We need to start this introduction about “TOP 18 things to do in Tallinn – Estonia“, saying that we had already an opportunity to visit many places in Europe and we love to share our experiences in each one of them to inspire you.
However today we are especially excited and super happy to talk about Tallinn – Estonia and share our visit to this memorable place, where our visit was so perfect, with a wonderful weather, with a blue sky that is hard to believe it was real until we start to see our pictures again, and again!
Two of our friends that live in Europe recommended to visit Tallinn when we were in a two months tour in Europe and we got really curious to know a little more about it. So, we decided from Warsaw take an airplane to Tallinn.
Tallinn was a great surprise for us since the airport, which was really modern, clean and we felt welcome.
The city in Medieval style, also brings many colors in your home, excellent tourist structure where in all the streets of the old city you can find descriptions not only of the tourist spots, but also of ordinary houses, telling a little of the history of that place. Everyone was friendly with us, everyone speaks English
The city also offers several sights, including special places where you can have an entire view of the city and its murals even for Free.
In this post we will share the TOP 15 things to do in Tallinn, with places we have visited and many other Tips to enjoy this amazing city!
Leave a comment if you liked it or with other suggestions in case you have already visited Tallinn!
Discovering Destinations – One city at a time!
Where to Stay
We usually do not recommend places where we stay because we think it’s very personal and so far we have not had any kind of sponsor from Hotels, Hostels etc, only the discounts we receive from Booking.com because we are Genius.2.
However there are exceptions to some places that we make a point of recommending, because we really like it as the “Angleterre Apartments” in Tallinn” we stayed that we would even live there if we had opportunity!
The Angleterre Apartments gave us a really cozy apartment, clean, modern style, with a nice view and quiet space to rest and sleep, with all we needed to stay a couple of days, well located 200 meters from the Old Historic town and lots of things around as restaurant, shopping mall and even we walked from there to get our Boat to Finland!
The best thing is that really affordable compared to many other cities we stayed in Europe!
So, feel free to consult the Angleterre Apartments in Booking.com where we can also have the link in our Website – Plan your trip!
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Places to visit
Here starts the list of the 15 Top things we did in Tallin.
Most of the places we saw from outside only since we got beautiful sunny day, however our main suggestion to you it’s to get lost and the beautiful streets of Tallinn and you will understand why when you get there.
Tallinn has that Medieval style from the old movies, a charming style as all Europeans cities and good and colorful vibes from the well maintained houses around.
We were surprised how they keep the Old Center totally clean, well maintained for the tourists where you can read the history of each place in the signs around city, covered with glasses.
We hope you enjoy and get inspired to visit this gorgeous city, checking their main attractions below, but also getting all of their culture and history when you get there.
1. Tallinn Town Hall square
We walked to Tallinn’s historic center the first morning, as we were 5 minutes walking distance from our apartment.
The first place we stopped it was the Tallinn Town Hall square where we had a quick breakfast to start our walking day.
We actually would suggest you start your visit at the Town Hall square, because it’s a place surrounded by restaurants and shops, where there was a fair of handicrafts and local products in the middle, and around you can visit several other places or have access to all the main streets that give access to the main monuments and sights of the city .
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2. Tallinn Town Hall
The main attraction on the square mentioned above it’s actually the Town Hall, a beautiful medieval building that calls attention for the architecture right away and according information in their _________________________________________________________________________ As mentioned before, from the Town Hall square you can take many other small streets. We made our away to the green area of Harju street where you will find local signs explaining about the area that was designed based on the historical real state structure of the block, which is outlined by various elements: walls, landscaping and lighting when it’s dark outside. The Harju street guides you to some of the main tourist attractions from Tallinn as Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and you will also find around Harju Street Park: ____________________________________________________________________________ Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is one of the main attractions in Tallin and it’s located in the Old Town of Tallinn and it’s around 10 minutes walking distance from the Old town main square. This Orthodox cathedral was built by Mikhail
Preobrazhensky in a typical Russian Revival style between 1894 and 1900
according Wikipedia, but looks like it was completed restored since Estonia
regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. It’s definitely an interesting place to visit for the
history and for the beautiful architecture building to see inside, where you
can see rich details and outside with different style, design, beautiful
paintings and perfect colorful mosaics arts. We visited during European spring of 2017 and we didn’t
pay any entrance fee to visit inside, it was FREE entrance. There is a souvenir shop inside of the church in case you
want to buy some gifts. ________________________________________________________________________ The Toompea hill and Castle are located near the famous Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and it’s also 10 minutes walking distance from the Old town main square. We didn’t visit the building inside, and we saw there were English tours that you could book, but we won’t had enough time and we decided to walk around and check the beautiful views that this place has from Tallinn old town city and we think it’s a nice place to explore a little more if you have more time. ________________________________________________________________________ If you like legendary places with haunting stories, this
is the place in Tallinn you shouldn’t miss. Just behind Neitsitorni Museum, there is this amazing entrance for the “Short Leg Gate Tower”, that is considered one of the most haunted places in Tallinn and which looks like more a magic place that takes you back to Medieval time and according local information “The Gate used to be locked at night to stop the commom people of the lower town from bothering the nobility. Apparently, the gate was also supposed to stop the ghosts who were try to seak up to Toompea Hill from the Danish Kings Garden. We didn’t go inside of the museum, but we totally
recommend you spend a good time over there, because it’s just magic place. You
will also find some artists selling their paintings from the gate and their
ghosts! As local sign that you can read in the place: “The short Leg Gate Tower is one of the most haunted places in Tallinn. There have been sightings of an infamous executed black monk, a lion anda ghostly galleon floating through the tower walls with its transparent sailsflowing” ________________________________________________________________________ St Mary’s Cathedral is also a nice place to visit on Toompea Hill. It’s few minutes walking distance from Danish King’s Garden and Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. We remember it was a Free entrance, however they have a tower that we are not sure if you should pay to go upstairs or not. Probably you can check it out in their Official Website. According Wikipedia, originally established by Danes in the 13th century, it is the oldest church in Tallinn and mainland Estonia. It is also the only building in Toompea which survived a 17th-century fire. ________________________________________________________________________ As already mentioned, Tallinn was a great surprise for us. The city in Medieval style, also brings many colors in your home, excellent tourist structure where in all the streets of the old city you can find descriptions not only of the tourist spots, but also of ordinary houses, telling a little of the history of that place. Everyone was friendly with us, everyone speaks English But if you want to have one of the best overview of Tallinn city you should take a walk to visit the Kohtuotsa Viewing platform, where you will have an amazing view of Tallinn’s gates, towers, constructions with beautiful colors! ________________________________________________________________________ Tallinn has
beautiful churches to visit, they are all different in their way of
construction and values, but the “Church of the Holy Spirit”, which according
online information it was built in 13th century, was one of the most
cozy and beautiful Gothic style church we saw in Tallinn Old town. The church is small
and cozy, and has a beautiful wooden ceiling, but what calls attention is the
amazing colorful wooden Holy art decoration, including an impressive altar,
rich in details. You will need to
pay a small fee to visit, but we think it’s totally worth. We paid back in 2017
the value of 1.50 euros, which was not expensive at all compared to others
places in Europe, where usually you need to pay to visit the churches. ________________________________________________________________________ St. Olaf’s church is a really beautiful church to visit, which is located just 7 minutes walking distance from the Old town Main Square, and it’s really nice to visit specially because you can climb the 123 meters high tower, with a narrow and kind of scared spiral staircase made in stones, that gives a little “adventure” feeling, but it’s totally worth when you get to the top and see the beautiful view from Tallinn old town city. We didn’t pay
entrance fee to see the church, however if you decide to climb the staircase
tower you need to pay a small fee, we paid 2 euros back in 2017. Tips: ________________________________________________________________________ If you are visiting Tallinn, you will surely be passing in front of the Walls of Tallin, since it’s a medieval construction that surrounds the city which is a landmark of Tallinn Old Town and according to Wikipedia, it was ordered to be built in 12th century and it were enlarged in the 14th century. We didn’t have time to visit inside, so we just walked around, however we saw it’s possible to pay small entrance fees and get tickets to walk around it and visit some of the historic rooms inside. (opens in a new tab)”>< CLICK HERE > to check open hours and get further information about it. You
will also find some beautiful point views around Tallinn hills to see the walls
and the many gates and towers around the city, which make this place really
special to visit. ________________________________________________________________________ If
you are visiting Tallinn, try to find your way to this passage that takes you
back to Medieval times and fills your imagination as if you were in a movie
setting. The
passage, with its arches giving a special medieval charm, also shows some
descriptions referring to “14th to 15th century tombstones from the St
Chaterine’s Friary in Tallinn”. We found this walkway really special and it’s kind of hidden, you can see from our pictures that we went there end of afternoon and nobody was around. Then we would suggest to take a note and don’t miss to walk there. ________________________________________________________________________ Unfortunately Lia got to Tallinn a little sick and after walking all day we stopped by Raeapteek Pharmacy to buy some medication for her. We wish you great and healthy trip, however you should take a quick look in this pharmacy inside. The Raeapteek, which is located at house number 11 of Old Town Tallin, it is one of the oldest continuously running pharmacies in Europe, having always been in business in the same house since the early 15th century according Wikipedia. The Pharmacy actually offers guided tours that you can check further information by (opens in a new tab)”>< CLIKE HERE > ________________________________________________________________________ Get lost in the narrow streets, check the colors of the buildings and unique architecture structure and buildings details. Read the well maintained signs around the touristic places and houses, stop for beautiful views, check their souvenirs stores. ________________________________________________________________________ There are lots of restaurants in Tallinn and we tried a couple of them while visiting the Old Town and it’s difficult to recommend one place only since the food over there was already good, with great service and all for a reasonable price. However, during our lunch time at Old Town, we decided to sit for a beer and food and we stopped by the Beer House, what had a fun ambience, with great beer and tasty snacks. So, this is our suggestion, then you can explore the many restaurants around and let us know about it! ________________________________________________________________________ The apartment we staid it was located few minutes walking distance from the Old Historic town of Tallinn, however it was also located in a Modern side, with small shopping mall area, restaurants around and supermarket. If you have a chance, take a look around, Tallinn also offers many things to do outside of the Old town, with short walking distance that you will be surprise! ________________________________________________________________________ After visiting the Old town for a while, we decided to walk to the Seaplane Hourbour museum to visit. It’s located 30 minutes walking distance from the Old town, what is not that far, depending how much you like or can walk, however we are sure there are how to get there by Public transportation or even by guided tour. The museum looks modern and there is a big area outside that you can walk through and check the harbour and ships. According Wikipedia, the Seaplane Harbour was opened in spring 2012. The museum is part of the Estonian Maritime Museum. The museum is located in the Tallinn aeroplane harbour in a building originally constructed as a hangar for seaplanes in the area of Peter the Great’s Naval Fortress. When we got there we decided to not purchase the tickets and spend time inside, since it was a beautiful day and we would like to go back to the Old Town for dinner, but you can check their Official Website for further information. ________________________________________________________________________ As per our friend’s suggestion, after visiting Tallinn we took the Ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki in Finland, which was our next destination. It was an unique experience, and it was fun to see how many people do this small trip even daily to just buy cheaper beer in Tallinn to bring back to Helsinki. The Ferry was really comfortable, with small Bar & Restaurant, where you could enjoy sitting outside, but it was kind of cold to do it, so we stayed inside. The trip takes around 3h30 minutes only and there are many companies around which you can compare the ferry’s prices. Even if you don’t want to stay overnight in Helsinki, we leave here this suggestion for a day trip! ________________________________________________________________________ Following some extra tips that can help you to discover Tallinn, Estonia: Wear comfortable shoes and take a moment to enjoy the view without selfs, cameras etc … just sit and relax with the perfect city view! If you would prefer to visit the city using Hop on Hop off, visiting many museums and paid activities, we would suggest you take a look on the “Tallinn Card” pass (opens in a new tab)”>< CLICK HERE > for further information. If you prefer to watch some of the places we have visited above, check our “Tallinn – Estonia – TOP 10 Things to do” in your YouTube Channel! 
3. Green area of Harju street
4. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
5. Toompea hill and Castle
6. Danish King’s Garden
7. St Mary’s Cathedral
8. Kohtuotsa Viewing platform
9. Church of the Holy Spirit
Church of the Holy Spirit, Tallinn 10. St. Olaf’s Church
11. Walls of Tallinn
12. St. Catherine’s Passage
13. Raeapteek Pharmacy
14. GET LOST IN TALLINN OLD TOWN
15. Beer House
16. Visit the “New” Tallinn
17. Seaplane Harbour Lennusadam
18. BONUS – Ferry trip to Helsinki !
Tips for visiting Tallinn – Estonia!
Watch at YouTube DD Channel !
TOP 10 things to do!
Discovering Destination – YouTube Channel
