Helsinki Tours in Fall

Great tour, learnt a lot of history which was what I wanted to get out of the tour. It was also great being on the slower side to break up my travels.

The hotels, coach bus, and ferries were clean and comfortable. Inga, our tour guide, was friendly and very knowledgeable. Piotr, the coach driver, was excellent at navigating the narrow roads. Overall, this was an excellent way to see the Nordic Countries.

This was a rapid introduction to 4 countries with a great balance between culture, history, landscape and activity. We visited an enormous range of historic sites from pre-history to cold war to current affairs, with walks in remote forests, lakesides and beaches. And a lot of ferries.

This trip was a great introduction and overview of the Baltic countries and Helsinki. The forest walks were mixed with city walks leaving us with no boring moments and which made it different from the regular hiking trips. We had walks on the beach as well as in the forests while surprised by the wild berries and different types of mushrooms that our leader Andrius educated us on. His excitement about it was contagious. We climbed lighthouses, walked in bogs and rode fun ferries. The contrast between the Cold War museum and the Helsinki library was astonishing in regards of how things had changed. The old cities of Vilnius, Riga and Tallin were the highlights as well as the discovery of the history of these countries and how resilient they had been. Our leader Andrius was also a highlight and a lesson in how to be professional and yet still be funny and entertaining. Our amazing driver kept the comfortable van immaculate. His safe driving was greatly appreciated. The hotels had a great location and overall served the purpose. Helsinki hotel was the best but Panorama hotel in Vilnius was not. It can be upgraded to a more comfortable one. There was no AC and the room was quite small and with only one plug available. Overall a great trip and I am ready to do it again in the future.

Having been on previous “Baltics Winter Walking” (with Exodus), we wanted to return to experience the countryside and enjoy the walks in the National Parks in more conducive conditions and we were certainly not disappointed. We again enjoyed the city visits, this time in the warm sunshine the bars/cafes spilling out on the buzzing sidewalks, but of course at each city remembering the struggle and hardships they endured in previous decades. The 2000 kms we travelled was full on but in a comfortable bus and with a careful and competent driver we made excellent progress on pot hole free highways. We stopped in towns, villages, walked through pine forests down to lake sides, traversed the Baltic Sea on ferries to picturesque islands each with their own character. Our ultimate ferry across to Helsinki was more like being on a cruise ship, an array of food outlets and a huge shopping mall.

It was an enjoyable trip for me and my family. All the bookings, information and documentation through My Trip of the app were fantastic. The hotels were good well located at the heart of the towns/cities for easy commute and shopping etc. The breakfast were good except in Moxy Bergen Hotel -where the breakfast was very limited with hardly any variety. Just a few suggestions to make the trips better :- 1. The pick up drop from/to airport were arranged but the driver details were given too late - at Copenhagen only after landing we got the driver name phone. In Helsinki, we were never given driver name and phone. The driver reached for pickup about 10 minutes late - I was speaking to the local agency on the number given but they refused to share the details. 2. Also, the pick up at Helsinki was two half hours before our flight departure and we reached airport just 2 hrs before the departure time. That day the security queue was few kms long and we almost missed our flight. You should always drop passengers at airport 3 hrs before departure. 3. Due to a hurricane in North sea, we were not taken to Aarhus on the Day 2 and then onward to Stavanger by road/sea and missed the sight seeing completely on the Day 3. We should have been compensated with some other sightseeing in other locations as time was sufficient and on a few days there were plenty of free time. This was a little disappointing. 4. Tour Director Andre was fantastic with his involvement, interaction and guidance. Would be happy to travel with him again in the coming years. 5. But Tour Director Mercedes - starting from Stockholm To Helsinki - was not upto mark on her job capabilities. Her English speaking was extremely poor, she was not much involved with the group and guidance was poor. Also her knowledge was found to be poor atleast from her English narrations. Hope you will take steps to improve the above. Look forward to travel with Europamundo again in some other European locations in the coming years. Thank You All the best