Travel in state Baltic

Between Estonia and Lithuania lies the unspoilt parkland of Latvia.

Jun 12, 2024 • 10 min read

airBaltic and Bulgaria Air have initiated a codeshare partnership effective from May 8, 2024, enhancing travel options between Latvia and Bulgaria and extending across Europe.

On 7 June 2023, trams ran down Leith Walk for the first time in 67 years, opening up parts of Edinburgh little trammelled by visitors. The new 2.91-mile, eight-stop route sweeps north from Edinburgh’s heart to meet the Firth of Forth at the docks district of Leith, then turns west to reach its end at Newhaven’s historic harbour. The arrival of the trams has injected life along the way: Leith Walk’s pavements have been widened, and new cafes, bars and restaurants are drawing in locals and travellers alike.

Warsaw has just moved closer to Munich, Berlin nudged towards Paris, and Aachen slipped nearer to Salzburg. These are just three examples of city pairs that are newly linked, as of this week, by direct night trains. None of these city pairs currently has direct daytime trains, so the overnight options create a web of opportunities. As always in December, rail operators across Europe are introducing new schedules, along the way creating tantalising links where none existed before.

Tartu 2024 will be the main event in Estonia next year, as a quarter of the country participates in the European Capital of Culture initiative, hosting a wide array of exhibitions, installations, festivals, musical, dance and theatrical performances, community events and much more.

UNESCO has added 42 World Heritage Sites to its list of the planet’s natural and cultural sights worth special protection — the biggest group of new entries in more than two decades. The European listings alone span the mighty and the minute, from a gorge-carved landscape in Greece to a charmingly vintage planetarium in the Netherlands.

The fascination with theNorthern Lights dates as far back as the beginning of civilization, with the dancing waves of coloured light depicted in French cave paintings as old as 30,000 BC. Typically, they’re only seen in the northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere, near the Arctic Circle, on dark, clear autumn and winter nights. The lights are dependent on unpredictable solar flares ejecting charged particles that collide with gases in the atmosphere, so any trip to see the Northern Lights runs the risk of missing out on the spectacle altogether.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania might just be the next big hiking destinations.

The Riga Aviation Forum is organized by the Latvian Aviation Association.

The modernization initiative for electrical supply infrastructure at Riga Airport encompasses an upgrade of the existing 10-kilovolt electrical grid to a more robust 20-kilovolt network. Additionally, the project will introduce a solar panel array atop various airport structures to facilitate the generation of renewable energy.

Medieval yet modern, the intriguing national capitals of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania make some of the best small-city breaks in Europe. United by geography and a common history, yet proudly unique, they combine tightly packed, picturesque old towns with first-class museums, hip neighbourhoods, stylish bars and a burgeoning food scene. As all three countries celebrate 100 years of independence in 2018, here is our first-timer's guide to the highlights of Tallinn, Rīga and Vilnius.