Four Capitals: Warsaw, Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn

Today you arrive in Warsaw. Your driver meets you at Warsaw Chopin airport (WAW) and takes you the short distance into the centre, to the Hotel Indigo on Smolna street, just off Nowy Świat. Once you have checked in, the evening is yours. Nowy Świat and Krakowskie Przedmieście, the Royal Route, run north from the hotel towards the Old Town, lined with cafés and restaurants, and our shortlist marks a few for a first dinner. You return to the hotel on foot.

Today is Warsaw. After breakfast your guide meets you at the hotel for a half-day walk. You follow the Royal Route north past the university and the Presidential Palace to Castle Square, then into the Old Town, destroyed in 1944 and rebuilt from paintings, photographs and plans, the reason it is on the UNESCO list. Your guide explains how the city was put back together and where the reconstruction is honest about what was lost. The walk ends in the Old Town Market Square around midday. The afternoon is free: our shortlist suggests the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, the Warsaw Rising Museum or Łazienki Park. You walk back to the hotel.

Today you travel from Warsaw to Vilnius. After breakfast your driver collects you and the bags from the hotel and heads north-east across the Polish plain. About two and a half hours out you stop in Tykocin, a small town on the Narew river with a baroque market square and the Great Synagogue of 1642, now a museum, one of the best preserved in Poland. There is time for the museum and a coffee on the square. From there the road continues through farmland and forest, across the border into Lithuania, and on to Vilnius. You check in to the Courtyard by Marriott on the edge of the Old Town in the late afternoon. The evening is free.

Today is Vilnius. After breakfast your guide meets you at the hotel for a half-day walk through the Old Town, one of the largest in eastern Europe and on the UNESCO list. You start at Cathedral Square and the bell tower, walk through the courtyards of Vilnius University, and follow the old streets south to the Gate of Dawn, the last surviving city gate, with its chapel above the arch. The walk ends across the river in Užupis, the artists' quarter with its own tongue-in-cheek constitution on a wall. The afternoon is free: our shortlist suggests the climb to Gediminas Tower for the view, or the MO Museum of modern art. You walk back to the hotel.

Today is a half day out of the city. After breakfast your driver collects you at the hotel for the thirty-minute drive west to Trakai, the old capital of the Grand Duchy. You cross the wooden footbridge to the red-brick island castle on Lake Galvė and see the castle museum at your own pace; the entry is included. Trakai is also home to the Karaim, a small Turkic community settled here in the fourteenth century, and their kibinai, baked pastries filled with meat or vegetables, make the obvious lunch; our shortlist names a place. Your driver brings you back to Vilnius by mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day is free.

Today you travel from Vilnius to Riga. After breakfast your driver collects you and the bags and heads north-west to the Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai, a low mound covered in crosses of every size, left by pilgrims and visitors since the nineteenth century. You walk among them at your own pace. From there you cross into Latvia to Rundāle Palace, the baroque residence Bartolomeo Rastrelli designed for Ernst Johann von Biron, Duke of Courland; the entry is included, and the French-style garden is worth the walk in summer. The last hour of the drive takes you to Riga, where you check in to the Neiburgs in the Old Town by early evening. The evening is free.

Today is Riga. After breakfast your guide meets you at the hotel for a half-day walk. You start in the Old Town: the Dome Cathedral, St Peter's Church, the House of the Blackheads on Town Hall Square and the merchant houses known as the Three Brothers. From there you walk out past the Freedom Monument to the quiet streets beyond, where Riga has one of the largest collections of Art Nouveau buildings in Europe, many of them on Alberta iela. The walk ends there around midday. The afternoon is free: our shortlist suggests the Central Market, set in former zeppelin hangars, or the lift up St Peter's spire. You walk back to the hotel.

Today is free. You can stay in the city: the Latvian National Museum of Art, the wooden houses of the Āgenskalns district across the river, and a long lunch. Or you can take the local train from Riga's central station to Jūrmala, about half an hour, for the long sandy beach and the wooden summer villas of Majori. Our shortlist covers both, with times and places to eat. If you would rather have a guide or a driver today, we can add one when we confirm your trip.

Today you travel from Riga to Tallinn. After breakfast your driver collects you and the bags and follows the coast road north, crossing into Estonia. Around midday you stop in Pärnu, Estonia's summer town, for lunch on your own and a walk through the small old town to the long sandy beach. The last stretch runs north through forest to Tallinn, where you check in to the Merchants House Hotel, two medieval merchant houses on Dunkri street, just off the Town Hall Square. The evening is free.

Today is Tallinn. After breakfast your guide meets you at the hotel for a half-day walk through one of the best preserved medieval towns in northern Europe. You start on the Town Hall Square, walk the merchants' lower town and a stretch of the city wall with its towers, then climb to Toompea, the upper town on the limestone hill, for the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the viewing platforms over the red roofs. The walk ends on the hill around midday. The afternoon is free: our shortlist suggests the Kadriorg palace and park, or the Telliskivi creative quarter by the old railway yards. You walk back down to the hotel.

Today you leave. After breakfast the morning is free for a last walk in the Old Town. At the time we agree, your driver collects you and the bags from the hotel for the short drive to Tallinn airport (TLL), about fifteen minutes, for your flight home.