LONDON TO STOCKHOLM

Check in to your 4 star hotel and let your body clock catch up. Your 48 hour Big Bus Hop-On Hop-Off ticket gives you an easy way to get your bearings.

Hop off the Big Bus where the mood takes you, Westminster for the Abbey or Covent Garden for lunch and street performers. Tomorrow a private transfer takes you to Southampton.

A private transfer takes you from your London hotel to Southampton, where Insignia waits. Settle into your stateroom, then book a table at Polo Grill or Toscana before sailaway.

Zeebrugge puts Bruges within reach, where canal boats glide past gabled houses and the Belfry rises above the market square. Longer days take in Brussels and its Grand Place or Antwerp, the city of Rubens.

IJmuiden sits a short drive from Amsterdam, where canal boats pass gabled houses and the Rijksmuseum hangs Rembrandt’s Night Watch. Haarlem, closer to the port, offers a quieter day among cobbled lanes and the Teylers Museum.

Settle into the Library with a book as the North Sea slides by, then book Polo Grill for dinner. The Kiel Canal comes tomorrow.

Insignia takes about 10 hours to pass through the Kiel Canal, which links the North Sea to the Baltic. Watch Schleswig-Holstein go by from the open deck, where villages and farmland come close enough to wave at.

Warnemünde is the port for Berlin, a long day by road that rewards you with the Brandenburg Gate and a stroll down Unter den Linden. Prefer to stay local? Warnemünde’s seaside promenade and a fish roll beside the Alter Strom channel make an easy morning.

Szczecin blends German and Polish architecture along the Oder. Start on the Chrobry Embankment, where grand terraced buildings face the river, then climb to the Castle of the Pomeranian Dukes for views over the old town.

Bornholm sits in the Baltic closer to Sweden than to Copenhagen. Wander Rønne’s half-timbered old town, then visit Bornholm Museum for the island’s seafaring story. Smoked herring is the local signature, so look for a smokehouse.

Klaipeda mixes half-timbered old town lanes with Baltic sand. Browse the Clock Museum, then take the short ferry across the lagoon to Smiltyne Beach on the Curonian Spit

Visby’s towered wall encloses a former Hanseatic town of cobbled lanes and ruined medieval churches. Visit St Mary’s Cathedral, then order a saffron pancake, a Gotland speciality.

Riga’s Art Nouveau streets, Alberta Iela above all, are lined with facades carved with faces and mythical figures. Eat lunch at the Central Market, housed in old Zeppelin hangars.

A slow day after Riga. Book a treatment at the Aquamar Spa, then watch the Baltic from the Observation Lounge before dinner at Toscana. Finland is next.

Kotka is a Finnish port town on the Gulf of Finland, where the Maritime Centre Vellamo tells the country’s seafaring story. Walk the waterfalls and ponds of Sapokka Water Garden, or head north to Valkmusa National Park for marsh trails and birdlife.

Tallinn’s medieval old town suits a day on foot. Climb to Toompea for views over the red roofs, then drop to Town Hall Square and the old apothecary. Kadriorg Palace and its gardens make a calmer afternoon.

Disembark this morning and check in to your 4 star hotel. Spend the afternoon in Gamla Stan, where cobbled lanes lead to the Royal Palace, or at the Vasa Museum, home to a preserved 17th century warship.

Your holiday ends in Stockholm today. Fit in one last fika, the Swedish coffee and cinnamon bun break, before you head home.