14-night Europe cruise: Stockholm to Copenhagen, Denmark on EXPLORA IV
The An Extended Journey Through Baltic Legends and Norway’s Fjordland is a 14-night Europe cruise aboard EXPLORA IV, operated by Explora Journeys. Departing Stockholm on September 9, 2028 and arriving in Copenhagen, Denmark on September 23, 2028, the voyage visits 11 ports including Visby, Sweden, Riga, Klaipeda, Lithuania. Fares start from $9,170 per person.
Fixed editorial images from the places on this itinerary. They stay stable each time you return to this sailing.
Stockholm
Without a doubt Stockholm is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and a vacation in Sweden with an MSC cruise will prove it.
Built on no fewer than fourteen islands, where the fresh water of Lake Mälaren meets the brackish Baltic Sea, clean air and open space are in plentiful supply here. An MSC cruise of Northern Europe will give you the opportunity to appreciate its port front, reach the Baltic Sea and experience the atmospheres with a tour of the town where broad boulevards lined with elegant buildings are reflected in the deep blue water, and rows of painted wooden houseboats bob gently alongside the cobbled waterfront.
But Stockholm is also a hi-tech metropolis, as you will find out on your excursion on land during your cruise, with futuristic skyscrapers and a bustling commercial heart. The old town, Gamla Stan, is a district with cobbled streets and narrow alleyways huddled together on a triangular-shaped island.
Today the area is an atmospheric mixture of buildings surrounded on all sides by a latticework of medieval lanes and alleyways. The district of Norrmalm swaps tradition for a thoroughly contemporary feel: this is downtown Stockholm where you’ll find shopping malls, huge department stores and conspicuous, showy wealth. In the green island of Djurgården you can see an extraordinary 17th century warship, the Vasa, rescued and preserved after sinking in Stockholm harbour.
Cross Norrbron or Riksbron from the Riksdagshuset and up rears the most distinctive monumental building in Stockholm, Kungliga Slottet – a low, square, yellowy-brown construction, with two arms that stretch down towards the water. It’s uniform and sombre outside, but with a magnificent Rococo interior that’s a swirl of staterooms and museums.
Itssheer size is quite overwhelming: you should not miss the Royal Apartments and the Treasure Room. The former are used for royal receptions and the second keeps a collection of crowns studded with precious stones.
Riga
Rīga is the largest, liveliest and most cosmopolitan of the Baltic capitals, a great city to visit when you are on a MSC cruise to Latvia.
A heady mixture of the medieval and the contemporary, the city has much to offer architecture and history enthusiasts in the narrow cobbled streets of Old Rīga and the wide boulevards of the New Town, where beautiful examples of Art Nouveau architecture line Strēlnieku iela and Alberta iela.
The city also has all the trappings of a modern capital, with efficient and affordable public transportation, excellent shopping, and a notoriously exuberant nightlife. An MSC Cruises excursion is a good way to experience Old Rīga, grouped loosely around Town Hall Square and Cathedral Square, which forms the city’s nucleus and is home to most of its historic buildings.
With its cobbled streets, narrow lanes and hidden courtyards, it gives the impression of stepping back in time. To the east, Old Rīga is bordered by Bastejkalns Park, beyond which lies the New Town. Built during rapid urban expansion between 1857 and 1914, its wide boulevards are lined with four- and five-storey apartment buildings, many decorated with extravagant Art Nouveau motifs. If you want to see the city unfold before you, with its melange of church domes, vast parks, ribbon of river and squat Soviet creations, follow the urban throng to Šķūņu iela to St Peter’s Church, a large red-brick structure with a graceful three-tiered spire; climb the tower for excellent panoramic views.
From the doors of St Peter’s Church, Rātslaukums (Town Hall Square) is straight ahead and dominated by the House of the Blackheads (Melngalvju nams), whose facade is an opulent masterpiece of Gothic architecture and which once served as the headquarters of Rīga’s bachelor merchants, who adopted the North African, non-white St Maurice as their patron (hence the name “Blackheads”).
Klaipeda, Lithuania
When you arrive in Klaipeda, the cruise ship will berth in the only Lithuanian port, one that has been operating since the middle of the 13th century.
The historic centre, that dates back to when the city was known as Memel, is built in the typical fashion of the German medieval towns, including the square with the majestic clock tower. Klaipeda is divided into two parts: the new town, right of the river Dane and the old town that develops on the left bank.
The latter is built in the classic chessboard layout of the 17th century German towns and still sports handsome trellised buildings like, for example, those in the artisan district: used as warehouses in the past, they now host art galleries, cafés or clubs. There is a variety of sculptures around town, starting from that of the Four Winds, in the port, at the entrance of the terminal where your MSC cruise ship is berthed.
Visit the handsome neo-classic Dramos theatre, which is the main building in the square and where you also find a statue dedicated to the poet, Simon Dach. Your MSC cruise of Northern Europe also offers two excursions, both along the coast. Palanga, in the north, is the largest Lithuanian seaside resort with a walk that ends at the long pier on the sea. This is located along the ancient Amber Road and it is not rare to find bits of this resin stone on the white beach after a heavy storm.
For sure you can admire this stone in the city’s Amber Museum. To the south instead we find the Neringa peninsula, a 98km long sand bar that separates the Curi lagoon from the Baltic Sea and where, in Nida, you find the largest dune in Nothern Europe; this is a UNESCO world heritage site for its importance in the biosphere.
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EXPLORA IV is the latest LNG-powered ship in our fleet, reflecting our continued commitment to decarbonising our marine operations and reducing environmental impact.
A sanctuary of space and serenity, EXPLORA IV invites guests to reconnect – with themselves, the ocean, and the world around them.
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