Private, unhurried journeys across Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. Each one built by a guide who lives here, for one party at a time.
openBaltics is what happens when one person cares a little too much about the Baltic Sea region and decides to make it everyone's problem. No committees, no rigid packages: just private, tailor-made journeys through Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland, shaped around your pace and interests, with a personal grudge against every overpriced amber shop between Vilnius and Tallinn.
Explore medieval old towns, Baltic coastlines, Finnish lakes, local food, nature and the complex history of Northern Europe. From Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn to Kraków, Warsaw, Helsinki and the countryside in between, we arrange the route, hotels, transportation, guides and experiences.
Let’s start somewhere different.
The first few, word for word, each linked to where it was posted. If you've traveled with us, add yours. It helps the next person decide.
See every review on“Thank you for the help with our Baltic trip, was great, hotel choice was spot on! We hope to come back one day!”
“Thank you the team for putting a wonderful trip! We could not do this without you. My wife was in awww so the biggest thing was ticked!”
“Was an amazing trip to Lithuania, thank you for planning it so fast! All went smooth.”
Three ways in: our signature journeys, a trip designed around you, or the answers to plan it.
Three to eight days, one guide, no handoffs. The full Baltic story at a reading pace.
Browse toursTell us roughly when, roughly who, and what you actually like. We draw the rest.
Start planning
Honest answers on cost, how many days you need, and getting around without a car.
Read the guidesMidsummer, the islands and the long coast, at the one time of year the Baltics hardly get dark. Four routes we run between May and September.
Prices shown in USD for reference. You're billed in EUR.
The Christmas markets of Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn, one city at a time or all three in a week. Four routes for November to January, and the dates go early.
Prices shown in USD for reference. You're billed in EUR.
Four we are proud of that no filter will surface, because you would have to already know they existed.
Your own keys and a route book, out of Riga and back to it. Cape Kolka where two seas collide, a Soviet naval city that was never printed on a map, and Rundāle at opening before the coaches arrive from the capital.
See the itineraryTwo dawns in a wildlife hide with a working biologist who tells you the real odds before you book. Bears are an Estonian proposition, wolves are one or two sightings in ten mornings, and the September migration is the reason to come.
See the itineraryA UNESCO smoke sauna heated for seven hours with no chimney, in a farmhouse yard in Estonia's deep south. Add the Seto kingdom and its polyphonic singing, and the Old Believers growing onions in long red barns on Lake Peipus.
See the itineraryThe half-century nobody puts on a postcard, read through the buildings it left behind: a KGB cell block in Vilnius, a closed naval port at Karosta, and the submarine base at Paldiski that stayed off the map until 1994.
See the itineraryNothing here is booked from a shelf. Every itinerary is costed by hand for your dates and your party, which is why the process has four steps and not a checkout button.
A paragraph is enough. Roughly when, roughly how many, and what you actually like. You do not need to know the route yet, and most people do not. If you already do, start from any itinerary and we work from there.
Five minutesA named guide, real hotels held on option, a day-by-day you can read. Priced for your party size, not a brochure average, and yours to change as many times as you like. Most go through two or three drafts. That is the normal number, not a sign anything went wrong.
Back within two working daysThe deposit confirms your guide and your rooms. The balance is due 60 days before you travel, and your money is protected under EU Directive 2015/2302.
Balance 60 days outThe guide who meets you lives in the city you land in, and the person who drew the trip stays reachable for all of it. Nobody hands you to a local agency at the airport.
The part you came forOr write to [email protected]. The same person reads both.
Some places you visit. Others you overhear, slowly.
Setomaa · EstoniaEveryone tells you what's included. Here's what's excluded, on purpose.
You know the one. We drive past it. If you want amber, we take you to the atelier where it is cut, and you meet the person who cut it.
If locals don't eat there, neither do we. Your guide books the places he takes his own family, which sometimes means a canteen and sometimes means booking six weeks out.
We'll get you the same view an hour earlier, alone, and you can stay as long as it holds you.
Every trip we run is private. Your party, one car, and one guide-driver who stays with you across all three borders rather than handing you on at each one.
Staged for people who leave the next morning. If you want music, we find out who is actually playing that week and get you in.
A free day is a good day when you chose it, and there are two on most of our routes. What we won't do is pad a thin itinerary with one and call it a feature.
What is left is the list we do publish, and it is shorter than most. Every line on it is something we would do on our own holiday.
Every trip we run is private to one party and shaped around you: the pace, the rooms, the table you sit at. Send us a sketch of what you have in mind, and the guide who would lead it replies in person. (Yes, an actual person. Usually the founder.)
A personal reply within one working day, and a private, costed itinerary within two. Business hours, EET (7 hours ahead of New York).
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Seven days is the comfortable minimum for the classic Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn route with countryside stops between them. Ten to twelve days lets you slow down and add the Curonian Spit, the Latvian coast, or the Estonian islands. We also run tours in Poland, which can extend a trip to two or three weeks.
May to September is the prime season, with long daylight, mild weather and every site open. June and July bring the famous white nights. September is quieter and golden. Winter is cold and dark but rewards visitors with Christmas markets and snow-covered old towns.
Yes. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland are all EU and NATO members with low crime rates and excellent infrastructure. They are consistently ranked among the safer countries in Europe for travelers.
Yes. Every openBaltics itinerary is private, run just for your party, on your own dates and at your own pace. Nothing is shared with strangers.
Yes. One founder plans every route, and local guides who live in each country run them. It means slower growth and fewer tours, and it also means the person who designed your trip is the person answering your email, usually embarrassingly fast.
By private vehicle with a single guide-driver who handles every border crossing, so you never change guides or carry luggage between transfers. All our destinations are in the EU Schengen area, so crossings add no delay. The Tallinn to Helsinki leg uses a fast ferry (about two hours).
Either works. Each country stands on its own for a three to five day trip, and we run dedicated itineraries for Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland as well as combined multi-country routes.
Most guests fly into Warsaw, Helsinki, or Vilnius. Warsaw and Helsinki have direct or one-stop connections from most major North American airports, and Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn are a short connection from any European hub. For multi-country trips we design the route to start and end at a major airport, so you never have to backtrack.
All four countries are EU and NATO members, and daily life here is entirely normal: cafés open, festivals run through the summer, streets are quiet at night. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland consistently rank among Europe's safer destinations. None of our routes go near the border areas. Your guide is a local too, and would be the first to adjust an itinerary if that ever changed.
Yes, widely. Anyone under 45 speaks it comfortably, and everyone working in tourism does. Your guide handles the rest: menus, directions, small talk with locals, wherever English runs out.
US and Canadian citizens do not need a visa for stays of up to 90 days. The EU is phasing in new entry systems, EES border registration and ETIAS travel authorization, for visitors from visa-exempt countries, so it is worth checking the current requirement against official EU sources before you fly. We keep this answer current and will flag anything new when you book.
Cards are accepted almost everywhere, including small cafés and market stalls. Four of the five countries use the euro, but Poland uses the złoty, so budget separately if your trip crosses the border. Tipping around 10 percent is appreciated but not expected. Most US and Canadian phone plans do not cover the region, so an eSIM or a local prepaid SIM is the easiest way to stay connected.
Yes. We can trace your family's ancestral village and build a trip around it, working with a genealogist on Lithuanian and Polish archives to piece together the record before you arrive.
openBaltics was started in 2024 by Thomas Bart, after more than a decade inside the region's travel industry, tired of watching the Baltics sold badly by companies that don't live here.
Every itinerary you see is planned by me, and run with local guides who live in the country you're visiting. I never resell other companies' tours: every itinerary here is ours, run by us. When you write in, I'm the one who answers. There is no 'my colleague will get back to you.' There is no colleague.
Thinking about customising a trip, or just wondering whether the Baltics are right for you at all? Ask. We are happy to help either way, and there is nothing to pay to find out.
It's not flashy, but we're one of the few Baltic planners that will actually pick up the phone.
+370 603 13791Mon to Fri, 09:00 to 18:00 EETWrite as much or as little as you like. Long emails are welcome here.
[email protected]Replies within one working dayOpen the message panel and send a quick question without leaving the page.
A person answers, not a bot
We are building the openBaltics app: your day-by-day itinerary, your guide's number, pickup times and maps, all of it working with no signal and no roaming bill.
Not live yet. These start working the day we ship.
Free with every openBaltics trip, because charging you for the itinerary you already bought would be strange. iOS and Android.
