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Estonia

Tallinn

A medieval Dance of Death and taverns lit by nothing but candles.

Tallinn’s old town is one of the best-preserved medieval quarters in Europe, a walled tangle of towers and guild houses that looks, under snow, like a fairy tale that took a wrong turn.

It is small enough to walk in a weekend, and the restaurants take the medieval thing as far as it will go: candlelight, no forks, elk soup.

Go when Midwinter, when the old town is under snow and dark by mid-afternoon.

Filter this city

Haunt

What to See

Ossuaries, oddity museums, cemeteries and the properly strange.

  1. Niguliste Museum, Danse Macabre

    Old Town artmedieval

    A medieval church holding Bernt Notke’s Danse Macabre, a 15th-century painting of Death leading pope, king and peasant off in a dance. One of the great macabre artworks in Europe, and it lives here.

    • Quiet
    • Solo-friendly

  2. Kiek in de Kök & Bastion Tunnels

    Old Town tunnelshistory

    A cannon tower and the cold tunnels under the city walls, used for defence and later as war shelters. Damp and dim.

    • Solo-friendly

  3. Patarei Sea Fortress

    Kalamaja abandonedheavy

    A vast decaying sea-fortress prison, left roughly as it was abandoned, now a memorial to victims of communism. Powerful and photogenic, but a place of real suffering, so go carefully.

    Best shot Peeling corridors and empty cells; extraordinary decay, shot with respect for what it was.

    • Quiet

  4. Forest Cemetery (Metsakalmistu)

    Pirita cemeteryfree

    A cemetery scattered through the pines instead of laid out in rows. Hushed and green, nothing like a city graveyard.

    • Quiet
    • Solo-friendly

  5. Kohtuotsa viewing platform

    Toompea rooftopsfree

    The classic lookout on the upper town, where the whole medieval old town falls away beneath you in red tile and copper spires. Free, and worth the climb.

    Best shot The red roofs and spires spread out below, best under snow or a low winter sun.

    • Solo-friendly

  6. St Catherine's Passage

    Old Town alleyfree

    A crooked medieval lane running past the ruined St Catherine’s church, lined with open craft workshops. One of the prettiest corners of the old town, and usually empty.

    Best shot A narrow medieval lane of arches and craft workshops, best in soft light.

    • Solo-friendly
    • Quiet

Rest

Where to Stay

B&Bs, haunted old hotels, Victorian piles. No hostels, ever.

  1. The Three Sisters Hotel

    $$$$
    Old Town medieval

    Three merged 14th-century merchant houses full of crooked passages and beams. Actually medieval, comfortably not.

    • Quiet
    • Adults only

  2. Hotel Telegraaf

    $$$
    Old Town historicspa

    A former telegraph exchange turned moody hotel with a candlelit spa in the vaults.

    • Quiet
    • Adults only

Feast

Where to Eat & Drink

Candlelit cellars, dark bars, rooms with history in the walls.

  1. III Draakon

    $
    Town Hall Square medievalcandlelit

    A pitch-dark medieval tavern in the town hall cellar. Elk soup, hot spiced wine, no electric light, no forks. Cheap and a lot of fun. On the main square, so it knows it is a tourist stop, and pulls it off anyway.

    • Solo-friendly
    • Touristy

  2. Olde Hansa

    $$$
    Old Town medievalthemed

    A fully committed 15th-century merchant’s house: candlelight, lute music, bear and boar on the menu, staff in costume. Genuinely atmospheric, and genuinely a theme restaurant families love, so know what you are booking.

    • Touristy
    • Kid-heavy

  3. Põrgu

    $$
    Old Town cellarbeer

    Hell. A vaulted cellar beer hall with a long list of dark brews. As advertised.

    • Adults only
Next destination Köln → A golden room walled in human bone, under the biggest gothic cathedral in Germany.