The best deals in Eastern Europe: Russia, Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine
A trip to Eastern Europe
As will be? Of course you are not the typical tourist looking for the typical things. Eastern Europe must be understood correctly in order not to get what you do not want. Nothing especially romantic, no tall skyscrapers or crowded trendy shopping malls full of posh people looking for the latest trend. Although these countries are developing strongly, there is still a long way to go before reaching the economic level of the European Union. In any case, the conflictive recent history has left many things behind and the architecture is going to be admired in a different way, since some of the buildings that stand there have suffered wars. The effort to bring out those countries without sufficient resources leaves contrasting cities. This is definitely the word that you will utter in almost every city you visit.
1 week trip The best deals in Eastern Europe
In this case, since we are going to focus only on the easternmost part of Eastern Europe, a good alternative route would be to visit the capitals Moscow in Russia, Minsk in Belarus and kyiv in Ukraine. For this trip we are going to leave the Baltic countries behind as there is not enough time to reach the region if you want to make a proper visit to the great Moscow. The distances are long, and although you could do this route by train, perhaps the most efficient way given the little time you have is to take a plane. Low cost flights are not very developed in this region, so you will probably need to use regular carriers.
2 week trip Best deals in Eastern Europe
If you are looking for a longer trip, which I highly recommend, the possibilities are quite extensive, since you will have time to visit Saint Petersburg, the second most touristic city in Russia, Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, and Riga, the capital of Latvia. The way this route should be built is by starting from Moscow and taking a train or plane to St. Petersburg to start with old Russia. After that I would recommend a rail pass which would take you to Tallinn going west, Riga going further west and then down towards Minsk and then to the capital of Ukraine kyiv. Finally, a flight to Moscow could be a good option. You can do the entire route by train if you like this type of trip and enjoy the views from the window.
3 week trip Best deals in Eastern Europe
That would be the case for someone with a good boss, which opens up even more possibilities. In any case, the region is very large and to fully explore it would require a full month or even more. In any case, the cities I would add are Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, and L’vov, a tourist city in Ukraine. To be honest, he would not add more cities and would simply spend more time on the ones already mentioned in the two-week itinerary. A good way to organize the route is to add Vilnius on the way between Riga and Minsk, and then head to L’vov before visiting Kyiv. As before, the train is probably the best option, but you can combine the plane to cover the longest distances.
4 week trip The best deals in Eastern Europe
That is a real opportunity to get to know all these countries better than with any other option. I think that knowing the capitals of the Baltic region is enough, but in Belarus a visit to Brest-Litovsk would be recommended. Just add it to the 3 week itinerary between Minsk and L’vov. He would then spend these extra days visiting Russian cities, especially Yekaterinburg and Kazan. If you have more time, it should definitely be to other Russian cities that are further east. On this trip, it is strongly recommended to use the plane for the longer distances to Kazan and Yekaterinburg, while the rest of the route can be covered with a rail pass.
And the accommodation?
Accommodation in the region is quite cheap, but you can get it at a 70-95% discount if you use travel certificates. Some places try to make you pay to get them but from my point of view this should be illegal as they can get them for free. In any case, there are a few other places where travel certificates for hotel stays are offered free of charge, for example by simply checking in anywhere for free. What are these places then?
