Places To Visit In Estonia And Travel Tips

Estonia is an authentic experience: what to know before visiting this country

Estonia is a country with a rich history, diverse culture and many experiences waiting for the travellers.  Throughout the history Estonia has adopted different traits from the neighbouring countries, thus forming a unique destination in the Baltic area.  This country has topped several travelling lists by the quality of experience, thus here are some local tips and advice to help you discover Estonia from a different angle.

Organizational details

Let’s firstly start with a time frame question, e.g. how much time should you plan to visit Estonia? Many tourists come just to visit the capital. However if you are interested getting a comprehensive feel about this country, you will need at least five days.

When to visit: from the point of weather locals consider May to August as the best time. Let’s look a bit into details about the places.

Places to visit in Estonia

Tallinn

Tallinn is a cultural hub of the country and an inspiring city for many reasons. It has a charming Old Town that keeps many centuries’ history inside its streets. From the other hand, due to technological progress achieved during last 20 years Tallinn produces and attracts startups from different countries providing all required facilities. The city has numerous cultural and social events for any taste making it an interesting destination for young people. Yet, it’s not a huge world metropolitan city that has an ability to exhaust you with its rhythm.

Tallinn is a city that makes you feel comfortable. It is relatively easy to guide yourself around. Estonians are very nice and polite. Moreover, they understand and speak English and they are always ready to help. In addition to this, free internet connection almost everywhere makes this city a great destination for freelancers and remote workers.

Tartu

Tartu is a student capital of Estonia. It’s the second largest city of Estonia, yet very cute and cozy. As most of the heritage and cultural places are situated in the center area, it’s quite easy to walk through these places by foot. Moreover, it isn’t overcrowded with tourists like Tallinn Old Town. This gives a special charm and authenticity to Tartu.

How to plan better your route? Starting your journey at the tourist info point in the main Town Hall Square. If you arrive from Tallinn by bus, it makes a stop near the Old City. You can reach as well to the final bus station, which is just 15 minutes away from the square by foot. At the tourist info point you will receive a nice booklet with a self-guided tour. It includes a map and description of all the points of interest around the city. Though booklet tells the walking tour takes about 2.5 hours, it includes only walking time. It’s highly recommended planning one day for Tartu to explore and feel the city.

City highlights

• Toomemagi (Toome Hill). It is an area that unites panoramic views, nice park, old cathedral ruins, UNESCO observatory, old bridges and some other interesting sights. It’s a good 1-2 hour walk. If you grab a coffee or tea with you, you will definitely feel being part of a movie.
• University of Tartu – In addition to being the oldest university of Estonia, it has a very nice architecture and surroundings.
• St John’s Church – this is an old Church dating back to the 14th century. It was damaged during World War II and was reopened only in 2005 after restoration. In addition to its historical interest, there is also a view point in the top from where you can see different parts of the city.
• Walk near the Suur Emajõgi river – there are nice views. On the way, there will be several bridges. Kaarsild is the arch-shaped pedestrian bridge close to the main square which often displays different exhibitions e.g. important achievements of the city.
• Town Hall Square features live instrumental music every now and then. Tartu was one of the cities you don’t want to leave as it’s way too cute, vibrant and moving not to fell in love with it.

Explore the nature

Estonia is famous for its pristine nature. Actually, 50% of the country surface is a forest area. There are many parks, one of the oldest and most famous is Lahemaa. Sunny weather is crucial for this place.

If you come for a longer trip to Estonia in summer, you might be interested checking out its islands. Saaremaa is the biggest one that has historical heritage, beautiful nature, beaches and local specific activities for any taste. As it’s relatively far from Tallinn and has more places to explore, you will have to plan few days for this island.

Visit beach cities

If you are visiting Estonia during the summer season, take a swim suit just in case. Beach cities in Estonia have historical centers to explore and this is one of the great things about them. That means, even if the weather by chance gets rainy, you will find places to explore in the city. Even during colder summer days, the walk on the beach feels very nice and refreshing. In addition to Tallinn, there are other popular sea destinations:

• Pärnu – also called a summer capital of Estonia.
• Haapsalu – a small medieval town located on the west coast of the country just two hours away from the capital.
• Narva-Jõesuu – one of the famous beach destinations located close to Narva city. It is an extreme point at the east of the country that serves as well as a border with Russia.
• Narva – one of the cities that suffered a lot from the damages of II World War, thus it was almost completely rebuilt later. Soviet architecture dominates the city. The major part of the population are Russian speakers. If you are interested to see a completely different part of Estonia, this is the place.

Explore smaller towns

There are many small and charming towns in Estonia. They don’t get into popular touristic guides, though they are very adorable and worth a day trip. Viljandi has a charming vibe with its small streets, cute wooden houses, vast meadows and clean lake near the ruins of a medieval castle. Every July this town hosts a Folk Music Festival where gets thousands of visitors. In other times, it’s a small paradise in the center of Estonia. Comparing to other cities, here are quite a few tourists. Despite it, there is a tourist info center with maps and guides.

You can explore more options of activities and places on the official website about tourism in Estonia.

How to plan the itinerary?

If you are planning to travel to several places in Estonia, there are two main ways you can go about it:

• Base yourself in Tallinn and organize day trips to other places. Everything except Saaremaa is in a close proximity to the capital.
• Make a circle trip around Estonia: e.g. Tallinn -> Lahemaa -> Narva -> Tartu -> Parnu and so on. In this case, ensure you have booked accommodation in advance. On the weekends during the season getting a place in a hostel can be quite challenging

How much does it cost?

Even if you are an ultimate budget backpacker, it’s suggested planning at least 35 EUR per day. Of course, you can find free accommodation through couch surfing, hitch hike (it’s quite popular among tourists in Baltic countries) and eat junk to save further money. The mentioned above amount will give you a basic comfort to live in a hostel, eat regular budget food and do some sightseeing. To break up the daily expenses:

• Budget accommodation will take 8-15 EUR/day depending on the place. You might get discounts for off season and for staying longer.
• A minimum required food expense 5-10 EUR
• Sightseeing – common price for entrance to different heritage sights is 0-5 EUR (per sight) with few exceptions that cost more.
• Transportation: 6 EUR for all 5 days (<1 EUR/day) in Tallinn for all transportation types (there are also available options for one and three days). Intercity – through carpooling Facebook groups mentioned below you can get a place for Tallinn – Tartu route for 5 EUR.

Intercity transportation in Estonia

There is a general ticket platform in Estonia – tPilet, where you can find all available tickets for different cities. Otherwise, you can check up Lux express and Ecolines, especially if you are planning to commute from Estonia to another European country. If you are under 26, you can avail youth discount while buying some tickets.

If you want to get cheaper options check out Facebook groups for different intercity routes. E.g. Tallinn – Tartu – Tallinn, Tallinn – Parnu, etc. There you will find daily posts from people who have extra spaces for other passengers on the route. Price wise this option comes cheaper than a bus ticket. You can check as well Wisemile for carpooling deals between cities.

Food

If you are a foody person, you will love Eastern European cuisine. It was formed under the influence of many cultures. In the case of Estonia, there are two main influencers: Germany and Russia. Though there are many food options in café menus, Estonians claim one of the most common dishes is herring with cheese crème, potatoes and vegetables. I found this combination of ingredients unusual, though it’s actually tasty.

Eastern Europe is generally a “potato” area, thus you can expect many varieties of dishes with potatoes. Baltic countries are also famous for dairy products. There are many varieties that are advised to try out.

Accommodation

There are many hostels in the area of the Old Town of Tallinn. It’s highly reccommended booking a place in advance if you are traveling during the weekend in a high season (summer). You can always find good accommodation deals online. If you are ready to spend a bit more on accommodation, there will be always available places in hotels or Airbnb rooms. Alternatively, professional business and holiday apartment services like Pronksi Apartments are a safe bet as they remain a lot cheaper than hotels.

What to take

In addition to your standard packing list, it is strongly suggested taking the following:

• Warm clothes. Even if you come in summer, the weather can be very unpredictable. There are rains and winds at times, thus it’s hard to understand sometimes the optimal number of clothes. If you take a summer coat/hoodie, it might come handy especially in the evenings.
• Comfortable Shoes. In Tallinn as well as in the other cities the central area is made of cobblestones. Your shoes need to be ready to hours of walking on different surfaces.
• Sun crème. Despite the temperature can only be around +15 or +18, somehow it’s possible to get sunburned in just a few days.
• Umbrella. It’s raining quite often in Baltics. You can always check hourly forecast of the weather, though you want to double check it on the same day as it might change.

Country specifics

• Politically calm – you might see crowds of tourists roaming around government buildings. If you are lucky, you will see some of the local government workers moving on the streets. They are not protected by 100s of guards who are blocking the traffic whenever commuting.
• Technologically advanced – you can find any information about any destination within Estonia online, book tickets or acquire other required services online. From the point of local citizens, it’s quite cool that they can pay bills, vote and do other procedures without leaving their homes.
• Free public transportation in Tallinn for registered local residents. This is a great idea to decrease the number of cars in the city and increase number of tax payers.
• English is widely understood especially among young Estonians. Even people elder than 40 years are feeling comfortable in speaking English. Russian is widely understood by elder generation.
• People are nice, patient, polite and helpful. Whenever asking any question or direction, locals will most likely be literally on a mission to explain everything as much detailed as possible.
• For anything you buy in Estonia, you get a receipt. This might not sound surprising for Western World, but it’s not the common rule that works around Eastern Europe.

Have you visited or planning to visit Estonia?

If you live in Estonia, what other tips you would share with the first-time visitors?

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