Tallinn Travel Guide

When they founded it in the early 13th century, the Danes must have known they’d latched onto something big for they quickly fortified this settlement in the north of the oh-so-cool Estonia. Tallinn rapidly went on to become a leading light in the Hanseatic League, and by the number of times it changed hands – evidence of the amount of interest the city generated – it seems the Danes were dead accurate.

Tallinn, pronounced Tah’linn, a conflation of taani and linnus for ‘Danish’ and ‘fort’ is where the natty new meets the obdurate old, and the two get on like a house on fire. Today’s Tallinn, with its cobbled streets often slick with rain, breezy bars and cool cafes, with Russian domes, Hanseatic towers, Danish castles, Soviet suburbs and the calmness of an Estonian, is an achingly beautiful city.

The Estonian language spoken in Tallinn is one of the most difficult languages to learn, being a mix of Finnish and Hungarian.

Beer is very cheap in Tallinn and so ferry loads of Finns descend into Tallinn to take advantage of the low prices here!