Rotterdam - Baltic & Scandinavian Capitals

Where this cruise calls, day by day

11 ports and 4 sea days over 14 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Rotterdam

   NetherlandsDepart

   Europe's largest seaport, and a city that looks nothing like the rest of the Netherlands - flattened in 1940 and rebuilt as an experiment in modern architecture. Cruise ships tie up at the old Holland America headquarters on the Wilhelminakade, directly under the Erasmus Bridge, with the skyline of the Kop van Zuid overhead.

   • The Cube Houses and Markthal at Blaak
   • Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, the mirrored art storage building you can walk through
   • Euromast for the view over the port
   • Delft or The Hague, both about 30 minutes by train

   Getting ashore

   Ships berth alongside at Cruise Terminal Rotterdam on the Wilhelminakade; the centre is a 20-minute walk over the Erasmus Bridge or one metro stop from Wilhelminaplein.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3

   Copenhagen

   DenmarkPort

   Denmark's capital works as both a Baltic turnaround port and a day call, and which berth you get changes the day completely. The city is flat, cycle-mad and easy to cover on foot once you reach it: harbour swimming pools, the pastel warehouse fronts of Nyhavn, and a royal quarter at Amalienborg where the guard still changes at noon.

   • Nyhavn canal and a harbour boat tour from its head
   • Tivoli Gardens, opposite Central Station
   • Rosenborg Castle and the crown jewels
   • Christiansborg's tower, free and the best rooftop view in the city

   Getting ashore

   Most large ships dock at Oceankaj, about 6 km north of the centre and needing a shuttle or bus (roughly 20-25 minutes); smaller ships use Langelinie, a 10-minute walk from the Little Mermaid and 25 minutes from Nyhavn.

   Best months

   May-Sep

4. Day 4

   Aarhus

   DenmarkPort

   Denmark's second city, a student town on the Jutland coast that is more relaxed and much less busy than Copenhagen. The Latin Quarter is a few streets of low pastel houses; the modern statement piece is ARoS, whose roof carries a circular glass walkway that runs through every colour of the spectrum as you go round it.

   • Your Rainbow Panorama on the roof of the ARoS art museum
   • Den Gamle By, an open-air town of relocated buildings from several centuries
   • Moesgaard Museum and the bog-preserved Grauballe Man
   • The Latin Quarter and the harbourfront Dokk1 library

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock alongside at the cruise quay in the working harbour, a 15-20 minute walk into the centre with a shuttle usually offered.

   Best months

   May-Sep

5. Day 5

   Berlin (Warnemünde)

   GermanyPort

   This is a sea call, not a river one. The terminal sits on the quay at Warnemünde, a Baltic resort with a lighthouse, a channel of fishing cutters selling herring rolls, and a wide sand beach ten minutes from the gangway. Berlin, which is why most people book it, is roughly three hours away each way by train or coach - a very long day for a capital.

   • Brandenburg Gate, Museum Island and the East Side Gallery on the Berlin excursion
   • Warnemünde's Alter Strom quay, lighthouse and Teepott
   • The brick Gothic centre of Rostock, twenty minutes away by S-Bahn
   • The Baltic beach and beach-chair rental, straight off the ship

   Getting ashore

   Ships berth at the Warnemünde cruise terminal on the quay; the resort is a walk, Berlin is a chartered train or coach.

   Best months

   May-Sep

6. Day 6 · At sea

7. Day 7

   Tallinn

   EstoniaPort

   The best-preserved walled town in the Baltic, and compact enough to do properly in a day. The lower town of merchant houses sits inside its ring wall and towers; above it, on the Toompea limestone bluff, are the cathedral, parliament and two viewing terraces looking over the red roofs to your ship. Outside the walls Tallinn is a working tech city, which is a jolt.

   • Town Hall Square and the 15th-century Raeapteek pharmacy
   • Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the Kohtuotsa viewing platform on Toompea
   • The Seaplane Harbour maritime museum in its concrete hangars
   • Kadriorg Park and Peter the Great's baroque palace

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock alongside at the Old City Harbour; the Old Town gate at Viru is a flat 15-20 minute walk, and most lines run a shuttle for the first stretch through the port.

   Best months

   May-Sep

8. Day 8

   Helsinki

   FinlandPort

   A capital of pale neoclassical squares and hard modernist churches, laid out on a granite peninsula. It is smaller and calmer than Stockholm and easy to see in a day. The Market Square at the head of the South Harbour is the natural starting point, with ferries to the island fortress leaving from the same quay.

   • Suomenlinna sea fortress, a 15-minute public ferry from Market Square
   • Temppeliaukio, the church blasted out of solid rock
   • Senate Square and Helsinki Cathedral's white steps
   • Design District shops and the Oodi central library

   Getting ashore

   Katajanokka and Olympia berths are a 15-20 minute walk to Market Square; Hernesaari and West Harbour are 3-4 km out and served by shuttle or tram.

   Best months

   Jun-Aug

9. Day 9

   Stockholm

   SwedenPort

   Built across 14 islands where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic, and reached through a two to three hour approach past thousands of skerries that is worth being on deck for. The old town, Gamla Stan, is a tight grid of ochre buildings on its own island; everything modern happens on Norrmalm and Södermalm around it.

   • The Vasa Museum and its salvaged 1628 warship, raised almost whole
   • Gamla Stan and the Royal Palace guard change
   • Skansen open-air museum on Djurgården
   • Stockholm City Hall, where the Nobel banquet is held

   Getting ashore

   Stadsgården berths are a 15-20 minute walk to Gamla Stan; Frihamnen is about 4 km out and needs a shuttle or bus, and a few very large ships use Nynäshamn, an hour south by coach or train.

   Best months

   May-Sep

10. Day 10

    Visby

    SwedenPort

    A Hanseatic town on the island of Gotland, still enclosed by a 3.4 km ring wall with dozens of towers - the best-preserved medieval town wall in northern Europe. Inside are roses on limestone walls, narrow stepped lanes, and the roofless shells of about ten churches abandoned after the town's trading decline, with only St Mary's still in use.

    • Walking the outside of the ring wall past its towers
    • The ruins of St Nicolai and St Karin in the middle of town
    • Gotlands Museum and its Viking silver hoards and picture stones
    • Botaniska trädgården, the walled botanical garden by the sea

    Getting ashore

    Ships dock alongside at the cruise quay built in 2018, about a 10-15 minute walk south into the walled town.

    Best months

    Jun-Aug (Medieval Week in early Aug)

11. Day 11 · At sea

12. Day 12

    Oslo

    NorwayPort

    A fjord-head capital that has rebuilt its whole waterfront in the last twenty years - the angular Opera House you can walk up, the Munch museum tower, and the Deichman library all sit within sight of the cruise berths. Older Oslo is uphill and inland. Note that the Viking Ship Museum at Bygdøy is closed for reconstruction, so ask before booking anything that promises it.

    • Vigeland Sculpture Park's 200-odd granite and bronze figures
    • The Fram Museum at Bygdøy, built around Nansen's polar ship
    • Walking the roof of the Oslo Opera House
    • Holmenkollen ski jump and its viewing deck above the city

    Getting ashore

    Ships dock alongside at Akershus (Vippetangen) or Revierkaia, both a 5-15 minute walk to Akershus Fortress and Aker Brygge; larger ships sometimes use Filipstad, about 25 minutes on foot.

    Best months

    May-Sep

13. Day 13 · At sea

14. Day 14

    Dover (London)

    United KingdomPort

    Sold as London, but Dover is a Channel ferry port on the Kent coast with the White Cliffs above it and the capital a good two hours away. It works as a turnaround for northern Europe sailings. If you are here on a port day, the local options - the castle on the hill, Canterbury inland - are better value than a dash to London and back.

    • Dover Castle and its Second World War tunnels under the cliffs
    • The White Cliffs clifftop walk to South Foreland Lighthouse
    • Canterbury Cathedral, about 25 minutes by road
    • Leeds Castle, roughly 45 minutes inland

    Getting ashore

    Ships dock alongside at the Western Docks cruise terminals; central Dover is a 15-20 minute walk or short shuttle, and London is about 2 hours by coach or an hour by train from Dover Priory to St Pancras.

    Best months

    May-Sep

15. Day 15

    Rotterdam

    NetherlandsArrive

    Europe's largest seaport, and a city that looks nothing like the rest of the Netherlands - flattened in 1940 and rebuilt as an experiment in modern architecture. Cruise ships tie up at the old Holland America headquarters on the Wilhelminakade, directly under the Erasmus Bridge, with the skyline of the Kop van Zuid overhead.

    • The Cube Houses and Markthal at Blaak
    • Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, the mirrored art storage building you can walk through
    • Euromast for the view over the port
    • Delft or The Hague, both about 30 minutes by train

    Getting ashore

    Ships berth alongside at Cruise Terminal Rotterdam on the Wilhelminakade; the centre is a 20-minute walk over the Erasmus Bridge or one metro stop from Wilhelminaplein.

    Best months

    Apr-Oct