Travel report: Estonia
Date of visit: May 2017
After a great weekend trip to Riga in December 2015, I could hardly wait to travel to a Baltic country again. The three Baltic states are located in the northeast of Europe and were all former states of the Soviet Union. Estonia became my second Baltic country, while Lithuania still has to wait a bit.
I was very much looking forward to the trip to Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, as many of my friends were already there and I heard a lot of good things about the city. The only catch was to get there. The times, in which I can fly to new countries with direct flights from my homeland, were already drawing to an end at that time. And Estonia is one of those countries that has no direct flight connection to Switzerland. Consequently, I booked a Lufthansa flight via Frankfurt.
Many also combine Tallinn with a visit to Helsinki or vice versa. Ferries run regularly between the cities. Time would be too short for a day trip, but you can leave Helsinki in the morning and return at noon the following day. A somewhat older colleague from work made this trip with her husband and was horrified by the debauchery on these ferries. Many Finns use this route to get drunk in cheap Estonia and stock up with alcohol before they go home. Therefore, these ferries often look like shabby nightclubs full of drunken people. “It was pure horror,” said my colleague. “Why didn’t you just adapt to the situation?” I asked to her consternation.
Tallinn – the fairy-tale city
The eyes of many people shine when they talk about Tallinn. My friends told me about a beautiful, cheap city whose nightlife is among the best in Europe. I was curious and Tallinn became one of the cities I was looking forward to the most. Pat had heard similar stories about Tallinn, so he accompanied me to Estonia. He was already with me on my trip to Malta and is a good travel companion.
Tallinn is indeed a unique city in Europe. Probably all over the world. The old town looks like it was built in the Middle Ages: walls, city gates, churches, cobbled alleyways, old houses and everything that belongs to it. Tallinn also knows how to cleverly market this. There are restaurants or other attractions that take advantage of knighthood. Men dressed up as knights run around to amuse the tourists.
Tallinn is also otherwise a city with a colorful city center, in which one can stay for a good one to two days. A plus point for Tallinn is that the city offers several places with a good view. Thus, relatively early after our arrival, we went to the Kohtuotsa Viewing Platform, perhaps the most famous view point of the city.
Where does Tallinn differ from other European cities? If you look away from the whole medieval style, the old town of Tallinn is also similar to cities in Central Europe (e.g. Poland or the Czech Republic) or a small town in Germany. Nevertheless, it has a different atmosphere. This is certainly also due to the people. In Central Europe I sometimes have the feeling that many people look rather grim. So in my estimation every tenth man in Bratislava was pumped up with steroids and have a shaved head. Tallinn certainly looks more inviting from the locals in this respect. Otherwise, the differences to the Visegrad states are rather marginal. Even the food is relatively similar. The temperatures are certainly cooler in Tallinn though.
Let’s talk about the nightlife. After all, this is a reason for many young men from Western Europe to travel to Tallinn. In my opinion, the nightlife in Tallinn is quite overrated. The streets were completely extinct after nightfall and the number of bars and nightclubs is rather limited and of mediocre quality. This opinion is based on two evenings in the capital of Estonia. I am well aware that this is not enough for such a judgement. Maybe we just had bad luck this weekend. And maybe we left out some good bars, who knows. Nevertheless I would say from this experience that Tallinn is not worth it just because of the nightlife.
What was impressive, though, was that it almost didn’t get dark anymore in the middle of May. The sun went down shortly before midnight and the dawn was already at half past 4. I have never seen anything like this before. But during my trip to Helsinki a good year later I saw that in an even more extreme way. It was never really dark there during the whole night.
One evening we went to eat in one of these medieval restaurants. Olde Hansa was the name of it and it was in the middle of the old town. In this restaurant one feels transported back some centuries and it promises to give the customers a real medieval feeling. So candles on the tables are the only lighting in the place. On the menu you can also find all kinds of dishes that were supposedly eaten in the past. “We don’t have cola, we are in the 14th century,” the waitress told us. Needless to say that this restaurant is a tourist trap par excellence, but it was a very nice experience.
What else can I tell about the trip to Tallinn? To be honest, I would have to exaggerate certain moments enormously or add some wrong information to make our story somehow thrilling. All in all, it was nothing more than a nice short trip to a European capital with sightseeing, shopping, good food and nightlife. It goes without saying that my two countries I visited before Estonia, Iran and Iraq, offer much more exciting stories.
In the end, however, I have to say that Tallinn only partially lives up to the hype. For example, it is not as cheap as many people say. As far as prices are concerned, there must have been some changes in recent years or the city was never really cheap. I tend towards the first. The food and drinks are on the same level as in Germany. As a comparison I like to take Riga, because this city is really cheap. And here Tallinn is almost twice as expensive. After all, the hotel prices in Tallinn are a bargain. We were in the Swissôtel, the most expensive hotel of the city, and the room cost about affordable 100 euros per night.
And then there is the nightlife. A friend once said to me that Tallinn offers the best nightlife of all Europe. Maybe you can say that if you were only in ten other cities. I would describe the nightlife in Tallinn as completely average in comparison to all other European capitals (after all, I have already seen almost 40 of 47). It is not worth coming to Tallinn just for this reason. Nevertheless, the capital of Estonia is a recommendable travel destination. The city is really beautiful and fun to visit.
Tallinn or Riga?
After my short trip to Estonia I asked myself: Tallinn or Riga? Based on a weekend in both cities I would say: it depends.
When it comes to the beauty or charm of the city, Tallinn clearly beats the capital of Latvia. Riga also has a lovely old town, but Tallinn is another league. When it comes to the fun factor, however, I see Riga ahead. Many travelers visit the two cities for a fun weekend among friends with long nights and cheap alcohol. Riga offers more in this area. Much more. Besides, Riga is cheaper. I remember the capital of Latvia as one of the cheapest cities in Europe, while Tallinn is somewhere in the European midfield. A small interesting detail: in both cities it was 0°C cold at night. Only my trip took place in Riga in the middle of December and my trip in Tallinn in the middle of May…
By the way, both cities are manageable in size. Sometimes I am asked how many days you should plan for Tallinn or Riga. My answer is always two days maximum. But you could also see both cities in one day. For people who collect countries or like to see Helsinki and Tallinn, a long weekend (three days) in the Finnish capital, which you can combine with a day in the capital of Estonia, would be worthwhile.
So, in summary: in my opinion Riga is the better city when it comes to a cheap weekend with a focus on nightlife. Tallinn, on the other hand, is more worthwhile for sightseeing in a beautiful city.
My travel experience in Estonia
Although I mentioned a few of Tallinn’s downsides, my trip to Estonia was a good one. As with most other countries in Europe, it was simply a leisurely trip to the capital. A bit unspectacular, but I appreciate these short trips enormously.
What else can you do in Estonia? Recently someone told me, “The Baltics? There’s the capitals and nothing else.” I wouldn’t put it so drastically, but I understand the person who said it. Estonia, like Latvia, doesn’t seem to be famous for its spectacular landscapes, but for its capital. Is this an injustice to Estonia? Maybe a little. Estonia does indeed have beautiful nature to offer, including some national parks. To go there would be to travel quite off the beaten track by European standards, but as a European I can also have these landscapes elsewhere on the continent. But of course, a tourist from let’s say Oman might see it differently.
I can imagine traveling to Estonia again. But I doubt if I would visit anything other than Tallinn or another city. Although you can apparently marvel at bears in Estonia, the landscape offers nothing that my home country doesn’t offer. Therefore, it would be rather pointless for me to travel to Estonia again only because of the rural part. But that is my subjective feeling. In general, Estonia is certainly not a bad destination.
First, however, a trip to the remaining Baltic country follows: Lithuania. This will complete the Baltics in summer 2019.
Find the travel reports of the other countries I’ve visited here!
