Star Collector: Germany & the Baltic States via the Kiel Canal

Cruise overview

Few voyages deliver eight countries and five UNESCO World Heritage cities in a single sailing. This voyage opens with the Kiel Canal transit from Hamburg, the world’s busiest artificial waterway. From there, it works east across the full sweep of the Baltic. First stops are Copenhagen and the rarely visited island of Bornholm. Next comes UNESCO-listed Gdańsk and the Curonian Spit. Riga follows, with its extraordinary Art Nouveau old town. Medieval Tallinn, the best-preserved city in the Baltic, brings a late-night stay. Helsinki offers a visit to the island fortress of Suomenlinna, also a UNESCO site. Turku features a midnight departure, giving a full evening on the Aura River. Scenic cruising through the Finnish Archipelago Sea leads to Mariehamn in the autonomous Åland Islands, a region that’s Swedish-speaking and Finnish-administered. Finally, Stockholm, built across 14 islands, closes out a voyage that has traced the entire rim of the Baltic Sea.