Tallinn: An overview - Part 4

PLANNING YOUR TIME

If you are on an extended tour of Scandinavia then Tallinn is certainly worth a day. Many people find it works best as a full day side trip from a visit to Helsinki. If you do this then you can take the overnight ferry in both Helsinki and Tallinn. It is also possible to do it as a stopover from Stockholm, or you may want to use it as an excursion on the way between Stockholm and St. Petersburg. However, the number of people who come to Tallinn on a cruise ship is growing every year. This in itself presents something of a danger to the town with a sudden influx from 3 or 4 ships on a bad/good day.

If you are only on a day trip then you need to be prepared by getting details of things like a self-guided walk that starts right at the port. Plan to enjoy a nice lunch at a restaurant in the Old Town and then spend the afternoon shopping and browsing amongst the many shops and stores. However, you could choose to go to one of the out of town attractions such as the Seaplane Harbour and museum for boats and planes, Rotermann Quarter for pioneering architecture, Estonian Open Air Museum for folk culture, or Kumu Art Museum for Estonian art with a walk in nearby Kadriorg Park.

Do remember to wear sturdy walking shoes or at least some that are very comfortable because locals call their cobbled streets “a free foot massage”. Some sort of light jacket can also make sense as it can still be cool on even a sunny day

If you have a little more time in town then you may want to start off with the self-guided walk early but stop by mid-morning. This is because Tallinn can be inundated by then with cruise passengers and day-trippers. It can make sense to tour the Old Town early or late and then get out of town when it’s crowded to see some of the other sights.

Tallinn’s walled Old Town is an easy 15-minute walk from the ferry and cruise terminals, where most visitors land. You will normally find plenty of free maps here showing you possible routes plus of course adverts for many bars and restaurants. The Old Town is divided into two parts, which historically used to be two separate towns. The upper town, Toompea and the lower town with the Town Hall Square. A almost intact medieval wall surrounds the two towns, which are themselves separated by another wall. The Town Hall Square, Raekoja Plats, is the heart of the medieval lower town. A warning that is too common these days is that pickpockets can be a problem in the more crowded parts of the Old Town. The area around the Viru Keskus mall and Hotel Viru, just east of the Old Town, is useful for everyday shopping and has bookstores and supermarkets.

The ‘Bus and Walking Tour’ is something you may want to consider. This is a narrated 2. 5-hour tour of Tallinn and comes in two parts. The first is by bus for an overview of sights outside the Old Town, such as the Song Festival Grounds and Kadriorg Park, then on foot to sights within the Old Town. There are departures daily in the early morning and also early afternoon from A-Terminal and D-Terminal.

Continued in part 5