Travel Between Three Baltic Capitals in One Day: Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia Launch New Rail Route

Carriers from the three Baltic States - Lithuania's LTG Link, Latvia's Vivi and Estonia's Elron - this week launched a coordinated rail route between Vilnius and Tallinn with one change in the Latvian-Estonian border town of Valga, Lithuanian Railways (LTG) said. Until now, it was impossible to travel from Vilnius to Tallinn by train in one day.

But starting this month, travellers can easily travel between Vilnius and Tallinn in one day thanks to improved rail connections that have cut down on previous journeys. 

After Lithuania launched the Vilnius-Riga train service last December, the next logical step was to connect all three capitals.

LTG Link, Vivi and Elron, the three Baltic carriers, will now coordinate train schedules to ensure connections between the cities. 

‘Prior to the construction of the European gauge railway (Rail Baltica - BNS), we agreed with our partners from Latvia and Estonia to offer the best possible solutions for travelling between the three Baltic countries (...). ‘We offer passengers to travel with one stopover,’ said Kristina Meide, head of LTG Link, in a statement.

According to LTG, the duration of the journey will not change - it will last about 10 hours and may be shortened after the new annual train timetables, which will come into effect at the end of the year, are reviewed and agreed upon.

Trains on this route run daily: they depart from Tallinn at 10:25 a.m. and arrive in Vilnius at 21:00, depart from Vilnius at 7:05 a.m. and arrive in Tallinn at 17:35.

The full journey costs only 39 euros in second class, but separately Vilnius-Riga will cost 24 euros and Riga-Tallinn 30.5 euros.

The connection also allows you to get to Estonia's second-largest city, Tartu, by train.

Purchasing tickets for the new route is relatively simple. Passengers can buy one ticket for the entire journey on the Lithuanian Railways website. 

Reservations are open 30 days in advance and travellers can show their tickets on their phones or print them out.

Interrail and Eurail ticket holders have to book a journey on the Vilnius-Riga section, but they can freely board the Riga-Valga and Valga-Tallinn trains.

Cyclists can bring bicycles on board for a small fee, and pet owners can take small pets in carriers for free. Larger pets are subject to a small surcharge.

After the completion of the Rail Baltica project in 2030, the journey between Vilnius and Tallinn is expected to take less than 4 hours.