Environment

Accommodation and Meals:
You will spend 6 nights in locally run hotels, all in good locations and some with sustainability certification (Konventa Seta in Riga). The hotels use locally produced ingredients wherever possible for breakfast and picnic meals- this is usually a combination of fresh bread, cheeses, meats, fruit and vegetables. Where meals are provided, the food will often be typical of the region; however we do encourage clients to use authentic, small restaurants and cafes as well. Your guide will be able to recommend or take you to some traditional restaurants, selling sauerkraut, borsch, veal and fish dishes.

UK Office:
It all starts at home so we have first worked at reducing our carbon footprint in our UK Offices. Through energy conservation measures and recycling policies, we are proud to be actively reducing the waste produced and our impact on the environment. We support various projects all over the world to try and give something back to the places we visit.

Community

Local Craft and Culture:
There are several cultural stops on our trip, including guided tours around Stockholm, Tallinn and Vilnius, Riga Castle, the Dome Cathedral, St. Peter’s Church, the Monument to Freedom, Rundale Palace, Hill of Crosses and Trakai Castle. Our entry fees to these places go towards their maintenance and using local souvenir shops and cafes which surround them, the community benefits from our presence. In terms of local crafts, the Christmas markets are a definite highlight at this time of year. At Tallinn Christmas market clients can purchase handmade gifts, decorations and mulled wine. Riga Central Market offers Latvian specialties like smoked sausage, caraway cheese, local fruit and Kvas- the local beer made from rye bread.

A Fair Deal:
All of our guides are local to the Baltics and in exchange for their insider’s knowledge and passion for the area, we ensure they are paid and treated fairly. You will also find that those working in the hotels and museums are locals as it is a natural requirement for those in the tourist industry to speak all three Baltic languages. Our support of locally staffed businesses helps to provide alternative employment opportunities in areas which are sometimes quite rural. The economy and local community therefore benefits.

Group Size:
This small group tour has a maximum of 20 participants, meaning that we have a low impact on the environments and communities we visit and are able to ensure that we do not disrupt or lead to the displacement of local people. The small number also allows us to stay in unique, family-run hotels that cannot benefit from coach tours and other mass tourism due to their limited sizes.