and I don't know how she could have missed that.

The name of the museum is Ateneum and contains Finnish Art as well as some other temporary exhibitions.  Kiiasma  is the museum for contemporary art.

[ontheweb]

10 hours ago, janetcbl said:

The name of the museum is Ateneum and contains Finnish Art as well as some other temporary exhibitions.  Kiiasma  is the museum for contemporary art.

Thanks, I am surprised my DW in her research missed them. If we ever do another Baltic cruise, I'll make sure I let her know about them.

 

(For our last cruise we spent over 4 hours in the British Museum on our pre-cruise day, 2 1/2 hours in the Rijksmuseum on our first port, visited several museums in Bergen, a museum in Akureyri, and a museum was included in our art deco excursion in Alesund. She rarely misses museums.)

[edinburgher]

On 12/31/2023 at 5:10 PM, kitkat343 said:

 Helsinki has the tram route 3 which will let you see the historic buildings and stop near the  Temppeliaukio rock church.

In addition to walking around the central area, we also took a tram route which had been recommended online for sightseeing although I don't remember the number.

 

At that time it took us to the Sibelius Organ monument , the Rock Church, and the old Olympic stadium in addition to giving us a reasonably interesting mini tour of part of the city. Might be worth checking if there is a similar "semi touristic" route still running.  We buy day tickets everywhere we visit as they make it easy to switch types of transport or hop on and off a route without fiddling for change and tickets at each stop.

Edited January 2 by edinburgher

[janetcbl]

3 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Thanks, I am surprised my DW in her research missed them. If we ever do another Baltic cruise, I'll make sure I let her know about them.

 

(For our last cruise we spent over 4 hours in the British Museum on our pre-cruise day, 2 1/2 hours in the Rijksmuseum on our first port, visited several museums in Bergen, a museum in Akureyri, and a museum was included in our art deco excursion in Alesund. She rarely misses museums.)

Closer to home, we were on the Great Lakes Viking cruise last summer with a day in Cleveland,  and I took the optional excursion to the Cleveland Museum of Art….fantastic museum and a great docent for a guide!

[Malleykatt]

We are also sailing to the Baltic ports in July. Just thank you all for the snippets of help posted here. I've now got Rick Steves book ( even though our guide in Florence last year moaned about him). Off to plan my days out.

 

Thanks.

[ontheweb]

26 minutes ago, Malleykatt said:

We are also sailing to the Baltic ports in July. Just thank you all for the snippets of help posted here. I've now got Rick Steves book ( even though our guide in Florence last year moaned about him). Off to plan my days out.

 

Thanks.

Enjoy. It's too bad St. Petersburg is no longer an option, but there are still great ports to visit.

[Malleykatt]

25 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Enjoy. It's too bad St. Petersburg is no longer an option, but there are still great ports to visit.

I know. My parents visited a few years ago. Strange story..... My Dad kept saying he felt they were being followed, every time he turned around this one guy was smiling at him. Dad decided to speak to him which consisted of hello and ah you speak English. Well the Russian wanted to swap his Ushanka (fur hat) for my Dads NY baseball hat. They've got some great photos of them swapping hats somewhere at home.

[Korimako]

Thank you all for these very helpful suggestions. Lots to think about!

[Hezu]

On 12/31/2023 at 7:10 PM, kitkat343 said:

Copenhagen and Helsinki are also easy to DIY.  If you tell us more about your interests, we might be able to give you more specific advice about what to see.  Helsinki has the tram route 3 which will let you see the historic buildings and stop near the  Temppeliaukio rock church.  We also liked the food at the stalls in market square. 

Actually, the tram network in Helsinki has seen some route overhaul in the recent years and these days route 3 does not go anywhere near Temppeliaukio, although there are other tram routes that stop on the nearby tram stops (Sammonkatu and Hanken). Although it is even possible to hop in a tram that bears route number 3 and get there, albeit before this happens the tram route has changed into number 2 as these routes are interlinked, but on Olympiaterminaali the route number changes between 2 and 3 despite that it still the same tram operating both routes.

See route maps on HSL website for the latest information.

[Host Bonjour]

On 12/31/2023 at 2:00 AM, Korimako said:

somewhere on these boards

 

Hi Korimako!

 

We have an entire board dedicated to technology questions re: cruising (and photography/video) but of course you're always welcome to post in any topic. Just sharing here to help you get targeted info. 🙂

 

SIM/eSIM Topic on Digital Tech board and there are other topics concerning cell phones, wifi, on board tech use and much more.

 

Hope this helps! 

Colleen

[alpencoolcruiser]

On 12/31/2023 at 8:00 AM, Korimako said:

Hi

I am going on a Baltic cruise in July visiting Tallinn, Visby, Stockholm, Helsinki, Warnemünde, Copenhagen, Skagen and Kristiansand ( not necessarily in that order!) The ship's excursions to be honest, don't look all that exciting and I wondered if anyone could recommend anything else for any of these ports. I'm quite happy to potter off on my own, but would welcome any suggestions.

TIA

 

 

And on another topic - somewhere on these boards I remember seeing a thread about buying a SIM card just for Europe for basic calls and texts. Using my iPhone with a roaming package from home would be eye-wateringly expensive. I'm not based in the US, so advice about US cellphone providers isn't relevant.

TIA again🙂

We did the Baltic cruise and I have a blog post on how we went about seeing Rostock and Warnemunde. I have links to transportation and what to see. Maybe it is helpful for your planning. In it I also mention the eSim card I use which is affordable and gets me connected to the internet especially for navigating around.  

 

 

[Scottishclover]

As you can see from the fantastic blog by Alpencool there really is no need to go any further than Rostock and Warnemuende. Rostock’s centre is charming ( look up at all the gabled houses) and there is super transport links. My daughter is currently there on a year abroad and I lived there many moons ago so I’m perhaps a bit biased but the combination of town and beach can’t be beat.
 

Many people venture to the castle at Schwerin as an alternative.We were there in October but unfortunately the castle is closed on Mondays. It does have a lovely setting though on the lake and the town of Schwerin is quite pretty too. Trains leave regularly from Rostock HBF and the castle is about a 15 minute walk from the station in Schwerin.

 

The most scenic area near to Rostock is the Darss Peninsula. Parts of it are a protected wildlife area. However it would be difficult to get to as public transport there is very limited. Whenever I have visited friends have driven me. You might be able to find a tour company to go there. There is the typical thatched houses in the area, for example in Born and Ahrenshoop and then a natural coastal landscape with fantastic cycles and walks. Worth looking into.