Agriturisms in the Baltics

Farm stays in Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania from $9 per person

How to find Agriturism farm stays in the Baltics

Many local tourist offices have lists of local farm stays.

Sadly, few are listed in English-language guidebooks—but there are often agriturismo guides available in local bookshops—in the local lingo, of course, but the important bits are easy enough: addresses, prices, and phone numbers, photographs, and icons for private baths, swimming pools, etc.

You can always just look for signs on country roads, pointing down rutted dirt tracks toward a farmhouse set among the vineyards.

If you want to find and book a few before you leave, here are the best online resources for finding farm stays all across Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. Not all sites are available in English, but the pertinent details are usually pretty easy to figure out:

Resources just in the Baltics

Baltic Country Holidays (www.celotajs.lv) - About 80 "Country houses" spread across Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania.

Lithuania: Countryside Tourism Association of Lithuania (www.countryside.lt) - Farm accommodations (376 of them) across Lithuania, with beds starting at 20lt ($8) and double rooms from 50lt ($20). The site helpfully allows you to to an "extended search" where you can tick off services and entertainment desired—"sports and active recreation" "extreme activities," "Internet access," "fireplace" "bathhouse," etc.

Estonia: Eesti Maaturism (Estonia Rural Tourism) (www.maaturism.ee) - All in Estonian (use Google Chrome and it'll translate for you), the "Accommodations" section includes many categories, but probably those most in the spirit of agritourism are the 40 kodumajutus (B&Bs).

General/global resources

ECEAT (www.eceat.nl) - The European Center for Eco Agro Tourism is a Dutch concern selling guidebooks to agritourism establishments across Europe. Its sister site www.groenevakantiegids.nl (all in Dutch, but the details are easy enough to savvy) lists 7 farm stays in Estonia, 9 in Lithuania, and 14 in Latvia.

Become a farmhand; sleep for free - If you really want to get your hands dirty, sign up to become a temporary farmhand through one of two volunteer organizations: WWOOF (www.wwoof.org) and Helpx (www.helpx.net)...

What is a farm stay?

The concept behind agritourism (or farm stays, or guest ranches, or farmhouse B&Bs, or rural tourism, or whatever you want to call it) is simple: you spend the night as a guest on a working farm. From there, though, the concept flies off in many directions.

Sometimes you just hole up for the night in a B&B converted from a farmhouse.

Sometimes you actually stick around to do volunteer work for a few days (a week, two months, a year), as with the worldwide WWOOF network.

Sometimes, just renting a cottage in a rural area where sheep wander past your window is enough to count.

Ideally, the property's owners live on-site and are farmers who derive the bulk of their income from agriculture, using this newfangled form of tourism merely to help make ends meet.

In some countries, the practice of agritourism is highly regulated; in others, it’s a wild west of opportunities, and you have to pick carefully to avoid spending the night in a barn atop a pile of hay (unless that's what you want—I've done it, and it's great).

How much does a farm stay cost?

Per-person rates at a Baltic farm stay run anywhere from $9 to $45, including breakfast, but is usually around $20 to $30 per person.

To rent an entire farm cottage starts around $40 (but varies wildly and can go much higher, depending on size, location, luxuriousness, and time of year).

Meals are around $10 to $20.

Sauna use is sometimes included, sometimes at a nominal charge of up to $20.

What is a farm stay like?

I've stayed at loads of agriturism: vineyards and dairy farms, barns amid olive groves and frescoed villas next to horse stables.

Each stay has offered me a different experience of farm life for a fraction the cost of a hotel.

Many agriturisms require a two- or three-night minimum stay (for some, a week).

Roughly half accept credit cards.

Sometimes you get four-star luxury and satellite TV. Sometimes you’re a straw's-width from sleeping in a stall.

Most, though, are just what you'd expect from a farmhouse B&B: simple comforts, solid country furnishings, and rural tranquility—barnyard noises excepted.

The hosts tend to be a sight friendlier than your average hotel desk clerk. Some invite guests to dine with them, family-style, in the farmhouse. One shepherd let me stir a bubbling pot of sheep's milk to help it on its way to becoming pecorino cheese. Vineyard owners love to crack open bottles of their best to guide you through the finer points of wine tasting.