This is for anyone who already been on this tour to give us some feedback.Since this is a new tour there is not much info

I did Moscow - Stockholm and it was AWESOME. I had such a great time. This tour is very organized in Russia and you hardly have any free time if you do the optionals, but it's a great way to see the best parts of the cities. Hotels in Russia are horrible. Especially in Saint Petersburg, but you deal with it. You have local guides in Moscow and and Saint Petersburg and they are really knowledgeble and passionate about telling you the history of Russia.
Helsinki was my favorite place on the tour. I did the Tallinn optional and that was great. The boat was very rocky though and some people got sick on it. So if you have motion sickness, make sure to take some medicine. You hardly have any time in Stockholm at all. The boat comes in from Finland at 9 am and you are immediately taken to the Town Hall tour, after that to the changing of the guards, after that to the Vasa museum, leaving you about 2 hours or so of free time in the city before you are taken to the hotel to have dinner and meet the people who are starting in Stockholm. If you going all the way to Copenhagen, you'll have free day in the city the next day.
In summary, I loved this tour. And would totally do it again in a heartbeat. I am going back to do Stockholm to Denmark part in September. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask.

Hey all,

I started in Riga last month & went right thru to Copenhagen(finished 14/7). Had a blast and would be happy to give any specific info you'd like to know.

Huey

Just got back from doing Russia and the Baltics (Riga to Stockholm). I agree it was an AWESOME trip. Natka1 is right on the mark about her eval on this tour. I would encourage booking an extra day at Stockholm, if you can't continue on to Copenhagen. Unfortunately, we Americans can't get more than 2 weeks off at a time. I would have loved to continue on the tour. Word of advice: bring cards and a lot of patience. We were stuck at the Russian border for 6 1/2 hours. If you're not the patient type then start from Moscow. We still had a blast, bonding at the border. When you start at Moscow, it's harder to bond with those who started at Riga. In the end, I would still start at Riga. Oh, for you guys out there, be careful of scams. A bartender in Riga asked one guy on our trip if he would buy a drink for two girls. He didn't think anything of it, and agreed. It cost him 90 Lats, roughly $180 USD.

Thanks for the feedback! I'm excited for my tour next week! What's the weather like? I looked online yet it has every day with "chance of showers and mid 60F".... is that right? what did you wear both at night and during the day? Is any of the night life fancy?

I did just the Scandinavia half of the trip (I believe I joined as Clemmie left posibly)
The weather was beautiful, it only rained one day (when we were in Oslo), it was never humid, I would say mid 20's to 30"s.
Yes there was always a chance for rain as we went but we relly lucked out.
The scenery was spectacular in Norway, just don't worry about the higher prices in Scandinavia and enjoy the time, I did it was great. You have time and get to bond with your fellow new recruits to the tour and the many people that stay from the Russian half. I too would definately go again.
I also did all the optionals if you have any questions.

How rough is the white water rapids optional excursion?

I haven't been on the tour yet. I went to the Russia part of this tour in June and since I am going to Scandi next week, I got a lot of advice on this from my friends who did the whole tour. I was told that the rafting is very very short. Actually the term one guy used is it's "lame". You also have to pass some kind of swimming test before they let you do this.

quote:

Originally posted by Tricia76:
How rough is the white water rapids optional excursion?

I loved the whitewater rafting! Our guide was rather dictatorship like (she was mean!!), but the rapids themselves were intense! Category 3-4 rapids. This was my 4th time rafting, and I had a great time. Yes, the rafting itself was only about 2hrs, but you know that when you sign up for it. Alternatively, you could stay behind in Voss, but my friends who did so were so bored. There really is nothing to do in that town.
As for the swimming test - essentially you jump off a 'cliff' into the rapids and swim for your boat. Everyone passed :-)

I did this tour in June/July 2008 with Huey8. (hey Huey!)

The first piece of advice I would give to anyone thinking of doing this tour is: DO IT!

Secondly, if you can, definitely book all the way through to Denmark because it sucks saying goodbye to your new friends in Sweden when you know they're still traveling together for another week or so.

Also if you can, start in Riga. Even though everything was shut the days I was there because of a public holiday, I still found it to be a really interesting place.

The weather was great the time that I went, not too hot or too cold and it didn't rain at all that I can remember so it's a good time to go.

I'm doing the Moscow to Copenhagen tour which starts on Sept 3rd 2009. Was just wondering from anybody who's already done any of the tour which optional activities you rated and which would be best to skip?

Hey guys, I'm going to be doing the Russia & Scandinavia tour starting from Moscow on the 27th of August. I'm travelling by myself and after reading some of your comments i'm hoping it wont be too hard to "bond" with the group- what do you think? would have loved to start in Riga but i'd miss my brother's wedding- the reason why i'm in europe in the first place lol
Btw was wondering what optional activities you'd recommend?
Cheers :-D

Hi everyone,

I just want to check.. does this mean the 10 day Scandinavia trip that begins in Stockholm on 22 August is actually joining in with a tour that started in Russia???

Thanks!

Yup, The tour that starts in Riga merges with the tour that starts in Moscow, then the tours from both Riga and Moscow merge with the tour starting in Stockholm.

Hi guys,

Just wondering what the laundry situation is like? Do the hotels have laundry service available?