Brief overview of the Baltic countries
Estonia is home to the highest peak in the Baltic States: Suur Munamägi, 318 m high. Bordered by Latvia to the south and Russia to the east, Estonia - like its neighbors - is a country rich in lakes and islands: 1,400 lakes and over 1,500 islands, the largest of which are Saaremaa (2,922 km²) and Hiiumaa (1,023 km²).
Temperatures in Estonia are generally lower than those of its two southern neighbors, and winters are harsher and longer. If you plan to stay in Estonia at this time of year, you'll need to pack very warmly. It's also the country in the Baltic region where skiing is most widespread.
Surrounded by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east and Belarus to the southeast,Latvia has the longest coastline of the three Baltic states, with no less than 496 km of coastline. But what makes it so special is that 40% of the country is covered by forests, in which there are no fewer than 2,300 lakes and 12,000 rivers.
Lithuania has 1,747 km of borders with Russia (Kaliningrad), Belarus, Latvia and Poland. It is the country with the most lakes, with no fewer than 4,000, and 28% of its territory is made up of forests of birch, pine and fir.
The Curonian Spit
As a reminder, an isthmus is "a strip of land squeezed between two seas or gulfs and joining two lands". Many are found between Lithuania and Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania.
Also known as the "Neringa peninsula", the Curonian Spit links these two countries with a strip of land 98 km long and 400 m to 3.8 km wide. It's a landscape of villages, forests and, above all, sand dunes.
The Struve geodesic arc
The Struve Geodetic Arc, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a chain of geodetic triangulation markers that spans more than 2,800 km across Europe from Norway to the Black Sea. It was used to measure the exact size and shape of the Earth between 1816 and 1855. 34 of the original 265 markers are listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites. There are three in Estonia (two in the Viru region, one in Tartu), two in Latvia and three in Lithuania.