Vilnius was the first stop in my weekend in the Baltic States. I had been to Tallinn, Estonia before and would pass through it on my way back to Helsinki the next day.
I reached Helsinki airport early morning for my flight AY1101 to Vilnius. It was my first flight on Oneworld carrier Finnair. I only had my backpack with me and I had checked in online and had the mobile boarding pass, so I just went through security check and headed to the gate. The flight was booked as Finnair and operated by N°rra (Nordic Regional Airlines).
Boarding was by stairs and it was nice to have the exit row seat, even for this short flight. I had coffee onboard. We flew past Riga where I would be the next day and soon we were descending towards Vilnius.
We landed on time and I got out of the airport and took the city bus from the airport into town. I got down off at Stotis and walked from there towards the Monument to Grand Duke Gediminas.
I made it just in time to join the Old Town Free Tour 🔗 at 10:30 AM. It was a great way to spend about 3 hours seeing Vilnius.
After the tour, I walked back to Cathedral Square and spent some time there, but somehow I missed seeing the Miracle Tile.
I had booked the 2:30 PM service on LuxExpress from Vilnius to Riga so I bid the old town of Vilnius farewell and walked to the Vilnius bus station.
I got something to eat at one of the small shops there and boarded the bus to Riga. The LuxExpress bus was comfortable and there was seat-back entertainment.
Watching the beautiful countryside go by, I rested a little on my way. I was going to meet a friend from work at Riga who was going to get there from Tallinn. He was going to see Tallinn and we had scheduled our arrival in Riga around the same time.
We met at the Riga bus station and then walked to the Clarion Collection Hotel Valdemars. The hotel was nice and not too far from the old town / city center. I had booked using my Nordic Choice points.
They also had an evening meal included with the room. Guests also had access to the hotel’s steam room which was a great place to relax and unwind. The evening meal was a multi-course dinner.
The room was comfortable and bathroom was clean and spacious. Breakfast the following morning was also nice. Unfortunately it looks like this hotel is now closed.
🚍 Local bus from airport into town
🚍 Lux Express to Riga
🛏️ Clarion Collection Hotel Valdemars