When Nicole had mentioned wanting to do a day trip to Tallinn, Estonia I was a bit thrown off at first. I had never heard of the place, yet for some reason it just didn’t sound like a place I’d want to go. Man oh man was I wrong!
Tallinn, Estonia is such an adorable port town with so much charm. It’s a medieval town with influences from Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and Russia. The Old Town and Toompea areas of Tallinn became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the late 90’s, which is where we spent our day. Other parts of town are newly developed and much more modern. We spent our time there walking through the old, cobbled streets taking in the sites. It really is the best way to explore Old Town…just wander through all of the streets in the area. You’ll eventually come upon a familiar area you’ve already walked through. We didn’t stop into any museums, but there are countless in the area that one could visit. The doors throughout the area are also so fun with being painted bright colors.
Old Town was definitely crawling with tourists when we first arrived late morning, but by the end of the day it had almost cleared out because most cruise ships and ferries had left. I loved exploring the Old Town area and would highly recommend others check it out if ever the chance!
Getting There:
There are three different ferry companies that offer day trips between Helsinki and Tallinn. It’s about two to three hours one way depending on which company you go with. We chose to ride with Eckero because their time tables worked the best for us. You can chose to prepay for a buffet or get a private cabin, one area of the ship had a live band and there are a few shops and food stores on board. We opted for the breakfast buffett one morning and in all honesty I probably wouldn’t recommend it. I would have rather picked up breakfast on the way to the port. We did, however, buy a bottle of wine from the food store and enjoy it on board during our return trip…though that technically wasn’t allowed. Shhh! The other two ferry options are Viking and Tallink Silja.
Tip: View the websites in a Chrome brower — it will translate everything for you! Also, you DO need your passport for the ferry trip!
Currency: Euro
Where We Ate/Drank:
Hell Hunt: I enjoyed this place! Super simple, but great covered patio seating. We stopped for couple glasses of wine and some appetizers. The meatballs were definitely homemade and the veggie tray came with a good variety.
RIkus: Super cute cafe where we had coffee and a blueberry cake rollup. Grab a patio seat because the people watching here was great.
Map of Tallinn with a few places to check out.