Towers, Tours and Taprooms: 48 hours in Tallinn

I’d loved Riga, with it’s quirky charm, beautiful architecture and excellent beer scene, But it was time for us to leave Latvia behind, to a new medieval capital 195 miles north. Estonia would be our 30th country visited together, and Tallinn would be the next stop on our October Baltic tour. We arrived in Tallinn mid-afternoon on our arrival day, after a four hour bus ride from Riga, and left on the final flight at 22:30 three days later. With a full day in Helsinki breaking up the visit – yes, country number 31 – we had around 48 hours in Tallinn to explore all it has to offer.

**This blog post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you go on to make a purchase or booking after clicking through one of my external links, then I may make a tiny bit of commission, at no extra cost to you!**

Planning a Riga/Tallinn multi-city trip? You can read all about our two days in Riga here!

Our 48 hours in Tallinn Itinerary: Arrival Day

We arrive into Tallinn from Riga mid-afternoon. The bus station is a little way out of town so we catch Tram #2 (towards Kopli) to Linnahall. I have a flash of panic when the first tram comes along – an irrational fear of getting public transport etiquette wrong. How do we pay? Do we need to pre-purchase tickets? Do we need to buy from the driver? Mr Fletche patiently agrees to wait for the next one 10 minutes later. By then I can clearly see there’s a contactless card machine near the front door of the tram. Even frequent travellers get travel anxiety.

A 15 minute tram ride and a 5 minute walk later and we are waiting outside our AirBnB. There’s a flurry of messages between me and host Triin, and she assures me her husband is on his way. Sure enough, Alar shows up not long after we arrive.

Where we stayed

After a hitch with our original hotel, we opted to stay in this AirBnB right in the heart of the Old Town. And it was an absolute gem. A beautiful two floor apartment (ground floor and basement) just a few minutes walk from Suur Rannavärav (Great Coastal Gate) and Paks Margareeta (Fat Margaret Tower) on Pikk, one of the main pedestrianised routes running through all the way through the Old Town. In fact, none of the main sights were more than a 20 minute walk away. And after racking up 63,000 steps in Riga we were glad to be as close to the action as possible.

Of course, accommodation is more expensive within the Old Town Walls. You can check out the best Tallinn hotel deals here.

The check-in process by Alar is thorough. A little too thorough in fact. We have come across light switches before in our lifetime. And televisions. Which, when not connecting to a streaming service straight away, sends Alar into a spiral of panic resulting in an anxious phone call to Trinn. By which point, Mr Fletche has taken over the remote control and fixed the problem.

First Impressions of Tallinn

After finally being released by Alar to go about our trip, our first stop is Oleviste Kogudus (St Olaf’s Church) for panoramic views of the city. It’s only a few minutes walk from our apartment and we arrive just a few minutes before the final admission time. Closing time is in 30 minutes, so we don’t dawdle and climb the 238 steps. Thankfully our late entry means we’re not sharing the narrow stairwell with others; there’s just one gentleman at the top enjoying the peace and solitude. Until we arrive.

Admission to the viewing platform is €5pp, or free with the Tallinn Card.

For our first evening in Tallinn, I thought it would be nice to celebrate with traditional Estonian fare in the Old Town. The place that kept on cropping up when I was planning our trip was Restoran Olde Hansa. It was a must-do experience apparently. And initial impressions are good, as a wench in medieval garb shows us to a medieval closest to hang our not-so-medieval coats. But then we’re seated in what I could only describe as a passageway between two larger dining rooms. It’s dark and dingy, and smells a little too medieval.

Our waitress is off-hand, barely polite and certainly doesn’t give us the “medieval” rituals that the menu and its blurb promises, My tiny glass of red wine is €18. My dish is one of the cheapest on the menu at €32, yet it is distinctly average. We had eaten entire meals in Riga for €32. Including drinks. In all honesty, I can’t recommend Restoran Olde Hansa. The medieval vibe is fun but our experience didn’t match the prices. It’s a tourist trap. And this comes from a 100% self-confessed tourist.

After a disappointing meal, I hope the next venue “Gets The Balance Right” and I don’t suffer Mr Fletche’s “Condemnation”. DM Baar, tucked behind Raekoja plats, is an underground shrine to all things Depeche Mode. It’s red and black inside, with screens throughout showing live performances. It feels a bit like a seedy lap dancing club, except the men have come to worship the writhing semi-clad Dave Gahan. Doesn’t stop us from staying for a couple of beers though. It seems we “Just Can’t Get Enough”..

Our early impressions of Tallinn are not overly positive. It feels touristy and surprisingly expensive. We look forward to getting to know Tallinn a little more over the coming days. And maybe, we’ll come to love the city. It’s just “A Question of Time”. I’m going to stop with the Depeche Mode song titles now, and leave you to “Enjoy The Silence”.

Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

Day One of 48 hours in Tallinn: Creative Corners and Taproom Treats

We wake up in a more positive mood. We’ve written off last night’s disappointing restaurant choice. It’s time to explore. We grab a takeaway coffee and pastry from Kiosk before joining our Old Town “Tallinn in a Nutshell” Walking Tour. Our charismatic guide Kadri gives us a two-hour tour, taking in the upper town (Toompea) and sights such as the Danish King’s Garden, the Kiek in de Kök Museum, the iconic Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the Kohtuotsa and Patkuli viewing platforms.

Our free walking tour with EstAdventures deserved its own blog post! Read more here about our “Tallinn in a Nutshell” tour and all the quirky facts we learned (including Estonia’s most expensive public toilet, and how to say “Ice edge moon explorer ” in Estonian!

After racking up the steps pounding the cobbles of Toompea, we heed Kadri’s recommendation and head out of the Old Town for a spot of lunch and bric-a-brac browsing at Balti Jaama Turg. This foodie hotspot near Tallinn Railway Station features nearly 300 vendors offering local food, handcrafted goods and vintage artefacts across three floors. Caviar and mushrooms feature heavily. I highly recommend the samsa, an Uzbek savoury snack from Samsa Family Bakery. We’d definitely need more than 48 hours in Tallinn to sample all there is to offer.

From Balti Jaama Turg we are just steps away from Telliskivi Creative City. Established in 2009, Telliskivi is home to over 200 independent businesses in new and repurposed industrial buildings. The area offers spaces for galleries, designers, co-working, festivals, markets, cafes, exhibitions and wellbeing. Telliskivi is also a hotspot for street art, breweries and taprooms, making it quite the hipster area. Mr Fletche and I fit in quite well.

Naturally we sample a few of the local venues. We drink locally brewed beer at Purtse Tap Room and Vaat Brewery, and share a delicious platter of cheese, meats and pickles at a bustling and vibrant F-hoone. We managed to grab a walk-in table but I definitely recommend booking if you want to eat at F-Hoone. If you miss out, it’s easy to pop back to Balti Jaama to fill up there!

If you want to find out more about Balti Jaama Turg, Telliskivi, taprooms, and street art, I wrote a separate post on this creative neighbourhood – read all about Telliskivi Creative City here!

We’ve had a lovely first full day in Tallinn. In fact, this will be our ONLY full day in the city during our time in Tallinn. We may be warming to the city but tomorrow we are heading even further afield. To a whole different country in fact. We have a very early alarm set. Which means that instead of continuing drinking into the evening in Telliskivi, we sensibly call it a day and head back to our apartment. But not before a quick nightcap at Hell Hunt pub. After all, it’s practically next door. We prop up the bar and debate a second pint. But being sensible wins. Our alarms are set for 5am.

Day Two of 48 hours in Tallinn: Swapping Estonia for Finland, for one day only

The proximity of Tallinn to Helsinki meant it was a no-brainer for us to visit the third new country and capital city of our trip. Of course, there will be a full blog post coming soon on how to get there and how to see the best of Helsinki in just 12 hours.

As a little taster, we:

• Took a free walking tour (yes, another one), taking in Senate Square, Helsinki Cathedral, Market Square, Uspenski Cathedral, Esplanade and the Central Train Station
• Got chased by robot book collectors at Oodi Library before having lunch in the library cafe – an affordable option in an expensive city
• Visited Temppeliaukio Church, clambered over the iconic domes outside the Amos Rex Museum and waved hi to The Lantern Bearer statues outside Helsinki Railway Station.
• Shopped for souvenirs at one of the city’s Moomin stores
• Took a ride on the Helsinki Skywheel
• Had a beer at Helsinki Bryggeri Brewhouse before catching the tram back to the port

It was a LONG day. Our scheduled Bolt picked us up at 6:15am, getting to Terminal D in plenty of time for our 7:30 Tallink Ferry. We returned from Helsinki on the 19:30 ferry, disembarking just after 21:30. We hopped on a bus back to the Old Town, finally crashing into bed exhausted and foot-sore. Not helped by getting off the bus a stop too early. By the time we’ve worked out how to get back to the apartment we don’t even have enough energy to stroll the few steps to Hell Hunt.

I receive a message from Trinn, our AirBnB host. She’s granted our request for a late check-out as there are no new guests coming in for a couple of days. Which means no need to set an early alarm to pack, check-out and find luggage storage. And a relatively stress-free final day in Tallinn.

Day Three of 48 hours in Tallinn: Doors, Pancakes and Departure Day*

*(Yes, i know those maths don’t add up. But Day Two wasn’t technically spent in Tallinn)

There’s no rush to get up on our final morning. Our check-out time is now 7pm, and I’ve scheduled a Bolt to pick us up at 7:15pm. Which gives us almost another full day to explore Tallinn. And there’s plenty of items still to tick off the “48 hours in Tallinn” to-do list.

We spend a little time strolling around the Old Town, and with every little street or passageway we fall a little bit more in love with Tallinn. How could we not, when they have cute streets like this one below – Saiakang, which literally translates to “Bakery Passage”…

Or this one – St. Catherine’s Passage (Katariina Käik) is an enchanting medieval passageway lined with artisan workshops. 📍Location

Kalamaja, Port Noblessner – and Pohjala brewery 🍺

We leave the Old Town behind, retracing our steps of two days before towards Tallinn Station. We’re not heading to Telliskivi or Balti Jaama this time though. This time, we’re exploring Kalamaja, one of the oldest districts in Tallinn. Fishermen were the first to settle here back in the 13th century. In fact, the name Kalamaja literally means “Fish House”. This neighbourhood by the sea is full of wooden houses – many with elegant facades. The doors are the star here – my camera roll was full of them!

There are quirky stores, cute cafes and bakeries nestled amongst the houses, and Kalamaja is a sought-after neighbourhood now. Yep, the fishermen have moved out and the hipsters have moved in. We continue our stroll towards the coast. We kick some autumn leaves around as we stroll through Kalamaja Cemetery Park – a former burial ground.

The former submarine shipyards of Noblessner have been redeveloped and gentrified, with sparkling apartment buildings and funky lampposts which look like they’ve come straight out of a Pixar movie. There’s even a cool holiday resort on the seafront, made up entirely of black wooden igloos, which goes straight onto my “places to stay” list. Naturally, saunas feature.

We continue walking along the Noblessner promenade to Lennusadam. Here you can visit the highly rated Seaplane Harbour – a maritime museum housed in a seaplane hangar. It features interactive exhibits, including the Lembit submarine; the oldest wreck found in Estonian waters; and a replica of a World War I seaplane. Although we didn’t go inside, there are some outdoor exhibits which you can walk around – and in my case, clamber on like a small child.

Admission to the Seaplane Harbour and temporary exhibits is currently €20 for adults and €10 for children (aged 9-17; under 9s go free). It is free with the Tallinn Card.

It’s fair to say that Mr Fletche was in his element photographing the maritime hardware lying about:

We’ve had a lovely stroll in the autumn sunshine, but now it’s time for a cheeky lunchtime beer. Põhjala Brewery and Taproom have a huge two-storey location near Kalamaja Cemetery Park. The brewery and merch store is downstairs – oh how I wish we had time to book a tour and do a proper tasting! – and the taproom with around two dozen beers on tap is upstairs, with an outdoor patio. Oh, and a sauna. Of course. They have a full food menu too but I have other plans.

We leave Põhjala behind, and walk the 20 minutes back to the Old Town. Our morning pastry seems a lifetime ago, and I have my eye on pancakes for lunch. Not any old pancakes; pancakes from Kompressor. There’s a small queue but how long can it take for people to eat pancakes? It takes about 15 minutes to get seated – and then a similar time for us to peruse the menu. How many different kinds of pancakes can there be? We posit the idea of ordering a savoury selection to share plus a dessert pancake. But on seeing the size of the pancakes, we sensibly stick to one each plus wedges. And I probably only manage half of mine, so stuffed it is with salami, cheese and pickles. With meals that are cheap, delicious and filling, it’s no wonder Kompressor is so popular.

Time to work off those pancakes with a post-lunch walk on the ancient city walls. The walls were once part of Tallin’s medieval defence system, and offer wonderful views of the city. The city once has 46 defence towers and 4 kilometres of wall; today about 2 kilometres of wall and 26 towers remain.

Mr Fletche and I have a friendly debate about where the entrance might be. Turns out that despite all my research, Mr Fletche is right and I am wrong. Entrance is via a little cafe at the base of Munkadetagune Tower, admission is €4 per person, or free with the Tallinn Card.

Our final stop is for a fancy hot chocolate at Pierre Chocolaterie in the Masters Courtyard (📍Meistrite Hoov). It’s a spot that oozes with character and the perfect place to warm up on a sunny but chilly October afternoon.

We take a final stroll around Toompea Hill and to the viewing platforms for our final glimpses of Tallinn from above. Our time in Tallinn seems all too short. There are far too many cafes, bars and restaurants we haven’t visited. We begin to wonder if sacrificing one of our Tallinn days to an exhausting Helsinki day was a mistake. On our way to pick up our bags we linger over a final pint at Hell Hunt. We’ve become quite attached to our “local”.

We toy with the idea of taking Bus #2 from Linnahall to the airport. But I’m all for taking comfort and convenience over public transport these days, and after the success of our Bolt journey to the ferry terminal we pre-book a car to pick us up instead.

💰Our Bolt, from St Olaf’s Church to Tallinn Airport was €9,70. The journey takes 20 minutes. Estonia is actually the home of Bolt and we found it a reliable and cheap way to get around

Getting from Tallinn Airport to the Old Town (and vice versa)

Tallinn has an international airport which is connected to multiple airlines. To maximise the time on our Baltic trip we flew into Riga and flew out of Tallinn. We used Flixbus to connect between the two cities – you can find out more about our Riga to Tallinn experience here!

As our flight was late in the evening we decided to schedule a Bolt to pick us up from near our Old Town apartment. However public buses #2 or #15 run from outside the city walls to the airport in about 25 minutes. The Airport is around 5km from the Old Town.

Getting around Tallinn

The majority of Tallinn’s top attractions are centrally located, which means most places are easy to access by walking, especially if you’re staying in or near the Old Town. The only time we used public transport was from the bus station on arrival, and to and from the ferry port.

If you do want to hop on a bus, tickets can be purchased using the card reader onboard using any Visa, Mastercard or Maestro card. A single one-hour ticket is €2. There’s a one-day cap of €5,50, which is the same cost as a day ticket. Public transport is free with the Tallinn Card. You can find out more about Tallinn public transport tickets here! Tallinn also has a tram network which serves some of the city’s districts, and they are currently extending the network out to the port.

Uber and Bolt are readily available in Tallinn and are cheaper than regular taxis.

Final thoughts on Tallinn

Tallinn is bursting with wonderful things to see, do, eat and drink, with a fascinating history brought to life by our walking tour guide Kadri. After an unsure start, we quickly fell in love with this medieval city. Mr Fletche preferred it over Riga; I’m still undecided, with a lingering love for the Latvian capital.

48 hours in Tallin is an ideal length of time to visit, with an additional day if you want to scratch further beneath the surface of this fascinating city. Although we enjoyed our daytrip to Helsinki we’re a little sad that it meant a day less in Tallinn. We felt like we missed out a little, especially on the nightlife, with an early night before our 5am alarm call scuppering any plans of a bar crawl. We’d have liked to return to Telleskivi and its taprooms. We failed to visit cool bars like Whisper Sister and Sigmund Freud and Pööbel and Labor Baar. There wasn’t time to visit the KGB Museum, Kadriorg Palace or Kiek in Kok. And other highlights, not beginning with a “K”.

Is Tallinn worth visiting? Absolutely! But maybe give those tourist trap restaurants a swerve.

I try my hardest to keep the information in this travel guide up to date; however if you notice anything has changed please let me know! Happy travels, Emmalene