Jenny & Sebastian are travel bloggers, photographers and digital nomads who travel 365 days a year. Their mission is to find the 22 most beautiful places in the world. This time their journey brought them to Estonia and its capital Tallinn.
Before we looked into Tallinn for the first time, we didn't know much about the capital of Estonia. OK, if we're being honest, we didn't know anything and we weren't really expecting much.
So we were all the more surprised by what we found: one of the most beautiful old towns we've ever seen in all our travels! A city in transition, with a young and creative scene. And a city that is more modern in parts than we've seen anywhere else in the world so far.
In a nutshell: Tallinn is absolutely worth a trip! We'll show you which sights Tallinn has to offer and we'll share our best tips for a city trip to Tallinn.
Let's start with 7 exciting and astonishing facts about Tallinn and Estonia
- Tallinn is the capital of Estonia and has 430,000 inhabitants. That's roughly a third of the Estonian population.
- Until 1918, the city was known as Reval.
- Public transport is free of charge for all residents of Tallinn.
- Free internet access is a basic right in Estonia. So there is free WiFi everywhere in Tallinn.
- Tallinn is sometimes called the Silicon Valley of Europe. Lots of start-ups are based here. The most famous work by Estonian programmers is a little program you may have heard of... Skype.
- Estonia is the country with the highest share of women relative to its population in the world. There are only about 84 men for every 100 women.
- According to the WHO, Estonia's air is the cleanest in the world.
That all sounds pretty great, right?
The most beautiful sights in Tallinn
Tallinn has a wide variety of different sights and attractions to visit. In this section, we'll tell you which sights you absolutely have to see on your city trip to Tallinn.
The view of the city is really amazing! OK, this won't come as much of a surprise. The Old Town is the absolute main attraction in Tallinn. Presenting all the individual sights within the Old Town would be well beyond scope of this post. After all, the entire area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The best thing way to go about exploring it is to just let yourself drift through the Old Town and discover the most beautiful places on your own. The Old Town is surrounded by a medieval city wall which is still preserved over a length of 2 kilometers. There are some great viewpoints in the Old Town. Our favorite was the Kohtuotsa viewing platform with great views of the east of the Old Town and the Piiskopi viewing platform in the west.
But the tower of St. Olaf's Church offers the best view of all. It costs 3 euros admission and you have to climb a steep, narrow staircase to get to the top. But the arduous ascent is rewarded with a magnificent view of the Old Town and the Port of Tallinn.
Speaking of churches. Of course, there are loads of them in the Old Town. The most beautiful church has to be the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which was built in the late 19th century. The main square in the Old Town is the Town Hall Square. It's always really crowded. There's also a great Christmas market here during the pre-Christmas season.
Balti Jaama Turg – More than just a market
To the northeast of the Old Town is Tallinn's main train station, called Balti Jaam (Baltic Station). Right next to it is the Balti Jaama Turg, without a doubt the coolest market in Tallinn.
The market complex with its striking zig-zag roof has just been freshly renovated. Meat, fish and, vegetables are some of the things sold at the market. But we were most excited about all the food stalls. From Japanese soups to delicious burgers to vegan wraps, it has everything a gourmet's heart desires.
The area right next to the market hall offers a stark contrast: While the food stalls are mostly frequented by the young, hip residents of Tallinn, the antique market feels like you've traveled back in time 40 years. If you're into Soviet trinkets and Lenin statues, you can stock up on them here.
Telliskivi – The creative center of Tallinn
Next to the Balti Jaama Turg, Tallinn's next attraction awaits: Telliskivi Creative City. Creative companies, galleries, design shops, and some of the best bars and cafés in Tallinn have settled in this former industrial complex.
Hundreds of events take place in the Telliskivi grounds every year: concerts, exhibitions, flea markets.
North of Telliskivi lies the Kalamaja quarter. The streets with their traditional, colorful wooden houses constitute one of the most popular residential areas in Tallinn. A stroll through Kalamaja, camera in hand, is definitely worthwhile. Colorful wooden houses are interspersed with old industrial buildings, now inhabited by creative types, and if you follow one of the streets in Kalamaja even further north, you'll reach the Baltic Sea in a matter of minutes. Isn't that great?
Want to know more about the amazing trip Jenny & Sebastian had? Read the full story.
