Billund → Tallinn

Direct drive south through Schleswig-Holstein on the A7. Stop by FALKE Outlet Neumünster for ski base layers — look for the Wool-Tech shirt and 3/4 tights. Arrive Lübeck mid-afternoon.

The Altstadt is small enough that a 90-minute walk takes in the Holstentor, Marktplatz, St. Mary's Church, and the Niederegger flagship café at Breite Straße 89 (sit-down marzipan-stuffed pastry plate with coffee, around €8). Niederegger has been making marzipan here since 1806 and the upper floor has a small museum if you want it.

Late afternoon, drive 24 km north (28 min) to Travemünde. Walk the pier and the long beach promenade. Pick up two Fischbrötchen from the working harbour stands at Vorderreihe near the lighthouse, around €4–5 each, properly made with marinated herring or smoked Bückling on dark rye. Or buy pizzas from Rewe supermarket and charge the car (200 kW × 4) at the same time near the Ferienhaus. There's also an Italian restaurant (Pane e Vino, mussels pasta, closes 21:00) diagonally opposite if too hungry.

Early start at 08:00. Drive to Szczecin (360 km, 4 h) for lunch. Charge at the Demminer Land Ionity charger (216 km, 2 h 12 min) — the Serways rest stop has a lunch option if too hungry. Otherwise drive on to Mała Tumska for lunch — between the Cathedral and the Royal Gate near the Philharmonic, serving local-style dumplings filled with pearl barley, cod in creamy chanterelle sauce, and Szczecin's famous fish paste on rye sourdough.

After lunch, visit the Philharmonic building. Barozzi Veiga won the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture — the Mies van der Rohe Award — in 2015 for it. Its most striking feature is the zigzagging roof profile of sharply pitched gables, giving it the look of many conjoined buildings, with a translucent ribbed-glass facade that glows white at night. It sits on the site of a concert hall destroyed in WW2. Then drive to Wały Chrobrego promenade, park at the side of the road and walk around.

Start the drive to Mielno and charge one more time at the Ionity station 47 min away (68.3 km).

Depart comfortably before 09:30 to reach Gdańsk for lunch at 12:00. Park at the free car park in front of Archikatedra Oliwska cathedral.

Cysteria — highly rated Polish pierogi, near the Cathedral.

After lunch, walk back to Archikatedra Oliwska for a 20-min organ demonstration concert at 13:00, 14:00 or 15:00. The 1763 instrument has 7,876 pipes and mechanical sculptures that move during the demonstration: rotating suns, angels playing trumpets. Concert schedule.

Then drive south to Designer Outlet Gdańsk (27 min, 21 km) for cheap branded clothes — Salomon, Boss, Peak Performance (Adventure Sports).

Drive to the Old Town in the main city (15 km, 23 min). Park along Szeroka street. Climb St. Mary's Church tower (Kościół Mariacki) next door, 405 steps, €4, closes 20:00. The platform sits at 78 m and gives the best view of the entire Hanseatic core, the Motława river, and the old shipyard cranes. Allow an hour including the climb.

Next, walk along Mariacka Street for the amber district.

Goldwasser cellar at Długi Targ 22 for the herbal-vodka tasting and tour, around €15, 30–45 minutes. The original recipe is from 1598, the gold flakes are real. Or Moya Matcha café for green-tea bakery and drinks.

Walk 3 streets to the Amber Museum (Muzeum Bursztynu) in the Great Mill (Wielki Młyn), Wielkie Młyny 16 (muzeumgdansk.pl). Around €10 family ticket (PLN 20 adult / PLN 10 reduced / PLN 45 family). Housed in the largest mill in medieval Europe, built by the Teutonic Knights around 1350. The ground floor displays the largest lump of amber in the world (64.2 kg), with child-friendly interactive exhibits.

Restauracja Gvara, affordable, locally sourced, 4.6 rated. If full, MONO Kitchen opposite is also good. Or cheap-and-tasty, Bar Pod Rybą on Długi Targ, fried Baltic cod with mash and pickled cabbage, around €8. Or Pierogarnia Stary Młyn (Św. Ducha) for more dumplings. Also Pomelo, Restauracja Dominikańska, or Targ Rybny on the waterfront (pricey).

Early start, 08:00 latest. Drive 45 min to Malbork. The castle opens 09:00 — book tickets online beforehand. Buy the audio-guide ticket (€17), follow the suggested two-and-a-half hour route. It's the world's largest brick castle by surface area and the Teutonic Order's old headquarters. The scale is the point. Pack a sandwich and eat in the castle park (skip the gate restaurants).

Back on the road by 13:00. Through Olsztyn, Ełk, into Lithuania via the Suwałki Gap (the only land corridor between Poland and Lithuania since Kaliningrad is closed to EU tourists). This is the unavoidable long stretch, four to five hours of driving. Charge once at Ełk (Orlen) and once more at Marijampolė (Ignitis On). Arrive Kaunas around 20:00.

Bernelių Užeiga or Etno Dvaras in the Old Town, traditional Lithuanian, cepelinai or kugelis with a beer, around €10–14. Both stay open until 22:00 or later.

Walk Laisvės Alėja end to end, 1.7 km of pedestrian interwar modernist architecture (UNESCO-listed in 2023). The whole boulevard is essentially a museum of 1920s and 1930s Lithuanian state-building architecture: the central post office, the Pažanga House, the bank buildings. Coffee and pastry at Bundu, sourdough cardamom buns under €4.

M.K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum on Putvinskio 55, €8, 90 minutes. Čiurlionis was a painter-composer (one of the few people in history who was both at a serious level) and the collection of his symbolist paintings here is the strongest Lithuanian art experience anywhere. At the end of his life he was institutionalised; you can see the work tilt across decades.

VR Escape Rooms at V-R Shop.

Višta Puode for modern Lithuanian, mains €10–14.

Drive Kaunas → Palanga, 235 km, 3 h. 313 Cable Park and set up tent. €8/day, free showers.

Leave early at 08:00, drive to the Hill of Crosses (157 km, 2 h). Buy a cross, write a message, and add it to the hill. Then drive 2 h, 125 km, to Riga; Domina shopping centre for charging (Eleport) and lunch at BAO Domina.

Climb St. Peter's Church tower. The 72 m platform has elevator access (€9). The 360° view across central Riga, the Old Town spires, the Daugava river, and the Art Nouveau quarter to the north is the best urban panorama on this entire trip.

Black Magic Bar on Kaļķu 10. Themed around the 18th-century apothecary Abraham Kunze, alleged inventor of Riga Black Balsam in the 1750s. The ground floor looks like an old pharmacy; a hidden bookcase staircase leads to a candlelit basement tasting room. Order the Riga Black Balsam flight (26 variations) or the hot chocolate with balsam liqueur. Around €25–30 for drinks for two.

Walk the Art Nouveau district along Alberta iela. The highest concentration of Jugendstil façades anywhere in Europe — not promotional copy, demonstrably true. 45-minute self-guided walk along Alberta, Elizabetes, and Strēlnieku streets.

boatcruises.lv — €13 each.

SO.TA, highly rated Korean-Taiwanese, or nearer B Bārs Restorāns, or Folkklubs Ala Pagrabs for dinner in the cellar — grey peas with bacon and a smoked-fish platter with live folk music, mains €8–12.

Hearty brunch at 11:00 at La Baltica Bistro (4.9 rating, cheap). Drive to KMH quad / dirt biking, depart 12:00 arrive 13:00 (42 km, 42 min) — kmh.lv. Go for a 30 or 40 min session. Adult bike €34/42, kids bike/quad €29/36, total €92/114. Cash only. Book ahead, +371 27000061.

Aerodium (open 14:00–19:00) on the Riga–Sigulda highway (km 47). Book a 16:00 slot online ahead. The full experience runs about 60 minutes including instruction and suit-up; actual flight time is 2 minutes (€33) or 4 minutes (€55). Open Thursday to Sunday in summer. The open-air format makes this visually different from indoor mall wind tunnels: you can see trees and sky while you fly. The instructor flies with you, lifting you higher as you stabilise. This is the world's first publicly-accessible vertical wind tunnel (opened 2005) and was the venue used for the 2006 Torino Olympics opening ceremony.

Walk down the Turaida side to Gutmanis Cave, the largest sandstone cave in the Baltics, with graffiti carved into the walls dating back to 1521. Free entry.

Pipars food court €10–15, or Aparjods (Viesnīca un restorāns) on the road to Turaida, traditional Latvian in a renovated farmstead, around €15–18 for mains, with its own brewery on site.

Leave Sigulda 09:00. Drive E77/A2 north through Valmiera, cross into Estonia at Valka/Valga (Schengen, no stops), continue to Tartu. Arrive 12:30.

Werner Café at Ülikooli 11, Tartu's oldest student hangout since 1895, sit-down pastry-and-coffee or a light meal under €12 (Tom-yum pasta on the menu). Across the street from the University.

AHHAA Science Centre at Sadama 1, €20, allow three hours minimum. 170 hands-on exhibits, the bike on the wire across the hall (you actually pedal it), the mirror maze, the planetarium (one extra show €6). The largest science centre in the Baltic states. Plan around the 15:00 Science Theatre demonstration if you can. Different enough from PROTO that doing both is not redundant — AHHAA is the engineering and physics side, PROTO is the immersive VR side.

Walk Toomemägi (the cathedral hill with the medieval ruins and the 1803 observatory), the Town Hall Square with the Kissing Students statue, and across the river to the Aparaaditehas creative district in the old Vidrik instrument factory. Coffee at Crepp on Rüütli street, walk the wooden-house Karlova district (most photogenic around Tähe and Eha).

Aparaat in Aparaaditehas for a €12–14 main, or for something more atmospheric, Püssirohu Kelder (the 18th-century gunpowder cellar bar) for elk soup and local beer under €15.

Early start at 08:30. Drive to Tallinn, arrive 11:00. PROTO Invention Factory at Peetri 10 in Noblessner. €14, opens 11:00. Allow 3 hours. Pace yourself across the VR stations, the 5D underground ride, and the steampunk physical exhibits. Housed in the 1912 Tsarist submarine foundry. Closed Mondays.

Lembit submarine inside the Seaplane Harbour, 500 m walk from PROTO. €17 combined ticket. The submarine alone is 60–90 minutes; the rest of the maritime museum (icebreaker, seaplane replica, 16th-century shipwreck) adds another hour if you want it.

The PROTO café, or Lore Bistroo at Vesilennuki 6 in Noblessner, around €14.

Walk into Telliskivi Creative City. Browse Balti Jaama Turg market on the edge of Kalamaja, the best cheap-eats compass point in the city, with an Uzbek manti counter and a serious fish counter, both around €6–8 per portion.

Park at EuroPark EP69 or X52 Snabb Parkla and walk to both the Patkuli and Kohtuotsa viewing platforms. Tallinn Town Hall is nearby, and so is Katariina käik street.

Motorcity electric karting. Open 11:00–22:00.

Põhjala Tap Room in Noblessner. Estonia's best craft brewery; the kitchen does a serious fish burger and grilled herring around €12–14. Walk the harbour after to scout PROTO and Lembit.

Arrive at Helsinki port 10:30. Before or after lunch, head to Activate Games — floor is lava. Open 11:00–21:00.

Drive back to Oulu, 7.5 hrs.