Few months ago I’ve done a sensational trip to the Baltics. In this article I’m not just going to explain why we should visit this area but also I’m gonna share 3 reasons why we should extend our trip a few days longer. Welcome to the beautiful Tallinn in Estonia.

So I was in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, when we were still allowed to travel few months ago. I expected to see a cultural city with mainly Russian influence and relatively something to see in 24 hours. Fortunately, I was very, very wrong. I stayed 5 days and it was absolutely stunning.

Bear in mind, I’m not the same guy like 10 years ago doing 5 countries in a week. These days, I’m a slow traveller, perhaps the older I get, the more I enjoy chewing the places I visit. So I extended my trip because I didn’t just want to take photos but also enjoyed different corners of the city and nearby areas.

I feel like sometimes it’s worth spending extra time to get a better flavour. Yes, I get it. We have a full time job and we don’t have much time…. but hey these are just thoughts and how I enjoy my trips these days.

Whenever possible it’s great to meet locals, understand how they live, what they eat, what they like, what they don’t like, how they see the world and also to document as much as I can at my own pace.

So let’s talk about the 3 reasons why we should stay longer in Tallinn:

1. Old Town
2. Coffee & Art
3. Brain Expansion

Actually, I’ve just made a video about it in case you don’t feel like reading the full article:

1. Old Town

Let’s recap. Estonia was once a Socialist Republic but in reality the Estonian culture takes little influence from Russian culture and instead positions itself closer to its Nordic neighbours, like Finland. Since gaining independence in 1991, the country’s joined the EU and has firmly positioned itself as politically, culturally and economically Western.

From my perspective this is the best preserved medieval city in Northern Europe. It looks like a fairy tale with unbelievable Gothic spires, cobblestone streets, warehouses (going back to Middle Ages), barns and stunning architecture. In fact, it’s been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. To me the Old Town feels mystical, mesmerising and addictive.

It was once a home to wealthy merchants settling from Germany and Denmark, but today… it’s a different story, it has plenty of restaurants, bars, museums and galleries bringing so much life to this historical city centre.

In terms of accommodation, we stayed at the Hotel Telegraaf and it was super well located. There’s absolutely no need to stay there but just because I had some points, I decided to use them, so it ended up being a good deal.

From the airport, we can definitely take the tram but because we were 2 and it was quite late, we got a Bolt. We paid like €5 or €6 to the Old Town. Remember that Estonia is the house of Bolt! We’re gonna talk about Estonian start ups a bit later.

Getting lost. Getting lost in the alleys of Tallinn Old Town is a great idea. There are passages everywhere. One particularly interesting is St. Catherine’s Passage. It was built by monks back in the 13th century.

Nowadays, the medieval spark is still there and the atmosphere with artisans and exhibitions gives a little modern look while still preserving the ambiance.

See Tallinn From The Top. There’s a place called Kohtuotsa in the northern side of Toompea hill. This is the viewing platform where we can see the red roofs and towers of the Old Town. In fact, if we have good eyes, we can see in the background the Gulf of Finland and the port.

There’s so many other places to see such as the Pikk Hermann Tower, Toompea Castle, Town Hall Square, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Šnelli park and Estonian Open-Air Museum to name some.

2. Coffee & Art

There’s something about Tallinn and Coffee. Perhaps a bit of Finnish influence but there are sensational coffee shops everywhere. There are 3 that I wanna quickly mention (no, again this not a sponsored video, but our real and humble experience!)

1. Väike Lisanna. Amazing coffee shop with a Scandinavian vibe, candles and great deco. Tons of alternative milk for vegetarians or vegans. I had many coffees here but what I loved the most was the berries & nuts bowl for breakfast!

2. Suur Lisanna. Same owner but smaller coffee shop. You have to be lucky to get a table but you can do take away in any case. My favourite here was the flat white with oat milk.

3. Toormoor. This is like having coffee in an art exhibition gallery. The coffee was slightly less good than Lisanna but they had some mind blowing meals… like WOW! We tried some cabbage bread with local hummus and it was super tasty and creative. In fact, we had never tried cabbage bread! I became a fan of Estonian bread. I’m talking to you now and I’m so hungry that I wish I had a Northern European shop nearby!

Overall I felt like the coffee experience in Tallinn was just so real. Like, when I think about coffee for me there are 2 factors:

a) Technical. This is about having a good balance of acidity, sweetness and bitterness in one sip with a smooth flavour and no off-notes. I don’t like it burnt or raw. I’m by no means an expert, but that’s how I like it.

b) How does the place make me feel? And this is even more important than the technical side. For me having coffee it’s not just to drink something hot but it’s a taking a break from the reality. It’s like an open eyes meditation where I pay more attention to what’s around me while I release some stress. So it’s super important the context or the place I’ll be buying my coffee. In many places in Tallinn I found myself in the right atmosphere to enjoy coffee which ultimately improved my state of mind.

3. Brain Expansion

When I think about Tallinn, I try to think about the context. So I think about Estonia itself and there are so many different things contributing to their success as a society and we can see a lot obviously in Tallinn because 1/3 of the population live there. But I wanna share 6 real examples:

1.First Female President and Youngest of all time. In October 2016, Estonia elected its first female president (Kersti Kaljulaid), becoming the first woman and youngest person ever to hold the position in the country, age 46 at the time of her election.

2.Digital Society. Estonia has also fully digitised its government services and it was the first country in the world to allow its citizens to vote online in 2005. The country is probably the most digitally advanced society in the world and all government services are available online. It’s what they called e-Estonia. From voting to signing documents online.

3.Free Public Transport. The city also rolled out free public transport for residents in 2013, and is now making around $20 million dollars a year in profit from the project.

4.Silicon Valley of Europe. Tallinn is the “Silicon Valley of Europe” as it has more startups per person than any other European country. Many of these small business have actually grown into global companies like Skype. In fact, Estonia’s economy and culture is heavily focused on technology. In 2000, the country declared internet access to be a human right and has since established hundreds of free wifi zones. So travelling throughout Estonia is incredibly slick with WiFi hotspots all over the country (even in many forests).

5.Clean Air. Perhaps not surprising given the abundance of green spaces (50% of the country is forest), but Estonia has some of the cleanest air in the world. The country ranks right up there for clear air indexes with other sustainable countries such as Finland and Iceland.

6.Education. They have 99.8% literacy rate and most them speak multiple languages besides their native one. So it’s not strange to see them speaking English, Russian, German and Finnish.

There’s no doubt Estonia is modern, progressive and highly developed. The country has high-income, and consistently ranks highly in education, press freedom, quality of life and overall human development. If we forget about the challenging winters, life in Estonia doesn’t sound too bad… and Tallinn is definitely a place I’d love to come back.

If you want to read more about the Baltics, you can have a look at this article: Is Tallinn Old Town The Most Beautiful In Europe? or this one 3 Things I Learnt From The Baltics

Where are you going next?