7 Fun Things to Do in Tallinn

For the uninitiated, Estonia is a European country in the Baltics. Nearby countries include Finland, Latvia, Russia and Sweden.

The country’s valuable position and rich resources left it open to conquest by the Danes, Russians and Germans over the years, with the country annexed by the former Soviet Union for much of the 20th century. Since Estonia gained its freedom from the USSR in the early 1990s, the country has been on the rise and is currently a member of NATO and the European Union.

Luckily, Tallin’s medieval Old Town has been left relatively intact despite the many occupations, and its rusting Soviet manufacturing infrastructure has been converted into a burgeoning hipster center.

Truth be told, we didn’t have high expectations for Tallinn. Actually, we didn’t have any expectations at all when we planned our Tallinn holiday.

We chose to visit Tallinn because we needed a place to spend a week between Helsinki and Naples, and Tallinn fit the bill based on its proximity to Helsinki and the international Tallinn airport. However, our expectations started to rise as we researched the city.

We soon realized that Tallinn has a vibrant food scene, not to mention over 60 museums and galleries. Tallinn is a happening place – and it’s growing!

Perhaps Tallinn has been under the radar because it was formerly part of the Soviet Union. Or maybe it’s because of the city’s Baltic location at the farthest East end of the continent.

Whatever the reason, we’re so glad that we ended our year with a week-long Tallinn holiday. Although the daylight was limited during our visit, we got to experience Tallinn’s festive Christmas market, not to mention an awesome New Year’s Eve celebration.

Plus, now we know that we want to spend time in Tallinn during the summer when the days are longer.

Home to companies like Skype, Tallinn is a city that attracts digital nomads and young professionals, resulting in a lot of cool things to do in Tallinn beyond the touristic center. We loved exploring newer neighborhoods like Telliskivi, a vibrant neighborhood that reminded us of Portland with its hipster vibe and varied culinary offerings.

We liked Telliskivi so much that we filmed a YouTube video during our lunch at F-hoone in the Telliskivi Creative Campus complex.

Interestingly, the workers used the hotel as a conduit for western goods. Guests would leave items like American blue jeans on their beds when they exited their rooms and find cash on the beds once they returned.

Pro Tip
You must purchase tickets in advance for the KGB Museum. Be sure to specify the preferred language (i.e. English) when you make the reservation.

Although our visit was cut short due to an early holiday closing, we had just enough time to whiz through the Socialist Realism wing before we were chased out by the overly efficient guards barking “hello!?” when they should have been saying ‘goodbye.’

Pro Tip
Plan to spend a good bit of time at Kumu. The art collection, with its snapshot of communist history, is both extensive and fascinating.

The three-story museum is chock full of educational displays and has several historic ships to explore just outside of the museum walls. We especially enjoyed the Viking exhibit that was on display during our visit.

Pro Tip
Buy a Tallinn Card to get free entry to 40+ museums and sites as well as unlimited public transportation and additional discounts.

Like most cities, Tallinn has a booming craft beer scene.

The surprise, at least to us, is that Tallinn’s craft beer is exceptionally good. We enjoyed the suds from local brewer Põhjala – especially their Öö porter which we drank on our very first night in town.

In fact, the dark, rich beer became our go-to for the entire week. We loved Põhjala beer so much that we made arrangements to visit the brewery and meet head brewer Chris Pilkington.

Pilkington moved to Tallinn from Scotland and is new happy to call Tallinn his home. Be sure to watch our YouTube video to see our brewery tour and interview with the talented brewer.

Rumored to be the city that invented the Christmas tree tradition back in the 15th century, Tallinn takes the holiday season very seriously.

Old Town sparkles with colorful lights starting in late November, with the main attraction located in Town Hall Square – a huge festively decorated Christmas tree surrounded by over 50 vendors selling a variety of local crafts, tasty treats and hot mulled wine.

Santa Claus often makes appearances at the Tallinn Christmas Market. Savvy folks can find him among the throng of holiday shoppers or at the aptly named Santa Claus Cabin.

Although the Tallinn Christmas Market is especially pretty when the city is covered with snow, we were perfectly happy to enjoy the market during an abnormally warm holiday season without snow.

The relatively balmy Tallinn weather did not stop people from having holiday fun. We were thrilled to leave our gloves and hats in the hotel room while we enjoyed the best of the holidays in Tallinn.

Pro Tip
There are even more activities in Tallinn. With some good advance planning, you definitely won’t be bored when you visit Tallinn.

Each of the hotel’s 93 rooms tells a unique Estonian story, and our room was no exception. In addition to loving the hotel’s central convenience, we also loved the colorful room design, the overflowing breakfast buffet and the 24/7 cappuccino machine just steps away from our room.

Our favorite part of staying at this hotel was the huge spa area with saunas, steam rooms and hot tubs. We could have stayed in the spa for hours, so that’s exactly what we did.

Why not combine a trip to Tallinn with a trip to Helsinki? Although both cities are located on the Gulf of Finland, they couldn’t be more different if they tried.

It’s just a short two-hour ferry ride between the two capital cities, and we found our comfort class seats on the Tallink Superstar ferry to be comfortable as advertised.

Plus, time goes by quickly on the short journey from Helsinki to Tallinn thanks to the ferry’s numerous restaurants and duty-free shops.