Tallinn is the capital of Estonia and one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Northern Europe. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union it has transformed from a provincial town in a vast empire into the busy, wired, forward-looking capital of a small Baltic country — and it has done so without losing the cobbled streets, red roofs, and stone towers that made it famous in the first place.
The heart of it all is the Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage site that is compact enough to cover on foot in an afternoon. Start on Raekoja plats, the Town Hall Square, then climb Pikk jalg up to Toompea Hill, where the Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral faces the Estonian parliament and the viewing platforms look out over a sea of medieval rooftops. The city once had 66 defensive towers — 19 still stand, and a few of the oldest can be visited in summer via the Old Town Wall.
Step outside the walls and the contrasts start showing. The glass towers of the business district rise a few hundred metres from Kiek in de Kök. The creative district of Telliskivi, a cluster of old railway workshops turned into studios, restaurants and design shops, is a short walk north of the station. To the east, the wooded park and baroque palace of Kadriorg house one of the best art museums in the country, and a little further along the coast, the Estonian Open Air Museum preserves a hundred farms and windmills from around the country.
Estonia is one of the most digital countries on earth and Tallinn is where you feel it most: free wifi everywhere, contactless everything, e-residency card readers in coffee shops. Eat well — Estonian cooking has shed its Soviet reputation and modern restaurants lean into Baltic seafood, game, rye bread and wild forest flavours — and plan your visit for summer if you can, when the nights barely get dark and the Old Town cafes spill out onto the squares.