Top 10 Things to Do in Tallinn, Ranked
Tallinn Old Town rooftops from Toompea viewing platform
A committed order for 10 experiences that actually define Tallinn — with what to skip and what to book first.
1. Walk the Old Town walls from Hellemann Tower
Start at Hellemann Tower on Muurivahe, pay the €3 entry, and walk the covered wall-walk toward Nunna Tower. This is the single densest hit of medieval Tallinn: red-tile roofs slipping downhill, the spire of Oleviste stabbing up on your left, and the cobbled lane of Muurivahe where knit-sellers spread shawls against the limestone. It takes 20 minutes end to end and it costs less than a beer.
Do it first, do it early — before 10am the wall is empty and the light hits the roofs from the east. If you only do one Old Town thing, this is it. Skip the paid Town Hall Tower unless you specifically want the highest point; the view from the walls is lower but far more atmospheric because you are inside the medieval fabric, not looking down on it from a stone chimney.
2. Eat a full lunch at Rae Meierei or Rado in the Balti Jaam Market
Balti Jaam Turg, five minutes on foot from Old Town through the Viru gate and out past Solaris, is where locals actually eat. Upstairs, Rado does one of the best pelmeni plates in the city for around €9; Rae Meierei sells raw-milk cheese by weight; the ground floor has smoked eel, black bread and pickled lamprey. This is not a tourist market pretending to be authentic. It is the market, full stop.
Budget €15-20 for lunch with a drink. Come hungry and graze — a smoked-fish sandwich here, a bowl of solyanka there, a slice of kohupiimakook from the bakery for dessert. Avoid the sushi counter (fine but pointless when you’re 400km from any ocean worth caring about) and the generic burger stall. Go for what Estonia does well: fermented, smoked, dairy-heavy, forest-adjacent.
3. Take the 1A tram to Kadriorg and walk to KUMU
The 1A tram from Hobujaama drops you at Kadriorg in 12 minutes for €2 on a Tallinn card. Walk the linden avenue up to Peter the Great's pink baroque palace, cut left through the Japanese garden, and continue 400 metres to KUMU, Estonia's national art museum. Entry is €12 and you need two hours minimum. The permanent collection of Soviet-era nonconformist painting on the fourth floor is the reason to come.
Pair it with a coffee at NOP on Koidula street on your way back — cinnamon buns, sourdough, oat lattes, the whole Kalamaja-in-Kadriorg thing. Kadriorg Park itself is free, quiet, and full of dog-walkers rather than tourists once you’re 200 metres off the palace axis. This is the antidote to Old Town fatigue and should be your afternoon on day two.
4. Do the Telliskivi + Balti Jaam + Kalamaja loop on foot
Cross the railway from Balti Jaam market and you land in Telliskivi Creative City: old Soviet factory sheds turned into F-hoone (Estonian comfort food, mains €11-15), Fotografiska (photography museum, €14), Sfaar (wine bar), and a Sunday flea market that starts at 10am. Keep walking north on Telliskivi street, turn right at Kopli, and you’re in Kalamaja proper — wooden houses painted mustard, ochre and dove-grey, gardens spilling lilac over picket fences.
End the walk at Kalamaja kalmistupark, the old cemetery-turned-park, then double back to Pohjala Tap Room in the old rubber factory on Marati for a stout. This loop is three hours with stops, five with lunch, and it is the best way to understand why people who live in Tallinn actually live in Tallinn rather than Vanalinn.
5. Spend a half-day at Seaplane Harbour (Lennusadam)
Lennusadam, part of the Maritime Museum, occupies a 1917 seaplane hangar with the world's first reinforced concrete shell dome. Inside: a full-size 1930s submarine you climb through, ice-yachts, mines, a replica Short 184 seaplane hanging from the roof. Entry is €18, and it is genuinely worth it — this is not a museum that pretends. Two hours minimum, three if you have kids, and the outdoor pier with the Suur Toll icebreaker is included.
It is a 20-minute walk from Old Town along Kalaranna, or 8 minutes on bus 73. Combine it with lunch at Noa Chef's Hall on the way back if you want a splurge (€60 tasting) or Kai Kohvik at Noblessner for something lighter. If it's raining and you have a family, move this to number two.
6. Climb Oleviste church tower for the highest view
Oleviste (St Olaf's) on Lai street charges €5 and makes you climb 232 narrow spiral steps with no landings and no going back. The reward is a 124-metre panorama over Old Town, the port, the Viru Hotel, and on clear days all the way to Naissaar island. Open April to October only. Go at opening (10am) or the last hour before close to avoid the queue on the stair.
Skip if you have knee trouble, mild claustrophobia, or are visiting in winter when it's closed. As a view it beats the free Kohtuotsa and Patkuli platforms on Toompea for sheer height, but those two are better for photographs of the roofscape because you’re at roof level rather than looking straight down. Do Oleviste for the physical feat; do Kohtuotsa for the postcard.
7. Day-trip to Lahemaa National Park
Lahemaa is an hour east by car, two by bus 151 from Balti Jaam to Palmse. Bogs on wooden boardwalks (Viru Raba is the classic, 3.5km loop, free), 19th-century manor houses (Palmse and Sagadi, €8 each), fishing villages like Altja with reconstructed net-sheds, and Baltic coastline with erratic boulders the size of cars. If you have one day to leave Tallinn, this is the day.
A guided tour with Traveller Tours or Reisiproff runs €65-80 and includes Jagala waterfall on the way. Self-driving is cheaper and more flexible if you have a licence — rentals from €35/day at Sixt or Green Motion. Pack waterproof shoes even in July; the bog boardwalks get slippery and the coastal path at Altja crosses actual sand. Bring cash for the manor cafés.
8. Sauna evening at Iglupark or Kalma Saun
Iglupark at Noblessner has private wood-fired sauna huts on the waterfront for €70/hour for up to six people, with a cold plunge straight into the Baltic. Book two weeks ahead in winter, one week in summer. This is the Instagram version and it is genuinely lovely, especially with snow on the pier. Bring towels, swimsuits and a bottle of something.
The unglamorous version is Kalma Saun on Vana-Kalamaja, open since 1928, €12 for public sauna, separate men's and women's sides, elderly regulars, birch whisks for sale at the door. This is the real thing and it is not curated for you. Go on a Thursday evening, follow what the locals do, don’t take photos, drink kali afterwards from the vending machine. Pick one — they are opposite ends of the same tradition.
Before you book
The questions people ask about Toompea, answered with this month’s numbers.
Realistically five: Old Town walls, Balti Jaam lunch, Kadriorg with KUMU, the Telliskivi-Kalamaja loop, and one evening activity (Iglupark or Oleviste). Lahemaa needs a full day and Lennusadam needs half. A three-night trip covers eight of the ten comfortably at a relaxed pace.
Tallinn TV Tower (long tram ride for a middling view), Estonian Open Air Museum (worthwhile but repetitive if you’ve already walked Kalamaja), and the Viru KGB Museum on the 23rd floor (interesting but 45 minutes total and hard to book). All fine as a fourth-day addition, none essential.
The 48-hour Tallinn Card at €55 covers KUMU, Lennusadam, Oleviste, unlimited trams and the wall-walk, saving roughly €15-20 over paying individually if you do three or more of the paid sights. Skip it if you’re mainly walking Old Town and eating.
