Tallinn: An overview - Part 8

Touring Tallinn

These are student-run tours that show you the real city without the correctness of official tourist agencies. They give you a real picture of what it is like to live here as a local with all the stories that you would otherwise miss.

The City Introductory Walking Tour is free, it starts daily at 12:00 and lasts about 2 hours. If you have had a good tour then it is normally accepted that a tip of around €5 per person should be given. They also offer a two hour Old Town Walking Tour; this costs €15 and starts daily at 10:00. It is similar to the free tour but has a much smaller group so you can ask questions and hear more easily. They also do an evening ghost walk which is €15, and a pub crawl which is €20 not including drinks. They can also arrange private tours of any length if you have your own special group. They also have a variety of bike tours, including a 2. 5-hour “Welcome to Tallinn” overview which costs €16 and starts at 11:00. They have also branched out to offer minibus excursions that tale you into the Estonian countryside. This includes trips to the Coastal Cliffs and the Soviet military town of Paldiski, and one to Lahemaa National Park. Both these trips are under €50 per person and take up a full day.

If you are thinking of heading to Riga in Latvia then consider the good value you get using a tour. You will have a 12-hour sightseeing shuttle trip between Tallinn and Riga, with several stops on route to experience the Estonian and Latvian countrysides for just €49. These excursions go year round but require at least two people to run. All the tours start from in front of the main tourist information centre.

Hop-On, Hop-Off Bus Tours are becoming the norm in most major cities and Tallinn is no exception. Tallinn City Tours offer three different one-hour bus tours and you can take all three, on the same day, for one price. The downside is that apart from a stop near Toompea Castle, the routes are entirely outside the Old Town. You should also note that there is only 6-8 trips day, so you will need to be careful how long you stop at any point. They do give you a chance to see a wider area and listen to a fairly good recorded commentary. You can reach sights such as Kadriorg Park and the towering Russalka Monument. You can catch the bus at the port terminals and near the Viru Turg clothing market. CitySightseeing Tallinn also runs three similar routes, with both companies charging around €18 for the whole day.

City Bike offers a two-hour, nine-mile Welcome to Tallinn bike tour that takes you outside the city walls to Tallinn’s more distant sights. They include Kadriorg Park, Song Festival Grounds and the beach at Pirita. They can also arrange multiday, self-guided bike tours around Estonia if this is something that interests you.


Continued in part 9