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Holidays to eastern Europe follow a pretty simple pattern, right? Hop on a no-frills flight for a bargain city break, set sail on a gentle river cruise down the Danube, or embrace the festive season with a quick trip to its Christmas markets. Yet there’s a lot more to this


vast region than cheap beer and charming old towns. From cool capital cities to vast, untouched landscapes, there are plenty of adventures that show another side of eastern Europe.


1


THE CITY BREAK Why settle for squeezing a city break into a weekend, when you could


see a string of cities all in one go? Shearings Holidays’ new Baltic Capitals tour (by air) links some of the region’s most attractive cities – Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn – with scenic sights along the way. The itinerary starts in Vilnius with a walking tour of the old town and its landmarks, including the grand Gothic spires of St Anne’s Church and magnificent facade of the presidential palace.


Next up, it’s Riga’s Rundale Palace and open-air museum, with a quick detour to Latvian coastal resort Jurmala and scenic Gauja National Park, before the tour concludes in Tallinn. Known for its Unesco-listed old town, this stunner of a city has a rich history, with a beautiful Baroque parliament building set on the same site as a 13th-century fortress, and a medieval old town perfect for meandering around. Matthew Herbert, product and yield director at Shearings Holidays, says: “The beauty of this new tour is that it takes in three Baltic cities in just one week. There are also stops in other coastal towns and at interesting landmarks to ensure customers really get to know the region and all it has to offer.” Book it: The eight-day tour starts at £1,215 per person on selected dates between June and September, including flights, seven nights’ half-board accommodation and sightseeing. shearingsagent.com


ABOVE: Budapest


LEFT: Tallinn


58travelweekly.co.uk21 February 2019


inspiration behind Bram Stoker’s Dracula, in the central Romanian region of Transylvania. Often seen as a land of myth and mystery, it is, in fact, as close as you’ll get to


2


TOURING TRANSYLVANIA Visit the home of Vlad the Impaler, the


turning back time, full of rolling meadows and bucolic scenes, tiny villages linked only by horse- drawn carts along unpaved roads, and bounded by the wildlife-rich Carpathian Mountains. Cosmos tour Treasures of the Balkans and Transylvania pairs up the best of Romania – sightseeing among the medieval towers and cobblestone streets of Sighisoara, the bohemian cafes of Brasov and the parliament of capital city Bucharest – with Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria. Highlights include guided city tours of Budapest and Belgrade, visits to the citadel in Novi Sad and the Roman amphitheatre in Plovdiv, and a tour of former Bulgarian capital Veliko Tarnovo. Book it: The 13-day tour starts at £2,303 per person, including flights from London, private home pick-up, accommodation, some meals, porterage and taxes, based on an August departure. cosmos.co.uk


3


POLE TO POLE Visitors might have ticked off Warsaw or Krakow, but chances are, they


won’t have spent a lot of time delving deeper into the poignant history and pretty architecture of Poland. Rail Discoveries has a new Highlights of Poland tour that aims to rectify that, with


ESCORTED TOURS EASTERN EUROPE DESTINATIONS


FAST FACT


On The Go Tours


has added trips to Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland


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