Tour or DIY in Stockholm, Helsinki and Tallinn

Hi all, we are on our first Baltic cruise this year and wanted some advice please. Do people think we need a ships tour in Stockholm, Helsinki and Tallinn or are there “Hop On, Hop Off” buses that stop by the cruise terminals in these places or is it just a short walk to the main town/ attractions? Advice on all or any of these ports above would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

You will need to know what port in Stockholm your ship arrives. I'm arriving on NCL to Nynashamn and it is 60 km to Stockholm. We actually have to disembark on what is called a seawalk and the port info says it takes 1/2 hour just to have everyone walk from ship to land. ugh It is an 1 hour+ train ride to Stockholm

There seems to be Hop On/Off at all the ports you've mentioned.

Have you tried "Rick Steves Northern European Cruise Ports" book? So much information for all the ports in there. DH and I used the book in 2015, we took the ships shuttle to Helsinki and walked down the Esplanade to the Market at the port. Had some wonderful salmon soup and those little fishy"s that they cook up. Walked around the booths to see what was for sale and generally just wandered. Tallinn is an easy walk from the dock follow Rick Steves instructions and you are good to go. Stockholm depends where you are docking so you need to figure that out. If Nyashamn it won't be fun because it takes about a little over an hour either by train or shuttle to get to actual Stockholm. We were lucky we docked at Frihamnen and just followed Rick Steves instructions on how to get in by bus. Of course we took the wrong bus because we weren't paying attention, but figured it out finally. Added some adventure to our day. Go to the library and check out a copy of Rick Steves book or head to the book store and buy a copy, it's worth every penny. Have a great cruise, we are doing a second (shorter one to the Baltics) to bring our daughters and their significant others this May. Linda

Have you tried "Rick Steves Northern European Cruise Ports" book? So much information for all the ports in there. DH and I used the book in 2015, we took the ships shuttle to Helsinki and walked down the Esplanade to the Market at the port. Had some wonderful salmon soup and those little fishy"s that they cook up. Walked around the booths to see what was for sale and generally just wandered. Tallinn is an easy walk from the dock follow Rick Steves instructions and you are good to go. Stockholm depends where you are docking so you need to figure that out. If Nyashamn it won't be fun because it takes about a little over an hour either by train or shuttle to get to actual Stockholm. We were lucky we docked at Frihamnen and just followed Rick Steves instructions on how to get in by bus. Of course we took the wrong bus because we weren't paying attention, but figured it out finally. Added some adventure to our day. Go to the library and check out a copy of Rick Steves book or head to the book store and buy a copy, it's worth every penny. Have a great cruise, we are doing a second (shorter one to the Baltics) to bring our daughters and their significant others this May. Linda

Thanks Linda, very helpful information. Much appreciated.

We actually have to disembark on what is called a seawalk and the port info says it takes 1/2 hour just to have everyone walk from ship to land.

We were on a Baltic cruise in 2016 and docked at Nynashamn. It didn't take a 1/2 hour to walk the "seawalk". It is a bit of a walk but maybe 10-15 minutes tops.

Hope this helps.

<<<Karen>>>

You can buy Rick Steve’s book online from Amaz... very reasonably priced ($11) because it was published In October, 2015. The new edition won’t be available until this October. The book is huge..about 1 1/2 inches thick and covers 18 N. Ports with maps and itineraries. Will probably copy the pages that I need rather than carrying the book with me everywhere.

There are HOHO buses, but honestly the public transportation is excellent in all of the cities you've mentioned (except Tallinn, which doesn't really need it). HOHO buses are not recommended in Tallinn if you are planning on spending most of your time in the Old town, because they are restricted in where they can go. If everyone in your party is physically fit, you should just walk. If anyone has limited mobility, take a cab or pedicab to the top of Toompea Hill and walk down (do bear in mind that Tallinn is usually the day before St. Petersburg, so you might not want to push it here). If you can't walk down, there are pedicab tours that will take you all over the Old Town.

In Helsinki depending on where you dock, you might be a bit further away from the main town. We took a cab to Market Square because our cruise line (NCL) didn't run shuttles to town. You should take a shuttle if it is available, but otherwise you'll be fine with a cab. The 2/3 tram is the sightseeing tram in Helsinki and it will take you where most tourists want to go.

In Stockholm, if you dock at 167 Stadsgarden, there are HOHO boats that will hopefully run directly to Vassa as soon as you dock (you need to email he companies to confirm since early morning service is sometimes stopped by the companies). It was worth it when I went 4 years ago since they used to have a one ride ticket, but now they'd require you to buy an all day ticket and I honestly don't know if it's worth it since we didn't have any trouble using the amazing public transportation system in stockholm, and we had a 3 year old in tow. There have been previous threads about using public transport to Vasa, and you can search for them when you know where you dock. I would guess public transportation would be faster than HOHO buses/boats, but I honestly don't know since I've never taken many HOHO transportation.

+1 for the Rick Steves Guide. He will mention things on his walking tour in each city that the HO/HO guides won’t. (E.g. An ancient rune stone in Stockholm and the former KGB headquarters in Tallinn.).

In Stockholm, we took a good “pay what you want” guided walking tour for a couple of hours—mentioned in the Rick Steves book.

We were on a Baltic cruise in 2016 and docked at Nynashamn. It didn't take a 1/2 hour to walk the "seawalk". It is a bit of a walk but maybe 10-15 minutes tops.

Hope this helps.

<<<Karen>>>

Karen - thanks v helpful info. We need to pin down where our ship will dock.

+1 for the Rick Steves Guide. He will mention things on his walking tour in each city that the HO/HO guides won’t. (E.g. An ancient rune stone in Stockholm and the former KGB headquarters in Tallinn.).

 

In Stockholm, we took a good “pay what you want” guided walking tour for a couple of hours—mentioned in the Rick Steves book.

Going to get ourselves a Rick Steves guide! Thanks very much.

You will need to know what port in Stockholm your ship arrives. I'm arriving on NCL to Nynashamn and it is 60 km to Stockholm. We actually have to disembark on what is called a seawalk and the port info says it takes 1/2 hour just to have everyone walk from ship to land. ugh It is an 1 hour+ train ride to Stockholm

 

There seems to be Hop On/Off at all the ports you've mentioned.

Thanks v much. Going to have to find out where our ship will dock.

HoHo buses are generally a very poor choice when choosing method of transport.Expensive,slow and they

also do their loops which rarely takes you straight from A to B.

We were on a Baltic cruise in 2016 and docked at Nynashamn. It didn't take a 1/2 hour to walk the "seawalk". It is a bit of a walk but maybe 10-15 minutes tops.

Hope this helps.

<<<Karen>>>

Thanks Karen - very helpful we are fairly quick walkers too!

There are HOHO buses, but honestly the public transportation is excellent in all of the cities you've mentioned (except Tallinn, which doesn't really need it). HOHO buses are not recommended in Tallinn if you are planning on spending most of your time in the Old town, because they are restricted in where they can go. If everyone in your party is physically fit, you should just walk. If anyone has limited mobility, take a cab or pedicab to the top of Toompea Hill and walk down (do bear in mind that Tallinn is usually the day before St. Petersburg, so you might not want to push it here). If you can't walk down, there are pedicab tours that will take you all over the Old Town.

 

In Helsinki depending on where you dock, you might be a bit further away from the main town. We took a cab to Market Square because our cruise line (NCL) didn't run shuttles to town. You should take a shuttle if it is available, but otherwise you'll be fine with a cab. The 2/3 tram is the sightseeing tram in Helsinki and it will take you where most tourists want to go.

 

In Stockholm, if you dock at 167 Stadsgarden, there are HOHO boats that will hopefully run directly to Vassa as soon as you dock (you need to email he companies to confirm since early morning service is sometimes stopped by the companies). It was worth it when I went 4 years ago since they used to have a one ride ticket, but now they'd require you to buy an all day ticket and I honestly don't know if it's worth it since we didn't have any trouble using the amazing public transportation system in stockholm, and we had a 3 year old in tow. There have been previous threads about using public transport to Vasa, and you can search for them when you know where you dock. I would guess public transportation would be faster than HOHO buses/boats, but I honestly don't know since I've never taken many HOHO transportation.

Thanks for taking the time to give me this helpful insight - very useful as first timers in this part of the world. Thank you.

HoHo buses are generally a very poor choice when choosing method of transport.Expensive,slow and they

also do their loops which rarely takes you straight from A to B.

Thanks for this - understand the logic as we would not want to look at everything at every stop & so understand your point.

HOHO busses are good to take you to places - not so good when it comes to getting back to the ship on time - especially in very busy places like (for example) Barcelona. I will never now plan on getting HOHO buses to bring me back to the ship.

For taxis in these cities, do you use local currency or credit card?

HOHO busses are good to take you to places - not so good when it comes to getting back to the ship on time - especially in very busy places like (for example) Barcelona. I will never now plan on getting HOHO buses to bring me back to the ship.

The more I look into this the more I agree with you -thanks v much, very helpful.

HOHO busses are good to take you to places - not so good when it comes 3

to getting back to the ship on time - especially in very busy places like (for example) Barcelona.

I will never now plan on getting HOHO buses to bring me back to the ship.

For Stockholm:

Here is the route Strömma's HoHo buses use.

https://www.stromma.se/globalassets/sweden/stockholm/product_maps/hopon-hopoff_bus/hoho_map_2017_high-oct.jpg

Red sightseeing's route:

https://www.redsightseeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Stockholm-early-summer-2017.png

Most cruisers will do Vasa+Old Town and for them the HoHo buses would be a very bad choice.

The HH buses aren't as frequent as the public transport and the HH also don't use the same direct route

as the public transport.

From Vasa you can walk 5 min across Djurgårdsbron and travel with bus #76 which have a departure every 15 minutes.

From Vasa you can also walk 5-10 min to Allmänna gränd and go with Djurgårdsfärjan which departs every 15 minutes

and where the capacity is 300 passengers / departure.

For Stockholm:

 

Here is the route Strömma's HoHo buses use.

 

https://www.stromma.se/globalassets/sweden/stockholm/product_maps/hopon-hopoff_bus/hoho_map_2017_high-oct.jpg

 

Red sightseeing's route:

https://www.redsightseeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Stockholm-early-summer-2017.png

 

Most cruisers will do Vasa+Old Town and for them the HoHo buses would be a very bad choice.

The HH buses aren't as frequent as the public transport and the HH also don't use the same direct route

as the public transport.

 

 

From Vasa you can walk 5 min across Djurgårdsbron and travel with bus #76 which have a departure every 15 minutes.

From Vasa you can also walk 5-10 min to Allmänna gränd and go with Djurgårdsfärjan which departs every 15 minutes

and where the capacity is 300 passengers / departure.

Thanks for this detailed info - very helpful to us for our trip.

we did a Baltic cruise in August 2017.

posted this in September 2017

https://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/showthread.php?t=2541338&highlight=tips+for+baltic+cruise

Tallinn, Helsinki and Stockholm are easy to DIY. We toured them on our own and enjoyed it a lot. Good way to save money for St. Petersburg )))

Thanks for this reassurance. Much appreciated.

Had some wonderful salmon soup and those little fishy"s that they cook up.

Hi Linda

Was it some sort of food tour?

Thank you

Jess

All 3 ports have excellent free walking tours. Stockholm also has some good food tours. We did one there last some. Got to see parts of the city we would not have otherwise seen.

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