Tallinn

Scrug

Scrug

Well-known member
Just booked to go with the missus on Feb. Average temperature around then is -9. Should be fun.

Anyone been and have recommendations etc?
 
Interested to see responses - did a deep dive on Estonia the other day while bored at work researching holidays, and it looks fantastic (y)
 
Went donkeys years ago. It is bitter even Baltic this time of the year. All I can remember is a brewery with a bar attached. You get a beer menu and a glass size menu and a place called Kiek in de kok, which made me chortle.
 
Scrug said:
Just booked to go with the missus on Feb. Average temperature around then is -9. Should be fun.

Anyone been and have recommendations etc?
Click to expand...
I’d recommend the Berghaus Nitherdown Insulated coat from Go Outdoors at £129
 
Cracking City
The old town is a must do
As it’s winter should be quiet
 
Went in winter, great city, really enjoyed it. The German brewery pub is good, nice food, brill beer.
 
I haven't been since around the year 2000 when I made a film for the BBC Holiday programme about Tallinn. I really liked it. The centre/old town is pretty and it is compact. Very easy to walk around. The city walls are intact in many places and worth a look/walk around. There are nice parks. The beaches aren't particularly attractive, but you won't be seeing them in the winter. Things I remember: lots of Finns who come over on the ferry for to drink cheaply, get stupidly ***ed and fight each other. Nutters; there's a bar dedicated to Depeche Mode (I believe it is still there); Club Hollywood .... a large nightclub where impossibly beautiful Estonian girls go to try and find a Western man with money (this may not be the case any more). The Estonian men were generally buzz cut brutes ... again, this may have changed. There was a lot of antipathy between the Estonians and the Russians who still lived there ... not sure if the Russians are still about, but when I went it wasn't toolong after the soviet occupation. The secret police HQ was still there ... many Estonians were tortured there. I remember it being incredibly advance technologically. Parking was already done by phone/internet for instance. They were extremely IT savvy. One day a week there was a big flea market down by the docks, where you could buy all sorts of old Russian/Soviet stuff .... uniforms, boots, firearms etc. as well as other flea market stuff. In the forest just to the East of Tallinn, near the old Olympic Viallage, you could visit the site where Joey Dunlop met his maker. It's not an excusion I'd recommend really. There were good restaurants, bars and clubs in the old town .... I remember one which served up "traditional" fayre, including bear meat. Word of warning ... it's extremely easy to fall in love with those Estonian lasses .... we actually lost our sound recordist to one.
 
If you haven't already booked your hotel then make sure you get one in the Old Town, which is stunning (UNESCO world heritage). Clearly you're going to have to embrace the fact that it will be extremely cold with only a limited number of hours of light (it's at a higher latitude than Northern Scotland). Fortunately there are things to do in the winter - there's a beautiful ice rink in the Old town, you should walk the walls, and then warm up by going somewhere inside to try glögi or hõõgwein, Estonian-style mulled wine.

Haven't been recently so not got up to date restaurant recommendations but the food scene is impressive, international and (certainly used to be) inexpensive.
 
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