A day in Tallin, Estonia!

Why did I choose Tallinn, Estonia?
For Thanksgiving, we planned on going to Finland. After planning our time in Helsinki (capital of Finland) and Ivalo (northern Finland), we noticed we had an extra day to spare. There are a few countries close by to Finland where we wouldn’t need a plane to get to: Russia, Sweden, and Estonia. I had been to Russia and Sweden before and I loved both, so it would had been great to see those places again. I had never thought of going to Estonia before, but after doing some research, I knew it would be perfect for a day trip to Tallinn, the capital city. It is just a couple hours away from Helsinki by boat and is a cute little town with Russian influence (I loved the architecture in Russia).

Communication
Easy, since everyone speaks English

Currency
Euro
Click here to check currency exchange site

My Travel Time
Late November
The one day we went to Estonia, it just happened to be super cold and windy! You’ll need a heavy coat. It started snowing the moment we got there – there was a lot of it too. It was so pretty because it was a first layer of snow on the city which covered it in white. Tallinn was looking magical.
Click here to check the weather
Click here to check when the sun rises and sets

My Flight Details
Airline: Finnair, JFK – HEL (8 hr flight)
We took a ferry to Tallinn from Helsinki. It felt like we were on a cruise ship as there were restaurants, nap rooms, a super market, and a couple stores in the boat. We had Burger King on the boat as a quick snack. There are a few ferries, but we chose Tallink. It runs multiple times per day and is 24 Euro per person for a round trip. We did research ahead of time and read that Tallink rarely cancels/reschedules trips due to inclement weather and since we wanted the trip to go perfectly, we chose Tallink. In Helsinki, the ferry left from Helsinki West Harbor Terminal 2 and in Tallinn, the ferry left from Tallinn Port D-Terminal.

My Hotel Details
We didn’t stay in Tallinn since it was a day trip and we were able to complete all the things we wanted to do there!
Click here for our hotel details in Helsinki (coming soon)

My Tallinn, Estonia Trip Itinerary 
Day 1
We spent most of the day in the old town except Kadriorg Park – it was around 1.5 hours of walking
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral: The cathedral is so pretty – it reminded me of a lot of the cathedrals I saw in Russia.
Kohtuotsa Viewing Platform/St. Olaf’s: This was honestly an amazing view of Tallinn, especially with all the buildings freshly coated in snow on the red roofs.
Town Hall Square: In the town center, there was a cute Christmas market with a few stalls and a Christmas tree. Loved the holiday spirit they had here.
Maiasmokk Cafe: Dustin and I love trying the best food/desserts/drinks when we’re in another country. No joke – this is in my top 3 best hot chocolates I’ve ever had. The cup of hot chocolate is huge. Maybe it was the cold snowy day that made me appreciate my hot drink a little more. There are desserts and chocolate in here too.
Rataskaevu 16: They give you so much bread here and in Finland – we love it. We got the pumpkin soup, pork belly, and salmon. All three were delicious and light.
Kadriorg Park/Kadriorg Palace: The palace was a gorgeous red and white color with a beautiful garden in front. The garden was covered in snow, but there’s a stunning design when it isn’t. The park is pretty big and there’s so much to see in just the park. This was the farthest sight in our day trip. We took the number 1 tram from “Mere puiestee” to “Kadriorg” (was around 2 Euros per person). On the way back, we hopped on the 1 again from the same stop we were dropped off since the tram goes in a circle. We stopped at Tallinna Ulikool since it was closer to the ferry terminal.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral