HIRE-DRIVING IN THE BALTICS
Suddenly, like Eurolines, which operates regular flights between the Baltic capitals, including Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn, There are many bus companies. However, as an alternative to bus travel, you can also rent a car, especially if you are traveling as a family/friends group of 4 like us.. Renting a car in this way will definitely be more practical, flexible and comfortable, but of course a slightly saltier solution.. In addition, as there is no problem such as borders between the Baltic countries, you can easily move from one country to another and get the chance to see more places in a more flexible time.
In addition to international companies such as Sixt, Avis, Europcar, many others. local firm offers service in this region. You can rent the vehicles from the airport or you can get them from the offices of some companies in the city centers.. Before you travel, it will be useful to compare online and make a pre-booking with the most suitable company.. As soon as we bought our flight ticket, we immediately compared the price of a bus-taxi and car rental as in the table below.. Then, after reviewing all the rental companies, we chose Europcar because of its brand awareness, one-click lower pricing and its office in Tallinn, the city where we will deliver the vehicle, close to the ferry port.. Well-known companies can be more expensive in general, but if you do a little research, you will see that there is no gap between them and the unknown companies.. At the very least, if you want to contact someone in any possible situation, you can be sure that you will receive a response from the other end of the phone or that your e-mail will be returned.. Therefore, you will feel more secure.
For this route, which covers 3 countries (additional driver, premium insurance and insurance), we took our Kia brand vehicle from Vilnius airport and delivered it at Tallinn port, covering 746 km in 4 days. We spent a total of 433€ (including wi-fi and tax). In fact, the amount we would have to pay, excluding these additional services and the 21% tax, which we did not foresee before, would be 245 €, so there would be a difference of 70 € compared to the bus journey, so we decided to rent a car, but anyway It was much more expensive than the bus, but at least it was more expensive. Now we console ourselves that we had a comfortable and trouble-free trip..
A sample bus-Taxi price list:
Vilnius Airport-Hotel
(Old Town approx. 10 € (1.01 per km) €) Taxi 11 € Vilnius Hotel- Eurolines Bus Station Taxi 10 € Vilnius- Riga Bus 64 € Riga Bus Station- Riga Hotel Taxi (Panda) 10 € Riga Hotel- Eurolines Bus Station Taxi 10 € Riga- Tallinn Bus 60 € Tallinn bus stop – Tallinn hotel Taxi 10 € Total 175 €
Europcar invoice details:
Rent 4 days 95.14 € Additional Driver 1 x 16.96 € Premium Insurance – 76 € One way fee – 150 € Mobile wi-fi 1 pc 20 € Total 358.1 € Tax (21%) 75.2 € Dip Total am 433.3 €
The most important issue you need to pay attention to in this type of travel is that if the country where you pick up the vehicle and the country where you leave the vehicle are different from each other, the “one-way fee” is added to the total amount shown on the internet. They reflect an additional fee they say ”. This is a valid expense for any company, but it ranges from €95 to €280. For this additional item, we can briefly say that the service fee of the person who will go to the country where you left the vehicle from the country where you bought the vehicle and will bring it back.. If it is not shown in the total price, we also say ask and find out.
If the vehicle you rented has a wi-fi option, you should definitely evaluate it.. We bought this device for 5€ per day and we are extremely satisfied.. For one thing, you definitely do not have to worry about no internet because 10 phones can be connected to this device at the same time.. It’s pretty fast and the charge lasts long enough.. You do not need to buy an additional GPS to the vehicle, GPS is already more expensive than a wi-fi device.. The signal goes out only when crossing the border, so you have to turn the device on and off a few times.. In summary, walking around with wi-fi on our back was a very interesting and very practical experience for us.. For the first time, we did not have to worry about the internet and phone in an international trip.. Trucks, trucks, whatever you look for, are on the road.. There is also the speed limit, if it is strict, do not obey When you pass to Estonia, speed cameras appear and you see everyone speeding up to 70 km at a time.. However, a nice unwritten traffic behavior immediately caught our attention.. When you want to overtake, vehicles slide towards the safety lane in both outbound and inbound directions, giving you the right of way.. Seeing this, he said, “Wow, what a civilisation.” you can’t help but say.
Driving in Baltic cities:
Everyone is very respectful in traffic in the Baltic countries. We did not see anyone who did not comply with traffic signs, signs, lights, friends.. Especially living in Istanbul and having learned to act agile in traffic all his life, albeit reluctantly, allergic to traffic and immediately angry, “There is no one, let me wait in vain.” or “No one would see it if I came back from here!” This can be troublesome for those with wakefulness genes such as. Because even if the green light is on, or even if it is a main street, you need to put your foot on the brake when you come to a pedestrian crossing, wait patiently for those old aunts to cross the street without honking, and endure taking the road in 30 minutes in 2 minutes because of the turn signs.
By the way, you won’t be able to park anywhere in the city.. First of all, parking on the street is very expensive (at least €3 an hour), and parking is prohibited in many places.. If you are going to drive in these countries, memorize the word “Euro Park”, which is a common concept, and look for Euro Park.. These parking areas are more affordable and safe than others.. When we say more affordable, of course, we can’t throw water into the hands of Ispark in Istanbul.. For example, 24-hour parking fee in Riga is 18 €. There was also a system called “Barking” that you could download and use this application on your mobile phone.. Payment is still made through the application and shows you the closest parking lot.. We haven’t tried it, but if you want, you can examine it before you set off.
Let’s talk about gasoline.. We rented a 1.6 manual petrol vehicle.. We got the tank full and finally we filled it and delivered it.. That’s the rule anyway, otherwise they will immediately withdraw the amount they blocked on your credit card We bought 25 € petrol twice in total.. In other words, we have covered 746 km for 50 € with a full tank.. It’s affordable enough compared to the current gasoline prices in Turkey.
Pumping gas is fun, of course.. There is no such profession in Europe as a pumper like we have.. Everyone handles their own business. First you take out the pump and fill the gas, then you go and pay at the shop no matter how much you fill.. We may have spent some unnecessary time to solve this incident, but we finally got it
After all this information, if you still don’t have it, if you say that you will not have to rent a car and travel according to my own pleasure, come visit. We recommend that travelers, who went on this trip with their parents and would not let their hearts go to waste on the bus, like we did, rent a car.
We wish you a pleasant journey in advance.
