I am planning a trip by motorcycle to Helsinki next summer and hope to travel through the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania Russia etc. Does anyone have experience of these countries or should I forget the whole idea?
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Watch "Long Way Round" first before planning Russia....... : )
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Spent some time in Leningrad / St Petersburg in the early nineties. Lots to see, but i don't know how easy it would be to get you and your bike in and out again. You might need visas. Also, when it was the Soviet Union, there was no requirement for car insurance, i don't know if that's changed in Russia and the Baltic States, but watch out!
St Petersburg is a proper grand city, with proper city buildings which make you stop and gawp like the Finland Station, Winter Palace and the big Cathredral (can't remember the name, but it's by the Astoria). Recommend a trip to the old Imperial palaces on the Baltic, Petrodvets and other which i can't remember the name of right now. Bit of a contrast, at least they were then. Probably TsarWorld or something now.
HTH
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Helsinki is a fantastic city, in fact I really like Finland generally. The scenary is superb, people are friendly and it's incredibly clean. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are also European Union so getting in is relatively straightforward and visa free, just check that your bike insurance company covers you as certainly up 'til a few years ago there were concerns about crime, but I've not been to these countries since their ascession to the EU.
Russia is a different matter. The visa process is annoyingly complicated and long. There are agencies which will do the visa application for you, but they are relatively expensive (120 quid or so for a tourist visa). The infrastructure in northern Russia, once you're away from the glitz of St Petersburg, is virtually non-existant and you have to plan any trip extremely carefully. Firstly to make sure the places you want to stop at actually have hotels and secondly because you have to declare on your visa application which route you are going to take. I would not recommend camping and when planning your route, take into account that progress on Russian roads can be very slow and nerve racking.
When you are there you have to register with the police in the cities you stay in. If you don't, you can be fined either by Russian plodding pulling you over (and yes, they do target foreigners) or at the border when leaving the country. Take US dollars with you and if stopped by plod, 50 dollars for speeding or not registering should see you on your way. If anything happens, e.g. road accident, theft, go straight to the British Consulate in St. Petersburg not the local police as they will lock you up and you will need to bribe your way out.
I'm sorry if this sounds disheartening but I spend a lot of time in Russia and if you don't know the place it can be a real culture shock, especially outside the big cities. Having said that, Russia is home to some magnificent sights e.g. the unique city of St Petersburg, but if you want to go there I would recommend arranging a local guide.
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SjB wrote a great essay about driving in Russia some months ago if you care to search for it.
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My Geography is a bit hazy but, having read the above I can say that I thing you can get from UK to Helsinki without avtually going thru the Soviet Union ie ferry from Tallin. Perhaps your local library has copies copies of the relevant Rought Guides to the former Soviet states. You could even go on a short recce with Mr O'Leary's airline!
Hard work pays off in the future - Laziness pays off now!
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This any help ?
www.directferries.co.uk/routes.htm
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I've done a fair stretch of this journey and as stated you don't need to pass through russia - you can go straight from Poland into southern lithuania then up through Latvia into estonia. Although i was on public transport the road seemed of an reasonable standard.
A slightly different route that may be of more interest (well to me anyway!) would be to get a ferry over to norway then go up and over the top of Norway and Sweden and down through Finland to Helsinki.
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