AMAZING TALLINN!  COOL TALLINN!   FUN TALLINN!

Tallinn is a magical place, blending past, present and future in a unique way.

If you are thinking of a visit, COME AND JOIN US! YOU ARE MOST WELCOME!

And you have come to the right place to plan your agenda. Of course, you might start off by booking one of the two Wilde Guest Apartments. These two gems are right in the heart of the old city in central Tallinn and offer you a standard of luxury that will make your trip a pleasure and cannot be matched for the price. You cannot go wrong there.

But once you have made your booking at Wilde Guest Apartments, how to get oriented?

Here we go, through the Viru gate

Restaurant of the week!

Recommended by friends of Wilde Guest Apartments. This week, it is Kuninga! This is a relatively new entrant into the Tallinn restaurant scene. Step in the door, however, and you will feel its timeless pleasures! Check it out!

And after that, you might take note that 30 or the top 50 restaurants in Estonia are located in Tallinn.

Crazed over modern art?

Then you should make a trip to the Kumu Museum to check out their exhibition “Electromagnatic. Modern Art in Northern Europe 1918 – 1931. ”  You can get to Kumu from central Tallinn by foot (though it is a bit of a trek) or by public transport or by car. There is parking available.

Or do you go car crazy?

If so, then head over to the auto museum at Paldiski maantee 135a. It just opened on May 1 for the summer months.

Recommendations – A Luxury Travel Blog offers a list of the 5 top things to do in Tallinn (ok, visiting old town is a no brainer). Topping the list is a visit to the mega art museum, Kumu. Great idea! Expat Vagabonds suggests making it a day trip, adding a visit to the Kadriorg Palace. Kadriorg has a fantastic park as well. Fun thing to do  – Visit Peter the Great’s Kadriorg Cottage. After all, it is spring time!

HOT NEWS – New York Magazine has just done a profile on Tallinn’s “art and design” scene with lots of recommendations on where to go and what to do! Check it out!

Or just hang out at the town square?

A Day at the Beach? – You might consider a day trip to Pirita. It is very close by, and has access to both sea and river, with nice beaches. BTW, it just won an international award for its cleanliness and safety.  Aside from the beaches, there are plenty of cafes and pool swimming as well. We see that the Silk Sushi Bar has opened up. BTW, be prepared for the music if you open the Silk Sushi link. Or if the adventurer in your needs fuller expression, you might charter a yacht for a day trip or overnight trip to one of the islands near by.

Post Soviet Tourism? Sure! Tallinn is a great place to see history and part of that history is the recent Soviet occupation. Some things are already changed (for example the statue commemorating Soviet war dead was moved from the square in front of the library to a cemetary). But not all. Not by a long shot. Check out an overview of that period so that you know what you are looking at when you walk around town. And enjoy!

Unique architecture? Tallinn has lots of it. This photo of the great Alexander Nevsky Cathedral gives a glimpse. Who was Nevsky?   He was the grandson of Vsevolod the big nest, of course. In terms of Baltic history, he is famous for having defeated the Teutonic knights on the ice (frozen Lake Peipus), which prevented German incursion into the Kingdom of Novgorod. More generally, he is known as one of the greatest Russians of all time.

Coming Soon –  Check out who is coming! Among the stars, Tom Jones will appear in Tallinn for one night on June 17th at the Saku Arena

Tallinn means fashion! Are you into fashion? Then Tallinn is the place for you. Uschanka gives a glimpse of the unique sense of style you can find here.

Not enough? Want 10 things to do? Check out Tallinn Traveller’s top 10 amazing things to do! And stop in at the “Mustpeade maja!. You don’t know what the Mustpeade Maja is? Well then, you are in for a treat! The “Brotherhood of the Blackheads” has a long and fascinating history. Just follow the link to learn more! And go for a visit and a tour even if you can’t make the concert. it is a “must do” for your visit and a short walk from the Wilde Guest Apartments. You can also order a tour, but you need to book at least 30 days in advance.

Just want a cool place for lunch? Hmmm … have you been to the Komeet Cafe in the Solaris Centre?

Handbag.com has even more ideas for your Tallinn trip!  Handbag.com thinks you should take a weekend trip to Tallinn and offers some great ideas for what to do. Ah well, they recommend staying at a standard old town luxury hotel. And you can do that if you just want a room instead of a luxury apartment.

And yet another day trip?  Head over to Rocca Al Mare to visit the open air museum. It is a beautiful spot and offers a glimpse at what life was like in Estonia long ago. (Recommended by our friend M)

By the way, did you know that the Wilde Guest Apartments are located directly across the street from the Niguliste Museum? The museum is located in the historic Niguliste church and contains works of art and crafts from over 7 centuries. They offer organ concerts on Saturday afternoons at 4:00.

And here are links to resources that you can follow! Enjoy!

There is, of course, a general online guide to being in the city. It can help you figure out how to use public transport, park, and so on. You might also consult Wikitravel if you still need help.

To get into the mood, you might check out the blog of the most popular private tour company in Tallinn.

But let’s get into the action.  How to find out what is going on? There are some very good online resources

The Official Site of the City  (available in 9 languages) – You can find some quick news or you can go deeper here to get ideas, find logistical help, to check out the attractions and stuff to do, events, or to find out how to get a “Tallinn Card”. This is a great resource. Oh and Tallinn does have a Facebook page.

VisitEstonia.com also offers lots of basic information on its Tallinn pages.

TripAdvisor is a third online compendium.

Likealocal offers some more “niche! activities

And of course, there are Inyourpocket or virtualtourist or lonely planet  if are are still not finding out what is going on. New York magazine recommends that you

Explore dining recommendations on Flavours of Estonia’s annual 50 Best Restaurants list.

Read about local news, politics, and current events on Postimees, the largest daily newspaper in the Baltics.

Keep up to date on concerts, gallery shows, and theater productions with KultuuriKatel.

Find daily cultural events on Culture.ee.

Tallinnarts offers a nice overview of what is happening in the performance and visual arts. If you want to go deeper, check out Kunst.ee magazine.

Not to forget: if your Estonian is up to it, you might want to check out the Postimees city section.

These are great, but sometimes you need to get help from a real person. No problem, you can check out the tourist information centre or the Traveller info kiosk. The nice folks at the info kiosk also will also answer your questions by email (see the link to get connected).

If you want to get oriented, there are a number of different tour bus and tour guide services. We suggest using the guides to find one that suits your taste. We like the friendly folks at Tallinn Traveller. But if you want to get that special USSR perspective, well The Tallinn Collector may be for you. Don’t want a tour, but want to get the flavor of the KGB experience? Then we recommend the Viru Hotel KGB Tour.

Finally, just looking for some pictures? Estonian World offers some stunning shots of the most photographed spots in Estonia. Enjoy!

So that is it for now. We hope these links will get you started thinking about cafes, shopping, museums, restaurants, theatre, partying and all of the rest that Tallinn has to offer. Enjoy!

What’s next for us? We will be supplementing our “In Tallinn” pages here with more focused reviews and connections to different parts of Tallinn. Coming soon so stay tuned!