Things to do
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Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
Onion domes and Byzantine mosaics mark the Russian Orthodox cathedral raised on Toompea in the 1890s, deliberately placed facing the seat of Estonian power during a period of imperial Russification. Services are sung most days and visitors are welcome between them. Shoulders stay covered inside, and photography in the nave is barred.
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Balti Jaam Market
Three floors beside the railway station trade in produce, smoked fish, Soviet-era bric-a-brac and street food, with butchers and bakers on the ground level and vintage clothing above. Trading starts early and thins by late afternoon. Cash still moves faster than cards at the smaller stalls, and Sunday runs shorter hours.
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Kadriorg Palace
Peter the Great ordered this Baroque summer palace east of the centre after taking Tallinn from Sweden, and named it for his wife. The main hall keeps its stucco ceiling; the rest holds the foreign art collection of the national museum. Parkland around it is free and open late, and reaches the presidential residence and Kumu.
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Kohtuotsa Viewing Platform
Red roofs, spires and the ferry terminal line up from this terrace on the northern edge of Toompea, which is why the view appears on the city's postcards. Access is free and unrestricted, and a short climb up Pikk jalg gets there. Morning light favours the old town; evening light favours the sea.
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Kumu Art Museum
Limestone and copper cut into the hillside at the edge of Kadriorg park hold the national gallery of Estonian art, from nineteenth-century portraiture through Soviet-period work that had to pass a censor. Temporary shows occupy the upper floors. Opening days narrow outside summer, which catches out visitors arriving early in the week.
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Lahemaa National Park
Bog boardwalks, boulder fields and a coastline of four blunt peninsulas make up the first national park in the country, an hour east of the capital along the Gulf of Finland. Restored manor houses at Palmse and Sagadi anchor the interior, and Viru bog carries the boardwalk that draws day trippers. A car helps; buses reach the villages slowly.
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Seaplane Harbour
Seaplane hangars of thin-shell concrete, built for the Russian navy before the First World War, now hold the maritime museum: a submarine visitors climb through, a steam icebreaker moored outside, and an aircraft hung overhead. Allow half a day. The site lies along the waterfront path from the old town, about half an hour of walking.
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Tallinn Old Town
A UNESCO-listed core of merchant houses, guild halls and wall towers has stood largely intact since the Hanseatic era. Two levels divide it: Toompea on the limestone hill, where the rulers sat, and the lower town, where the traders worked. Cobbles are uneven and steep in places, and the main lanes fill with cruise passengers between late morning and mid-afternoon.
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Telliskivi Creative City
Railway workshops behind the station were converted into studios, galleries, record shops and a dense run of restaurants, with street art covering the brick. Weekends bring a flea market and a food hall that fills early. It sits a short walk from the old town wall, and the venues keep late hours by local standards.
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Toompea Castle
Estonia's parliament works inside a medieval fortress on the limestone escarpment, its pink Baroque front facing a square and its tall Hermann tower flying the national flag from sunrise. Much of the building is closed as a working seat of government, though guided visits to the Riigikogu chamber run on weekdays and are booked in advance.