Old Town
Dating from the 13th century, the imposing St Nicholas' Church (Niguliste kirik) was badly damaged by Soviet bombers in 1944 and a fire in the 1980s, but…
Must-see attractions in Estonia
Tallinn
This sprawling ethnographic and architectural complex comprises 80 historic Estonian buildings, plucked from across the country and resurrected in…
Kadriorg
This futuristic, Finnish-designed, seven-storey building is a spectacular structure of limestone, glass and copper that integrates intelligently into the…
Old Town
Completed in 1404, this is the only surviving Gothic town hall in northern Europe. Inside, you can visit the Trade Hall (whose visitor book drips with…
Old Town
The Great Guild Hall (1410) is a wonderfully complete testament to the power of Tallinn's medieval trade guilds. Now a branch of the Estonian History…
Western Estonia & the Islands
Majestic Kuressaare Castle stands facing the sea at the southern end of the town, on an artificial island defended by stone-faced earth bastions and…
Kadriorg
Kadriorg Palace, a baroque beauty built by Peter the Great between 1718 and 1736, houses a branch of the Art Museum of Estonia devoted to Dutch, German…
Kalamaja & Telliskivi
When this cavernous, triple-domed building was completed in 1917, its reinforced-concrete shell-frame construction was unique in the world. Resembling a…
Southern Estonia
Strikingly set on a bluff above the Piusa River in western Setomaa, the photogenic ruins of one of Estonia's greatest medieval strongholds and places of…
Tartu
Atop Toomemägi are the ruins of a Gothic cathedral, built in the 13th century by the knights of the Livonian Order after driving the pagan Estonians from…
Estonia
Begun by the Danes at the end of the 13th century and strengthened by successive owners including Germans, Swedes and Russians, this castle, along with…
Tartu
A treat for word nerds, design hounds and print junkies alike, this interactive museum focuses on the history of printing and paper-making. Machinery from…
Western Estonia & the Islands
Koguva is an exceptionally well preserved, traditional Muhu village, now protected as an open-air museum. One ticket allows you to wander through an old…
Tartu
This immense, low-slung, glass-clad building is arresting – both Estonians and architecture lovers purred when it opened in late 2016. The permanent…
Kalamaja & Telliskivi
Once literally on the wrong side of the tracks, this set of abandoned factory buildings is now Tallinn's most alternative shopping and entertainment…
Western Estonia & the Islands
Pärnu’s long, broad, sandy beach – sprinkled with volleyball courts, pop-up bars, cafes and changing cubicles – is the city’s main draw in summer. A…
Western Estonia & the Islands
Pärnu's former Communist Party headquarters now houses one of Estonia's edgiest cultural spaces, established in 1992 as the country's first museum of…
Viljandi Teutonic Order Castle
Southern Estonia
Set within a lush park on the natural defensive prominence of Lossimäed, the scant-yet-evocative remains of Viljandi's powerful castle form a picturesque…
Kadriorg
About 2km east of Old Town, this beautiful park’s ample acreage is Tallinn’s favourite patch of green. Together with the baroque Kadriorg Palace, its 70…
Old Town
In Tallinn all roads lead to Raekoja plats, the city's pulsing heart since markets began setting up here in the 11th century. One side is dominated by the…
Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral
Old Town
The positioning of this magnificent, onion-domed Russian Orthodox cathedral (completed in 1900) at the heart of the country's main administrative hub was…
Western Estonia & the Islands
A twitcher’s paradise, Matsalu is a prime migration and breeding ground for the Baltic and Europe generally: some 282 bird species have been counted here…
Tartu
Built as part of Tartu University in 1810, this intriguing observatory on Toomemägi is a must for fans of astronomy and the history of scientific…
Western Estonia & the Islands
Haapsalu’s crumbling heart is its bishop’s castle, which was western Estonia’s centre of command from the 13th to the 16th centuries but now stands in…
Old Town
This stout, five-storey cannon tower was one of Tallinn’s most formidable defences when built in the 15th century. Its name (amusing to English ears) is…
Old Town
From 1549 until 1625, when its 159m steeple was struck by lightning and burnt down, this (now Baptist) church was one of the tallest buildings in the…
Lahemaa National Park
Fully restored Palmse Manor is the showpiece historic building of Lahemaa National Park, housing the visitor centre in its former stables. The pretty…
Southern Estonia
Fairies, ghosts and witches abound in the 123 sq km of wooded hills, small lakes and ancient stone burial mounds that form Karula National Park, at least…
Tartu
If you've been socialising in Tartu's pubs and can't really see straight, don’t use this building to anchor your eye. Subsidence caused by the nearby…
Tallinn
Boasting a broad collection of rare goat and sheep species, plus around 350 other varieties of feathered, furry and four-legged friends (including lions,…
Lahemaa National Park
Known as the 'Captains’ Village', from 1884 to 1931 tiny Käsmu was home to a marine school that churned out ship captains. At one stage it was said that…
Old Town
Tours exploring the 17th-century Swedish-built tunnels connecting the bastions that ring the town walls depart from the Kiek in de Kök tower. Over the…
Old Town
Perhaps Tallinn’s oldest building, St Catherine's Monastery was founded by Dominican monks in 1246. In its glory days it had its own brewery and hospital…
Western Estonia & the Islands
Southern Kassari narrows to a promontory with some unusual vegetation and ends in the thin, 3km spit of land known as Sääre Tirp. An end-of-the-world kind…
Kadriorg
Maarjamäe Palace, a neo-Gothic 19th-century extravagance built by a wealthy Russian, anchors this excellent cultural-historical complex, run by the…
Estonia
Oru Park was built around a grand palace in 1899 by Grigory Yeliseyev, at the time one of Russia's richest merchants. In 1935 it became the summer palace…
Southern Estonia
Set in untouched swampland straddling the border with Latvia (just outside the boundaries of Haanja Nature Park), this 800-hectare reserve encompasses…
City Centre
The Hotel Viru (1972) was not only Estonia’s first skyscraper, but literally the only place for tourists to stay in Tallinn at the time. Having all the…
Western Estonia & the Islands
Much of the beautiful and rarely visited western coast of the Tagamõisa Peninsula is protected as part of Vilsandi National Park, including the Harilaid…
Old Town
Running along the northwestern border of Old Town, the most photogenic stretch of Tallinn's remaining 1.9km of medieval walls connects nine towers,…
