Latvia
Beach chalets
If you like your beaches wild, western Latvia’s “steep coast”, close to the village of Jūrkalne, 200km west of Riga, should be on your list. With pale bluffs up to 20 metres high, it offers excellent photographic opportunities, walks with great views and an experience of untamed nature. There are a few wooden holidays chalets along this coast – at Ceriņi, visitors are left in blissful isolation, but firewood and drinking water are supplied.
From €35 for chalet for two, €45 for a four-berth and €60 for a seven-berth. jurkalnesstavkrasts.lv. Ryanair flies to Riga from Edinburgh, East Midlands and London; British Airways from Gatwick, Glasgow and Manchester
Soviet-era spa
An easy 30-minute drive from Riga, the resort of Jūrmala has sandy beaches, pine tree forests and Soviet-era sanatoriums. This was the spa capital of the Baltics, where Soviet generals and officials would recharge, enjoying the salty air, mineral-rich waters and therapeutic mud. Architecturally, the sanatorium to see is Vaivari, resembling a beached ship. Jūrmala City Museum (free) showcases the leisure-scene heyday, with an impressive collection of retro swimwear. Stay at Parus, a traditional old wooden villa near the beach.
Doubles from €50 including breakfast, parus.lv. Flights as previous
Quick GuideBaltic beach holidays
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Climate and sea temperature in the Baltic
Summer temperatures in much of the Baltic region are similar to those of England, with average highs of 20-23C in July and August. But winter and spring, even in the more southerly and westerly locations mentioned here, such as Germany’s Rügen Island, are often several degrees cooler than England.
Further north and east, at say Hanko, Finland, and Pärnu, Estonia, summer temperatures are similar to those of the north of England with summer highs in the low 20s. Rainfall occurs on 10 days of the month in Pärnu on average in August and September, compared with six and seven days respectively in London. Rügen island experiences rain on nine days each month between July and December on average.
Sea temperatures
Baltic water temperatures are surprising high considering in some areas there is melting ice in spring. Sea temperatures off Rügen this month are around 24C compared with 18-19C in Newquay, Cornwall. Those taking to the beaches further east at Klaipėda in Lithuania this week can expect sea temperatures of 22C. Even at Hanko the water is normally between 17 and 22C in most summers.
Sand and sounds
Once an important Soviet naval base, the city of Liepāja is now Latvia’s capital of music. There’s Kultūrvieta Kursas Putni, an arts hub that hosts regular live music nights, while the architecturally stunning Great Amber Concert Hall is the city’s new cultural star. The downtown Fontaine Hotel is an ideal place for music fans to stay, with Elvis and Louis Fontaine-themed bedrooms, as well as apartments and a mansion sleeping 10. The 8km-long sandy beach is backed by pines and has been a popular resort since the 1860s.
Budget double from €30, doubles from €55 room-only, fontaine.lv.Flights as previous
Lithuania
Riverside retreat
Palanga, hugging the Baltic Sea, morphed from glamorous 19th-century retreat to model Soviet resort to what it is today: a busy seaside town crammed with holidaymakers and open-air cafes. The crowds can be escaped by heading inland for 20 minutes to the rustic Vienkiemis homestead. This is a bucolic riverside spot, where visitors sleep in a 165-year-old wooden granary barn, and can relax in the riverbank log cabin sauna before tucking into traditional Lithuanian cuisine in the tavern.
Available from 1 June to 15 September, doubles from €35, excluding breakfast (€5), vienkiemis.lt/en/barn. WizzAir flies from Luton to Palanga
Coastal cycling
What Lithuania lacks in dedicated bicycle lanes it makes up for with quiet backcountry roads, swathes of flat land and scenic coastal landscapes – making it perfect for cyclists. UTracks has a new, self-guided eight-day cycle tour, riding between 33 and 60km a day, setting off from (and finishing in) the seaside town of Klaipėda and using the country’s first signposted trail, the Seaside Cycle Route, towards Nida on the Curonian Spit. The itinerary allows for time to swim in the sea, or to walk, cycle or canoe the coast.
From £650pp for departures until early September with B&B accommodation, excluding flights, utracks.com. Flights as previous
Magic Mann
The old fishing settlement of Nida, on the Curonian Spit, is the westernmost point of Lithuania, close to the border of Russian exclave Kaliningrad. The scenery is one of steep sand dunes, gingerbread houses and sea views, both inspirational and dramatic. Famously, Thomas Mann, the Nobel prize-winning German author of The Magic Mountain, had a summerhouse here where he’d holiday with his family in the early 1930s. It is now a museum in his honour (£2.20 entry). Nida Campsite, next to the stone-age settlement of Five Hills and near the 52-metre-high Parnidis sand dune, has an indoor swimming pool, sauna and bicycles to rent (£10 a day).
Pitch from €5, plus from €3.50 adult, €2 child, kempingas.lt. Flights as previous
Germany
Sleep on the beach
Unlike a windbreaker or a towel, a German strandkorb (a wicker basket beach chair with a hood) won’t blow away. You can even sleep in a modern-style roomy version on the Baltic beach at Eckernförde (there are toilets at the nearby harbour). It might be a bit unnerving at first but in the morning you can roll from bed to sand within seconds.
Strandkorbs from around €50 for two, ostseebad-eckernfoerde.de (seasonal, April to September). Ryanair flies to Hamburg from Edinburgh, Manchester and Stansted; easyJet from Edinburgh, Manchester and Gatwick; BA flies from Heathrow
Island hopping
On Rügen, Germany’s largest island, is the country’s smallest national park, Jasmund which has chalky white cliffs, ancient beech forests and walking and cycling trails. Visitors can sleep in a thatched cottage at family-run Hotel Baumhaus Hagen, close to the park, and dine in its traditional German restaurant. A spotlight has shone on Rügen recently as the huge Prora beach hotel (built by Hitler but never completed – it is almost three miles long and was intended to host 20,000) is controversially set to open as a holiday resort. Trains from Berlin and Hamburg connect Binz, the largest seaside resort on Rügen, both taking around four hours.
Doubles from €89 B&B in summer, baumhaus-hagen.de. Flights as previous
Prized peninsula
On the coast of northern Germany, Lübeck – a Unesco world heritage site – is famous for its Hanseatic merchant houses, river views and, most of all, its marzipan. But nature lovers will not want to miss the Priwall peninsula, a 40-minute drive north-east. Wedged between the Baltic Sea and the Trave river, sand dunes are flanked by woodland, lyme grass and sea buckthorn, and there are wetlands dotted with small ponds that are home to frogs, grass snakes and dragonflies. Stay at Arnimsruh Hotel Garni in Lübeck, a family-run hotel that sits on the outskirts of the town, surrounded by linden trees.
Doubles from €77 B&B, hotel-luebeck.de. Lübeck is a 40-minute train ride from Hamburg. Flights as previous
Russia
Exclave excursion
Immanuel Kant’s hometown, a Prussian then German fortress city built by the Teutonic knights (and known for nearly 700 years as Königsberg), the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad offers unorthodox sightseeing. Sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, it has attractions including the Svetlogorsk resort with pine forests and villas, Königsberg Cathedral and plenty of brutalist Soviet architecture. Baltic Holidays has a four-day guided break including a full-day sightseeing and a day trip to either Baltiysk military city, home to the Russian Navy’s Baltic fleet, or Svetlogorsk.
From €479 excluding flights, balticholidays.com. There are no direct flights to Kaliningrad from the UK; Air Baltic, LOT and Aeroflot fly via other cities
Beach gem
If you’ve been dazzled by the Amber Room at Catherine Palace (just outside St Petersburg), you’ll know just how adored fossilised tree resin is in Russia, where it can be found decorating religious icons, jewellery and figurines. The Kaliningrad region is home to 90% of the world’s amber deposits, and Yantarny, an hour’s drive west of Kaliningrad, has white sand beaches on the Baltic Sea and the chance to visit the Kaliningrad Amber Factory and Museum. The museum is in a 19th-century red brick fortress tower on the shore of Verkhneye Lake and has a new observation deck, interactive exhibitions and amber throne.
Flights as previous
Finland
Spa appeal
A Russian spa town in the 19th century, Hanko is on a peninsula at Finland’s southernmost point. Its spa heritage lives on, and at Itämeren Portti (Baltic Gate) harbour there are two private waterside saunas to rent (the entire sauna, for up to six people, costs £89 for two hours). One of the best places to stay is the 19th-century Maija Villa, with sea-view rooms, traditional wood-heated sauna and breakfast served on the terrace in the villa’s lovely garden.
Doubles from €110 B&B, villamaija.fi. British Airways, Finnair and Norwegian Air fly to Helsinki from Heathrow and Gatwick
Pitch and pedal
Finland can be eye-wateringly expensive, but one way of keeping within your budget is to camp. Off the south-west coast is Ruissalo Island, dotted with ancient oak forests, 19th-century villas and sandy beaches – ideal for a summer holiday. Ruissalo Camping is on the outermost tip of the island, and in the summer the emphasis here is on cycling, volleyball and badminton. Come winter, some brave souls go straight from the saunas into the sea. This is also an ideal spot to start or finish Finland’s 150-mile Archipelago Trail cycle route.
€18 per tent, €5 per adult, visitturku.fi/ruissalocamping. Flights as previous
Kayak and camp
Between Helsinki and Tallinn, Estonia, is the Gulf of Finland, the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea (extending all the way to St Petersburg in Russia), containing hundreds of islets. Easily accessible from the Finnish capital, and with a network of camping locations, the islands are a popular weekend retreat from the city in summer. The area is also ideal for a sea kayak adventure. Much Better Adventures has two full days of guided sea kayaking, including one night camping on a remote island and one night in a seaside hotel.
From £410 excluding flights, available May, August and Sept, muchbetteradventures.com. Flights as previous
Estonia
Tallinn trip
Haapsalu, just over an hour’s drive from Tallinn, makes for an unusual seaside city break on Estonia’s west coast. Once popular with Russian aristocracy, as well as the composer Tchaikovsky, today it is a place of idiosyncratic museums: the Museum of the Coastal Swedes, and the Laanemaa Museum, showcasing spa culture from 1825. Best of all is the Railway and Communications Museum, close to Paralepa beach, with its fine collection of vintage travel posters. Stay at Ritta, a dinky wooden “guest apartment”, set in a pretty garden and close to the old town.
Double €30, two-bedroom suite with kitchenette €50, visitestonia.com/en/guest-apartment-ritta. Ryanair flies to Tallinn from Edinburgh and Stansted, easyJet from Gatwick and Wizz Air from Luton
Resort break
In the summer months Estonians flock to Pärnu (an hour south of Haapsalu) to flop on a white sandy beach backed by pastel-painted wooden houses. But this is also a good spot for a family holiday given the local beach playground, alpaca farm, e-bike rental options and beachside mini-golf. Stay at the Konse Motel and Caravan Camping on the Pärnu river, with the beach a 10-minute walk away.
Doubles from €60 B&B, tent €12 plus €2pp, konse.ee. Flights as previous
Gastronomic getaway
Muhu, an island connected to the mainland by ferry, is a place of folklore, pagan tombstones and windmills. It is also home to one of the country’s most notable restaurants: Alexander (three-course daily changing menu €70pp), specialising in Nordic cuisine. Foodies will also enjoy a trips to Nautse Mihkli, an atmospheric thatched-cottage farm offering cookery courses and workshops.
Three-course cooking workshop-dinner €75pp, two-course daytime cooking workshop €55, three-course chef’s dinner €38, doubles from €40 room-only, family room for four €100, nautsemihkli.ee; flights as previous
Poland
Naturalists’ delight
Close to the German border, Wolin national park has 30 miles of walking trailsand a coastline fringed by sea buckthorn-covered cliffs. The Świna delta is a naturalist’s delight, too, with muddy islandsdotted with sea rocket, prickly saltwort and beech woods. Birdwatchers might spot the recently reintroduced eagle owl, the white-tailed eagle and red-breasted flycatcher. There are also new wood cabins to stay in close to the park.
Four-berth cabin from £33, domkiletniskowewiselka.pl. Ryanair flies to Szczecin from Edinburgh, Liverpool and Stansted
White sand beaches
After a long winter, Poles from miles around head en masse to the white sand beaches around Łeba (a two-hour drive from Gdańsk). Nature lovers are better served, though, at Słowiński national park, a 10-minute drive from Łeba. This is where seaside lakes, peat bogs, meadows and forests meet spits and dunes. It is a seaside delight for photographers.
Entrance to the park is £1.50, bike rental £8 a day. Tent pitches £3 at Camping Morski 21. Ryanair and WizzAir fly to Gdańsk from various UK airports
Go to Hel
The little town of Hel (population 3,900) squats on a narrow, 20-mile sandbank separating the Bay of Puck from the Baltic Sea. It’s a quirky spot, with a Fisheries Museum, a historic lighthouse, fishermen’s cottages and, come summer, a resort-like atmosphere. Most visitors arrive on the ferry from Gdańsk. Modern Guesthouse Foka is a five-minute walk from the sea, with lighthouse views and a barbecue garden.
Doubles £30 in high season, from £7 in low season, fokapokoje.pl. Flights as previous
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