Tallinn - Notes

The Jewel of the Baltic - Tallinn occupies a curious transition zone between the Scandinavian and the Slavonic. I love the good-natured restraint of the local people, the fabulous medieval architecture, the good beer, cheap restaurants and generally laid-back feel of the place. All in all, I'd say that along with Stockholm and Budapest, Tallinn is one of my favourite European cities.

Don't bother trying to fly direct to Estonia - it's ridiculously overpriced and you're unlikely to get any bucket deals. From most parts of the world the best bet is to get a cheap flight to Helsinki then take the super-fast Viking Lines catamaran - only about 1 Hr 40 mins, cost around 350EEK (it was about 16 pounds sterling when I did it in May 98)

In Tallinn I stayed at the Eeslitall Guest House at number 4 Dunkri, only a few yards from the Town Hall - it's an excellent place, cheap, central, clean, friendly and safe - highly recommended. Favourite refreshment spots were the old Albert le Coq brewery at Pikk 43 and the Olde Hansa restaurant on Vanaturg.

The definitive guide to Tallinn is the exellent "Tallinn in your Pocket" which is available from the tourist office or larger hotels. They also have an excellent web-site at http://www.inyourpocket.com (these same people also do the definitive guides to Riga, Vilnius and Kaliningrad - leave the Lonely Planet at home)