Tallinn in winter
Fairytale buildings, snowy landscapes, saunas and british stags……Tallinn seems to be known for pretty specific reasons but I’ve been desperate to go for a while and it didn’t disappoint.
I’m not going to lie, this is largely an account of how much food I ate in 3 days. As we were child free, we were seeking some relaxation, food drinks and pretty streets to wander and it certainly delivered on those fronts. I think one of my favourite things about Tallinn is there isn’t a tick list of sights, you can just go and soak in the pretty town, eat glorious food, enjoy the sauna culture and enjoy the snow.
The low-down:
Flights-Ryanair cheap job £73 each return from Stansted (that included 2 bags between 4 of us)
Hotel-Raddisson Blu Olumpia fab hotel with small (but lovely pool and sauna on top floor). Easy walk to the old town, around 15 minutes and rooms were clean and comfortable. It was £269 for 2 for 3 nights. We wanted a nice hotel but you get some amazing airbnbs which are great value!
Spends- £150 for 3 nights (Friday to Monday)
Activities- 2 hour spa visit at Tallink spa and hotel which came in at 20 euros. Everything else we did was free (exploring) or involved eating.
Logistics-5-10 euros to get from the airport and only a 10 minute drive, you can get a local cab or an uber (not much price difference). We also got a taxi to Kalamaja as the snow was pretty heavy but we walked back, the city is very walkable but when the taxis are cheap and the weather is really cold we succumbed. You can head to the port to get a ferry to Riga, Helsinki, St Peters and Stockholm. (Around 20 euros for a day return to helsinki and 2 hours each way).
How we spent our 3 days
Friday- Lunch at Lido. So apparently Lido is a bit of an institution in Tallinn, it’s a buffet restaurant in the Solaris shopping mall (about 5 minutes from our hotel and about the same from the old town). You go in and its a buffet, some self serve and some you ask the folk behind the counter. The selection is amazing and its really hard not to eat everything, you are best looking around first to scope out what you’d like. The fried potatoes are a must and there os tonnes of meat, fish, vegetable dishes, desserts, pancake bar, salad bar, soups, bread-basically everything. The food is delicious, my only criticism is can be a bit cold-maybe because we visited during a quieter time. Its super cheap (you pay per item) a huge plate of potatoes is about 1 euro 50 and meats and fish tend to be 2-4 euros…….for 2 big plates of food and a salad plate and mulled wine I paid 13 euro but you could seriously spend less, I’m just greedy! After a quick walk round the old town I made the team trek to Rost for coffee and cardamom buns and also a little stop off at the iconic Kalev chocolate shop. On the way back I dragged everyone to Babulja for THE most incredible giant blinis (the soured cream type with apple and the cheese and ham……YOU ARE WELCOME) and some pretty awesome cocktails.
Blinis at Babuljka
Saturday- We chose not to have breakfast at our hotel as it was on the pricey side and well thats my favourite meal of the day. We headed in an uber to Telliskivi creative quarter which is a magical little community in the old fishing town of Kalamaja. Think east london/brick lane meets a cool european food market. As we were out a bit late we missed breakfast at the super popular Fhoone (I would recommend booking) and ended up having lunch which was pretty awesome. We also wandered round the indie, arty shops which is absolutely my bag and if you are a keen photographer and enjoy street art this is the area for you! I would 100% take a trip to the Balti Jaama food market as its like a estonian version of the mercado de la boqueria in barcelona you can get so much, the usual fresh stuff but also hot street food and there’s a vintage and flea market upstairs-try the bao buns there too. From here it’s an easy walk to the old town and we walked round the walls, saw some pretty impressive look-outs, the stunning Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and explored the cute alley-ways. In the square look out for the town hall, there’s the coolest little pub called III Draakon, everyone’s dressed in medieval clothing and it’s super dark inside, you can get beer, cider and possibly wine, they have pies for snacking (Apple alllllll day) for about a euro and elk soup for about 1.50. It’s criticised a fair bit as being a novelty and the staff being quite rude but we loved it and found the staff lovely so I would put it on the list!
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
Pegasus-Ok I’m going to talk about Pegasus. I was told to go to Rataskaevu 16 which is voted the best restaurant in the city. We couldn’t get in so booked at their sister restaurant Pegasus. It was incredible. The service, the food, cocktails, the best bread and butter I’ve ever eaten (I’ve eaten a lot) all those little details. For the quality it was so reasonably priced and I can’t wait to return. I had the beef tail confit and then the Roe deer striploin and they were unreal…..they were also so good at catering for my sisters dairy allergy and even though they tweaked her dish really put loads of thought into her alternative. When I go back to Tallinn in june I am definitely going to book Rataskaevu as they even have a children’s play area which is pretty much the dream for a food-loving mama.
Sunday-Sunday was our chill day started off with pancakes at the famous Kompressor. It’s apparently the only restaurant in the old town locals will actually eat as its so authentic and the portions are huge. For about 10 euros I got a coffee, a coke (I was hanging-don’t judge) a huge pancake, garlic bread side and potato balls. The garlic bread is weird like deep fried rye bread with a garlicky dip-still delish though, you can get sweet and savoury pancakes, both yum and you order at the counter. Again service is very eastern europe, direct but for me friendly and I would again say you need to book but you need to go. In the afternoon we headed to the Tallink spa and conference centre for a relaxation sesh….weekdays are cheaper at 14 euros for 3 hours but as it was the weekend it was 20 euros. It’s not that fancy but we had a fab time, there’s lots of different sauna rooms which is expected in the land of saunas and some cool pools and my favourite part, a swim up bar. Kids are welcome too and you can stay there. We were tempted by this hotel but they are renovating which put me off slightly. We had a super fun and relaxing afternoon.
That evening we wanted to head to Kaja pizza Kook but gutted to find they had shut (our mistake as they close when they run out of dough, as we were back near Telleskivi we thought we would check out Lendav Taldrik which is a quirky indian restaurant with high ceilings and old fashioned tables. The food was good (similar to uk prices) but portions were huge. I think they do a lunch deal too. There are conflicting reviews for this place about horrible service but again we enjoyed our food and service was good for us.
Our flight home was fairly early Monday and I would of happily spent a week there 3 days is enough to do plenty. I am returning in June as part of my Scandinavia and Baltics tour with the smalls and there’s a few things I will check out that I didn’t do this time:
Kadriorg palace and gardens
Lahemaa national park
Seaplane harbour maritime museum
The beach
The edgewalk at TV Tower
BIking tour
I also have more restaurants I want to visit but if anyone has anymore tips for Tallinn or Estonia in general please drop them in the comments.
Old town walls
Town square in the evening
