10 replies to this topic

[mingin']

Hi Guys

I'm planning to do a Baltic tour by car next summer and fancy passing through Kaliningrad and staying for a couple of nights, Mixed reviews on Tripadvisor have made my wife a tad nervous. Having experienced the delights of Moldova and Belarus I'm not that bothered but I'd like to put her mind at rest. Express 72 hour visas seem easy enough to arrange. Does anyone have any experience they can share?

Cheers

Mingin.

[Sexpest]

Hi Guys

I'm planning to do a Baltic tour by car next summer and fancy passing through Kaliningrad and staying for a couple of nights, Mixed reviews on Tripadvisor have made my wife a tad nervous. Having experienced the delights of Moldova and Belarus I'm not that bothered but I'd like to put her mind at rest. Express 72 hour visas seem easy enough to arrange. Does anyone have any experience they can share?

Cheers

Mingin.

Double check the visa position as I know for Russia itself you need an "invite".

[wubbs]

Hi Guys

I'm planning to do a Baltic tour by car next summer and fancy passing through Kaliningrad and staying for a couple of nights, Mixed reviews on Tripadvisor have made my wife a tad nervous. Having experienced the delights of Moldova and Belarus I'm not that bothered but I'd like to put her mind at rest. Express 72 hour visas seem easy enough to arrange. Does anyone have any experience they can share?

Cheers

Mingin.

I was planning on going last year on route to Lithuania, but didn't get round to it.
PM Brummie Hibs as I think he went there.

[derekfaejapan]

Hi Guys

I'm planning to do a Baltic tour by car next summer and fancy passing through Kaliningrad and staying for a couple of nights, Mixed reviews on Tripadvisor have made my wife a tad nervous. Having experienced the delights of Moldova and Belarus I'm not that bothered but I'd like to put her mind at rest. Express 72 hour visas seem easy enough to arrange. Does anyone have any experience they can share?

Cheers

Mingin.

Brummie Hibs has been there, might be worth dropping him a PM

EDIT - D'oh...Didn't realise someone already said that.

Edited by derekfaeglesga, 24 September 2011 - 04:01 PM.

[brockleyjock]

Kaliningrad is great!

morning train leaves each day from Gdansk if you want to leave the car at your hotel

its a bit rough around the edges, more old school soviet port than seething hellhole of violence

the city centre is pretty much all soviet architecture - the russians flattened the old Hanseatic buildings

you will need a visa, but visa direct in Edinburgh will do them without any hassle

the Oblast is a really odd place, which adds to its attraction

what do you specifically need to know ?

[Brummie Hibs]

I was there with 3 other guys prior to the last Lithuania game. We flew with Air Baltic via Riga into Kaliningrad and out to Vilnius by train.

My impressions of the place were that is was quite safe - never once did I feel threatened, although for some reason some random jakey gave one of us a knife for some reason!!?? The locals were friendly and of course quite curious of use being kilted up. The place gets a fair amount of German tourists (because of its history), so it is no stranger to Westerners...however locals that could speak decent English were a bit scarce. The women were unbelievably hot, but that once again is apparently to do with the history of the place (a major military base full of fit solders who bred with all the prostitutes that were shipped there to entertain them - apparently true!)

The place is a bit run down in places, and if anything a little boring - it certainly isn't the place to go for a week of wild entertainment, but there is enough there to keep you amused for a couple of days with a few areas of interest to be uncovered. I wouldn't say it is the most 'Soviet' of places I have visited - Belarus is more Soviet and at the same time more Westernised, and Moldova had a poverty run down charm about it. Kaliningrad is somewhere between the two. I'm happy I went but I won't rush back unless Scotland play there in the future World Cup, and if they did I would maybe head up the Curonian Spit for a visit.

Edited by Brummie Hibs, 25 September 2011 - 10:03 PM.

[derekfaejapan]

I was there with 3 other guys prior to the last Lithuania game. We flew with Air Baltic via Riga into Kaliningrad and out to Vilnius by train.

My impressions of the place were that is was quite safe - never once did I feel threatened, although for some reason some random jakey gave one of us a knife for some reason!!?? The locals were friendly and of course quite curious of use being kilted up. The place gets a fair amount of German tourists (because of its history), so it is no stranger to Westerners...however locals that could speak decent English were a bit scarce. The women were unbelievably hot, but that once again is apparently to do with the history of the place (a major military base full of fit solders who bred with all the prostitutes that were shipped there to entertain them - apparently true!)

The place is a bit run down in places, and if anything a little boring - it certainly isn't the place to go for a week of wild entertainment, but there is enough there to keep you amused for a couple of days with a few areas of interest to be uncovered. I wouldn't say it is the most 'Soviet' of places I have visited - Belarus is more Soviet and at the same time more Westernised, and Moldova had a poverty run down charm about it. Kaliningrad is somewhere between the two. I'm happy I went but I won't rush back unless Scotland play there in the future World Cup, and if they did I would maybe head up the Curonian Spit for a visit.

Our night in Shibuya was better then, Donald?

[Brummie Hibs]

Our night in Shibuya was better then, Donald?

That was one of my best ever nights following Scotland.

Beer, blood, half naked men and karaoke make for unusual, but very entertaining evenings!

[derekfaejapan]

That was one of my best ever nights following Scotland.

Beer, blood, half naked men and karaoke make for unusual, but very entertaining evenings!

Amen to that!

BTW - You'll remember Gary, our mate whose stag do it was...Just found out that him and his wife are expecting a bairn, Happy days

Edited by derekfaeglesga, 27 September 2011 - 12:14 AM.

[Brummie Hibs]

Amen to that!

BTW - You'll remember Gary, our mate whose stag do it was...Just found out that him and his wife are expecting a bairn, Happy days

There's only one Gary Mason!

[mingin']

Thanks for all the info guys.

I'm planning a round Baltic driving tour next summer, out of Copenhagen through Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallin, Riga then down coast through Poland to Berlin then home via Amsterdam, I saw Michael Palin in Kaliningrad and fancy stopping off rather than skirting it via Lithuania. Only planning for one night and couple day so was wondering if it was worth the visa hassle. The more culturally different the better.

Cheers!