Estonia
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Overview
Located in Eastern Europe, Estonia is a colorful Baltic country that is home to 1.3 million people, according to Statistics Estonia, a government agency (Jan. 2007). It is south of Finland and just off the Baltic Sea, north of Latvia, and west of Russia.
Given its northern position adjacent to the sea, Estonia has more than 1,300 islands and its landscape consists of more than half of its land is covered by lush forests and natural bogs.
The culture and people reflect an interesting mix of the Estonian, Baltic and Soviet influences throughout history.
Estonia has experienced many progressive changes in the past few decades, including:
- August 1991: Gained its independence from the Soviet Union with the break-up of the former Soviet colossus.
- 2004: Joined the European Union (EU) along with its Baltic neighbors of Latvia and Lithuania.
- 1996 to 2006: It's economy has grown. For example, Estonia's exports grew from 10.2 billion Kroons (EEK) in 1993 to 77.6 Kroons in 2006. (15.64 Kroons equal 1 Euro as of May 1, 2007.)
A growing number of international visitors have been traveling to Estonia in recent years. According to Statistics Estonia the nation's statistical agency, 1.3 million foreigners visited the country in 2000, and that number climbed 38 percent to 1.8 million foreigners by 2005.
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Tips for: backpackers • business travelers • luxury/exotic travel • hitchhikers • families • seniors • LBG travelers • pet owners |
Hotels and lodging
There are a wide variety of hotels to choose from, with everything from small bed and breakfasts and youth hostels, to quaint small European hotels, to luxury hotels.
For example, in the capital city of Tallinn (population 400,000), travellers can select from accommodations at:
- Tihase B & B, is a quaint residence located about 1km from the centre of town, with single rooms starting at 400 EEK (Kroon).
- Hotel Schlossle, Puhavaimu 13/15, a rebuilt period hotel that is classy and features 23 rooms dating back to 1636.
- Radisson Sas Hotel on Ravalla Street in the business centre of Tallinn, has more than 250 rooms, with doubles starting at about Euros 196.
- Tallinn Backpackers Hostel, is just around the corner from the Town Square, and has dorm rooms for about Euros 13 and private rooms starting at Euros 18.
To research Estonia's hotels and other accommodations, check out these resources:
Citypaper, a monthly magazine and accompanying website with news and tourist information [1]
Lonely Planet's "Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, travel guidebook, published in 2007, [2]
Travelocity, travel reservation website, [3]
Attractions
| Find out where to go in the maps section below. |
- Tallinn, the capital and largest city in Estonia, on the Baltic Sea coast.
- Tartu, considered by many to be the intellectual and cultural centre of Estonia, it is the second largest city with over 100K residents. Tartu University is the acclaimed university located here.
- Narva, a frontier town on the border with Russia
- Jagala Falls, Estonia's largest waterfall
Estonia's five magnificent national parks:
- Karula National Park
- Lahemaa National Park, 50km east of Tallinn, with 1000 sq km of bays, peninsulas and forests.
- Matsalu National Park
- Soomaa National Park [4] (Soomaa translates to "Land of Bogs")
- Vilsandi National Park, covers 238 sq km, including 163 sq km of sea and 75 sq km of land, plus 160 islands and islets.
Baltic Islands
Tranquil, laidback and unspoiled, Estonia's 1,500 Baltic islands provide a splendid getaway to nature. Located off the west coast of Estonia, the two largest islands are:
- Saaremaa, including the town of Kuressaare and one of few well-preserved medieval castles in the Baltics
- Hiiumaa, including the town of Kärdla
Travelers can visit the national parks and islands on their own or as part of an eco-tourism adventure tour, like those led by TrekBaltics [5], a travel operator.
Shopping
Maps and transportation
Getting to Estonia
By plane
Tallinn is Estonia's international gateway. In addition to direct daily flights to/from all major Scandinavian (Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen,Oslo) and Baltic cities (Riga, Vilnius) there are direct flights from major European hubs of London, Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam, and regional hubs of Prague and Warsaw. Eastward connections are from Moscow and Kiev. Local carrier Estonian Air provides half of the services and the rest is provided by Finnair, SAS, Lufthansa, LOT, CSA, Air Baltic and others. Easyjet is one of a few low-cost carriers that provide service between Tallinn and major European cities. Travelers can pay as little as EUR 120 (£80, US$160) to fly roundtrip from London to Tallinn.
From London's Stansted Airport, Easyjet provides nonstop service to Tallinn. From Frankfurt, choose from Lufthansa and Estonian Air. From Brussels, select from KLM, Estonian Air, Finnair, SAS, Lufthansa and Czech Airlines. From Berlin's Schoenefeld Airport, Easyjet serves Tallinn. From Amsterdam, choose from KLM, Lufthansa, SAS, Czech Airlines, Finnair, LOT Polish, and Northwest. From Rome's Fiumicino Airport, select from Alitalia, Czech Airlines, Estonia Air, KLM and Finnair.
Close proximity and excellent ferry services with Helsinki allow for combination of open-jaw air travel.
Daily domestic flights are from Tallinn to the islands of Hiiumaa (Kärdla) and Saaremaa (Kuressaare).
Detailed flight schedule information is available from Tallinn Airport timetable.
By train
International train services are to/from Russia, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Domestic services connect Tallinn with Narva in the east and Viljandi in the south, Pärnu in the south-west, Tartu and Valga in the south-east.
By car
Good road connections are to the south (Via Baltica routing Tallinn-Riga-Vilnius-Warsaw) and east (Tallinn-Saint Petersburg). Domestic road network is dense and covers all regions of the country.
By bus
Many good and cheap connections from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kiev, Kaliningrad, Warsaw, and larger Baltic and German cities. For details see Eurolines Estonia.
Eurolines can provide visa services to Russia, however it takes two weeks or one week if rushed.
By boat
Ferry lines connect Tallinn with Sweden (Stockholm), Finland (Helsinki, Mariehamn) and during summers also with Germany (Rostock) and Saint Petersburg. Tallinn-Helsinki is one of the busiest searoutes in Europe and has daily 20 ferry crossings and nearly 30 different fast-boat and hydrofoil crossings (the later do not operate during winter). For details see Port of Tallinn passenger schedules.
Minor international routes include recently re-established connection between Latvian port of Ventspils and the island of Saaremaa and Paldiski - Kapellskär (Sweden) with two different operators.
Exploring Estonia
Practical information and resources
Restaurants
- Tallinn
Olde Hansa Vana Turg 1, (372) 627-9020, fax (372) 627-9021, www.oldehansa.com, right off the town square. Moderately expensive.
Caf Anglais, Raekoja Plats 14, (372) 644-2160, on the town square. Reasonably priced.
Kompressor, Rataskaevu 3, (372) 646-4210, a bar-cafe popular with young patrons and serves the crowd-pleasing Estonian pancakes. Inexpensive.
Text with links to user-reviews on other pages
Nightlife
Photo gallery
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Everything else
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External resources
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If you want to add personal links, please do that on your user page (you can also write your profile there). If you have a link with great content that travellers need, you can add it at Estonia/Links |
| This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Estonia. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with World Wikia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
