LUXURY COACH THROUGH RUSSIA, ESTONIA, LATVIA AND LITHUANIA

Far Horizons has a 27-day fully-escorted luxury coach tour through Russia and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in June of next year, with the added benefit of unhurried 2- and 3-night stays at many places en-route.

Limited to 16-participants, it includes eleven cities and towns in Russia and a boat ride on the Volga River, and sixteen cities and towns in the Baltic States.

Highlights include Moscow and St Petersburg (3-nights in each,) as well as Vladimir, Suzdal, Kostroma and Yaroslavl – Russia’s “open air museums” with their unique 12th to18th century monuments and architecture.

In Estonia there’s a 2-night stay in the historic Kalvi Castle that’s now a classic hotel set within 2000ha of natural parklands, a museum of rural wooden buildings, and towns with buildings dating back to the 14th century.

Latvia’s Gauja Valley (the “Switzerland of Latvia”) and the country’s capital Riga with such highlights as the Old Town’s cobbled streets, 17th century buildings and the historic hangars in which the Graf Zeppelin airships were built pre-WWI, are highlights here, with a 2-night stay in Riga.

Lithuania’s tourist resort of Palanga with its 10km of sandy beaches and the 20,000 pieces of natural and carved amber in a unique Amber Museum in a 19th century palace are features here – and there are visits to Klaipeda and the Theatre balcony from which Hitler proclaimed Lithuania’s incorporation into Germany in 1939, and the infamous Nazi ‘death camp’ of Paneriai.

Prices start from $25,550pp twin-share ex-Sydney, including return air and taxes, all meals, excursions, entries, local guides and a Far Horizons tour escort; phone 1800 083 141 or check out www.farhorizons.com.au