After 24(!) years, I returned to Tallinn. My first visit in 2001 was a day trip by ferry from Helsinki; this time, I stayed for 1.5 days as part of a small “holiday” exploring Estonia. I planned to take it slowly and go home with a few nice Points-of-Interest and Photos for the website. I had not expected to do a review, but despite the many experiences posted already, I think some things are still untold about Tallinn.

First of all: getting those photos proved to be hard! And not because it’s not picturesque, I took some 200 photos overall. But the thing is: all the sightlines are vertical. Tallinn is chock-full of medieval conical towers and Gothic buildings, all neat small spires popping up across the cityscape. Try fitting those into a top banner! I finally settled on this one as the site’s featured image, as it shows the many aspects of Tallinn (including all the spires). It was taken from the Kohtuotsa Viewpoint:

Secondly, the city isn’t self-explanatory. The core zone is fairly large and all main buildings have information panels in Estonian and English, but there are no clear routes so it is easy to miss out on something. For a comprehensive visit, I believe you have to do 3 city walks. They take about 1.5 hours each (in total I walked 14km). The sights in bold I found recommendable and are also added to the maps as Points of Interest:

1. Towers and Walls: probably the most characteristic images of Tallinn, and although some intact stretches remain, it isn’t easy to follow the outline of the former city walls fully. Route: Tall Hermann – Kiek in de Kök – Maiden Tower – Viru Gate - Hellemann Tower – Munkadetagune Tower – Bremen Tower – Fat Margaret - Great Coastal Gate - Nunna, Sauna and Kuldjala Towers and their nearby Town Wall viewpoint.
2. Upper Town: it’s where the town's and country’s rulers lived and worked in the past and present. Lots of neoclassical grandeur. Route: Patkuli viewpoint - Stenbock House -Piiskopi viewpoint (closed at the moment) - St Mary's Cathedral/Dome Church - Alexander Nevsky Cathedral - Toompea Castle - Kohtuotsa viewpoint.
3. Lower Town: with a more Hanseatic feel; it’s where the business was done. Route (with many more single old houses along the way): House of the Great Guild - Masters' Courtyard – Town Hall - Raeapteek (Town Hall Pharmacy) – Town Hall square with many burgher houses - Swedish St. Michael’s Church (former almshouse) - Three Sisters.

I did enter the Dome Church and the Guild Hall (occupied by the Estonian History Museum), but both I found not really worth their entrance fees. While people in the past found the lack of tourist traps refreshing, this has changed over the years and about every other building is either a souvenir shop or a café, although it still isn’t really tacky.