We spent two full days exploring Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia. The historic walled Old Town with 20 remaining observation towers impressively dates back to the 14th century. The pastel colored buildings and medieval churches charmed us while the craft beer and vegan cuisine left our mouths watering. While we spent most our two days eating and drinking in Tallinn, we did put in over 20,000 steps each day and covered a lot of the city. Keep reading for our list of places to see and the best spots to eat and drink during two days in Tallinn!
Places to See
Alexander Nevesky’s Cathedral – There are several cathedrals and churches in Tallinn this post highlights a few of them. As you wander through the city you will surely find many picturesque churches to photograph.
Viewing Platforms – We are suckers for a good viewpoint of a city. Tallinn has several viewpoints that are worth the stair climb!
Alexander Nevesky’s Cathedral View from one viewing platform
Tower’s Square – Almost 2km of Tallinn’s city walls and 20 observation towers are still standing! This park has the best viewpoint of consecutive towers. We felt as though we walked straight into a fairy tale.
View from Tower’s Square
St. Olaf’s Church – The tall green steeple can be seen throughout the city. It was the first place that we saw when we arrived in Tallinn.
St. Catherine’s Street – A beautiful street tucked in the middle of Old Town, but surprisingly overlooked by many. St. Catherine’s Monastery is the oldest building in Tallinn and dates back to 1246.
St. Olaf’s Church St. Catherine’s Street
Linnahall – A rundown event venue that is right along the water. There is graffiti and litter all around, but it is a cool place to take photos. There are plans to renovate and clean up the venue by 2020.
Culture Kilometer – A seaside walk that spans from Linnahall to Kalamaja Cemetery. There is a lot to see along this path including rundown factories, an old prison, and the Maritime Museum. It is a beautiful walk along the water, especially on a nice day!
Maritime Museum and Seaplane Harbor – Chris mentioned the Maritime Museum several times and as much as I tried to ignore the comments we ended up visiting the museum. A 14€ ticket price per person was hefty, but I will admit the museum was nicely done. We spent two hours here, but could have easily spent longer with the amount of interactive exhibits and boats outside to explore. Bottom line: I would recommend visiting if you have kids, a great love of all things maritime, or if you have cold and rainy weather. Otherwise there are plenty of other activities to enjoy during your visit to Tallinn.
Linnahall Maritime museum We found a barbed wire heart walking along the culture kilometer.
Where to Eat & Drink
Vegan Restoran V – Simply named, but nothing plain about the menu. There are many tasty vegan dishes available at this beautiful spot in Old Town. Chris had the spicy tacos and I had thai curry. If we had more time we would have come back here to try the rest of the menu!
Burger Box – I know what you are thinking, what are a couple of vegetarians doing at a burger joint? I’ve got two words for you – Falafel Burger. This tiny “box” restaurant offers two burger options for you meat eaters, but also has an amazing vegan falafel burger and hot crispy fries. There is a craft beer spot right next door, unfortunately we didn’t get to try it out as it was closed for a private event.
Vegan Restoran V has amazing food! Falafel burger from Burger Box
Koht – A small brewpub in Old Town that has an extensive selection of beer from around the world. The menu is the size of an encyclopedia, but Chris was in his element here! He had a raspberry sour and a barrel aged sour cherry ale. Both which he enjoyed but he loved the raspberry sour. Go figure. This bar stays open late and by late we actually mean 7am more like early morning!
ROST Bakery – This bakery was located right next to our AirBnB and dare I say it had the best cinnamon roll I have ever tasted (and I have had many cinnamon rolls in my life). Fresh out of the oven, the layered bun was packed with cinnamon and not overwhelmed with icing. Chris opted for a croissant which he claims was also good, but since he kept stealing bites of mine, I am pretty confident the cinnamon roll stole the show.
Puu – We failed at getting a picture of this brew spot, but that’s because Chris met his new Tallinn best friend or doppelgänger? The bartender, Marco, helped us find some great beer and chatted with us during our visit. Let’s just say Chris and Marco could not have had more in common and the conversation never stopped.
F. Hoone – The Telliskivi area (or hipster area) of Tallinn is awesome. Filled with street art and several good restaurants, we gave F. Hoone a try for a quick snack. We split an order of pierogis which brought back memories of Poland, but I would argue that the fresh spices used at F. Hoone gave the dish an edge. I wish we had more time to try other menu items, but from the other meals I saw everything looked amazing.
Rataskaevu 16 – We saved the best for last with the most highly rated restaurant in Tallinn. The restaurant actually has no name as Rataskavu 16 is the address. The food is excellent and the prices are reasonable, well expensive for Estonia, but on par with dinner prices in Helsinki! Reservations are necessary to eat here, but easy to do if you plan in advance and send them an e-mail.
Telliskivi has great food, drink, and street art! Bread pudding for dessert at Rataskaevu 16
We didn’t follow a set itinerary during our two days in Tallinn, but it didn’t matter because everything is in walking distance. Part of the fun was wandering around Old Town and trying to figure out if we had been there before! We traveled to Tallinn by ferry Helsinki – Check out our 5 tips for traveling to Tallinn by ferry from Helsinki.
