I am around 2 months into my bike tour, starting from the UK up to North Cape, and now on my way home. I am currently in Rovaniemi but have a choice to make. Due to Schengen/Brexit rules I only have about 3 weeks left and looking at around 100km a day.
- Should I follow the blue route around the coast of Finland on EV10 to Turku, and then cross to the Åland Islands and through Sweden towards Denmark. Could then either fly or Flixbus or trains back to a ferry port to get to uk.
OR
- Follow the pink route along the coast again but all the way down to Helsinki, then across to Tallinn and Lithuania/Latvia. Would then have to fly back from wherever I end up.
Which is more scenic/interesting, which would you go for and why? Looking forward to some opinions!
by Tourandteach567
7 Comments
Not exactly what you asked, but: I live on the coast of Finland, and would consider if it’s possible for you to go to Kajaani, Kuhmo and head south more to the East, going through places like Nurmes, Joensuu, then going southwest through the lake district, including small towns like Puumala. Smaller roads, long rolling hills, lakes, nice countryside.
The coast is usually considered quite boring and while you’ll struggle against the prevailing southwestern wind, you’ll rarely even get a glimpse of the sea. In addition you’ll easily end up riding a lot on roads with heavy traffic.
As far as politics and stuff is concerned, I’d do the pink route. Who knows, how much longer people are actually able to go there, seeing what ruzzia does…
And I’m being somewhat serious here.
Pink seems to be more adventurous to me
Pink route thorough latvia and lithuania is quite boring, but estonia is wonderfull and I wouldnt rush it. Maybe You could go to Riga and take bus/ferry from there. Going through Aland sound nice also, but logistic with ferrys could be difficult
I’ve done both the Baltic and Sweden routes. Personally recommend Sweden.
For nature/scenic stuff, go with Sweden. The forests and coastal biome is nice. Much less cars as well plus you can legally camp anywhere you want.
For cheap alcohol, go with Baltics. The scenery gets a bit boring after Estonia until you get to Poland. And there are more trucks you have to deal with.
My 2 cents as someone who cycled from Tallinn to Gdansk this summer: Tallin to Riga is fab, cutting inland from Riga not so much. This part of Lithuania is really not bicycle-friendly and you’ll be in corn fields, machinery-heavy, shoulder-less hell for a couple of days. Then it gets better and hilly as you get closer to the Baltic Sea in Poland again. Braniewo to Gdansk via Green Velo is super beautiful.
I did toy with continuing along the coast from Riga to Klaipeda but ended up sticking to my original plan with potential mild regret.
I followed the pink going to nordkapp and it wasn’t so great. I’d go blue.