Tallinn in Your Pocket We Copyright Notice Have One of Old Town’S Colourful Text, Maps and Photos Copyright Linnajuht OÜ
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Maps Restaurants Cafés Nightlife Sightseeing Shopping Events Hotels Tallinn April - May 2015 Viimsi Check out Tallinn’s lovely northern neighbour Kalamaja Tallinn’s hip and trendy artistic district inyourpocket.com N°101 - €2.50 Contents ESSENTIAL CIT Y GUIDES The Basics 6 Helpful things everyone should know Arriving & Transport Arriving 9 Getting here is half the fun Transport 10 Navigating Tallinn Culture & Events 15 Major events, cinemas, art galleries and more Kalamaja - Tallinn’s artistic district 21 The hip and happening neighbourhood Sightseeing The Old Town 24 The medieval centre in a nutshell A sculpture by Tauno Kangro at Virumägi (D-3) Sightseeing tours 26 Viimsi - The great coastal getaway 35 By bus, by bike or by tram Tallinn’s lovely northern neighbour Museums 27 Active Tallinn 39 Covering city history, from tunnels to airplanes Take action Rocca al Mare 32 Restaurants 41 Home to the zoo, open air museum and more From sushi to sült Authentic Russian soul food in a relaxed and cozy setting. Kadriorg 33 Cafés 64 Stroll in Tallinn’s most beautiful park The hottest places in the caff eine scene Famous for it’s hand made dumplings, fresh pastry and Nightlife 66 friendly staff, this is a must visit restaurant while in Old Town. Find your perfect party Hotels 80 • Russian cuisine A bed for every budget • Artisan dumplings Shopping 84 • Fresh pastry Cool souvenirs and fashion purchases • Vodka bar Directory 93 • Summer terrace From dental care to shoe repair Maps & Index Old Town map 95 City centre map 96 - 97 Street index 98 Lai 49, Tallinn, Estonia | Mon-Sun 11:00 – 20:00 | Tel: (+372) 614-1350 E-mail: [email protected] | www.tallinnrestaurants.ee facebook.com/TallinnInYourPocket April - May 2015 3 Foreword Spring has arrived in Tallinn and it’s certainly a welcome change for locals and visitors alike, although to be true , winter never really showed up in our medieval town this year. The birds are chirping, the fl owers are popping up and everyone’s feeling rather chipper. Restaurants in the centre are already putting chairs and tables out on the sidewalks Publication details and the city’s lovely ladies are also dressing the part. Publisher Linnajuht OÜ Printed by Reusner, Tallinn Always looking for ways to improve and bring more excit- Published 10,000 - 12,000 copies, 6 times per year ing things to explore for our reader, we’ve put together a ISSN 1406-2690 © OÜ Linnajuht feature on the picturesque Viimsi area - located just a short distance to the north-east of Tallinn. You can discover more Company Offi ce & Accounts Vana-Viru 4, 10111 Tallinn, Estonia about it and fi nd some compelling reasons to visit on page Tel/fax. +372 644 64 70 35. We also have a feature on the hip and happening Kala- [email protected], www.inyourpocket.com maja area of Tallinn, home to cool cafés, some great bars, a Accountant Marian Puusepp weekly fl ea market, boutique shopping and a great deal of fantastic events. Read all about it on page 21. Editorial Editor In Chief Nat A. Singer As always, we have a jam-packed guide fi lled with all the Contributing Editor Steve Roman Researcher Irja Luks newest bars, restaurants and old favourites, as well as a Designer Küllike Johannson-Singer great big events list to make your stay more enjoyable and Photography Küllike Johannson-Singer and Nat A. Singer entertaining. Welcome to Tallinn! unless otherwise stated. Cover © Küllike Johannson-Singer Sales & Circulation COVER STORY Senior Account Manager / Circulation Marek Pärn Account Manager Irja Luks Featured on the cover of this is- sue of Tallinn In Your Pocket we Copyright notice have one of Old Town’s colourful Text, maps and photos copyright Linnajuht OÜ. Maps copyright doors. It was just so bright and cartographer. All rights reserved. No part of this publication cheerful, we had to share it with may be reproduced in any form, except brief extracts for the our readers. Try to see if you can purpose of review, without written permission from the pub- find it - or find your own favour- lisher and copyright owner. The brand name In Your Pocket is ite door and share a photo with used under license from UAB In Your Pocket (Bernardinu 9-4, us on our Facebook site. Vilnius, Lithuania tel. (+370-5) 212 29 76). ABOUT IYP Not content with publishing more than 100 guides to cities across three ESTONIA continents, In Your Pocket is currently LATVIA RUSSIA carrying out a new round of expansion NORTHERN LITHUANIA for 2015. New cities due to be pocketed IRELAND IRELAND BELARUS include Milan in Italy and Eindhoven NETHERLANDS POLAND in the Netherlands, while some old fa- GERMANY UKRAINE vourites, such as Budapest in Hungary BELGIUM CZECH REPUBLIC and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad AUSTRIA HUNGARY will be getting a reboot. And there is SWITZERLAND ROMANIA GEORGIA SLOVENIACROATIA a brand new digital platform to look ITALY BOSNIA SERBIA BULGARIA forward to: we will rolling out the new MONTENEGRO FYR MACEDONIA inyourpocket.com throughout April ALBANIA GREECE and May. In order to make sure you keep up with DUTCH CARIBBEAN all that’s new at In Your Pocket, like us SOUTH AFRICA on Facebook (facebook.com/inyourpo- cket) or follow us on Twitter (twitter. com/inyourpocket). 4 Tallinn In Your Pocket tallinn.inyourpocket.com Basics Here are some helpful tips on how best to avoid some em- barrassing situations while spending your time in Tallinn. BASIC DATA CUSTOMS Tallinn Population: 434,810 (as of 01.02.2015) European alcoholics rejoice! When you leave Estonia hea- Density: 2,734.6 inhabitants/km2 ded to another EU country, you can take out as much booze Ethnic composition: Estonians 53.2%, Russians 38.1%, Mr. as you can carry (or convince inspectors is for your personal Ukrainians 3.4%, Others 5.3% Mrs. use). Coming into Estonia from another EU country, each individual aged 18 and over may carry in duty-free 90 litres Estonia of wine and 110 litres of beer and 10 litres of hard alcohol Population: 1,354,679 (as of 01.01.2014) & (over 21%alc/vol), 800 cigarettes, 400 cigarillos, 200 cigars Territory: 45,227km2 and 1kg of pure tobacco. When leaving, beware of stricter Density: 29.9 inhabitants/km2 tobacco restrictions if you’re headed to the UK, Sweden or Ethnic composition: Estonians 68.7%, Russians 24.8%, Finland. Relatively unlucky travellers from non-EU countries Ukrainians 1.7%, Others 4.8% can carry in a measly 4 litres of wine (not exceeding €175 in Elevation: The highest point in Estonia (and the Balt- combined value), 2 litres of beverages up to 21%alc/vol and ics) is Suur Munamägi (318m) in Võru County 1 litre of hard alcohol; 40 cigarettes, 100 cigarillos, 50 cigars Islands: 1,521. The three largest are Saaremaa or 50g pure tobacco. How much booze and smokes you can 2,673km2, Hiiumaa 1,023km2, and Muhu 206km2 take home depends on your own country’s restrictions. For Other cities: Tartu 98,522, Narva 64,057, Pärnu 42,433, more information, contact the Customs Department, Narva Kohtla-Järve 37,201. VIP mnt. 9j, tel. 880 08 14, [email protected], www.emta.ee. Local time: Estonia is in the Eastern European Time Zone (GMT+2hrs). Summer time (GMT+3hrs) is in ef- GETTING CASH fect from the last Sunday of March until the last Sunday of October. You should have no problems fi lling your wallet in Tallinn - cash machines (ATMs) are never hard to fi nd. Big banks are usually your best bet for exchanging currency. At night and on weekends, however, decent exchanges are more elusive. Tavid at Aia 5 has good rates, especially when changing so- mewhat larger amounts and also runs an all-night exchange window that will do in a pinch. Their night rates are higher than daytime rates though. Another place that off ers very good rates is Eurex at Viru väljak 4 (Viru Centre). Although there aren’t as many as there used to be, beware of some of the various small exchanges around town. These have convenient locations and working hours, but generally give unfavourable rates and even many charge a heavy commis- sion on each transaction - even when they state in big bold letters ‘No Commission’, ie. read the fi ne print. TOURIST INFORMATION FREE INTERNET FOR ALL TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE By now, most have heard that Estonia The city’s offi cial tourist information point is the best is indeed a pretty tech-savy country. In equipped to answer any question.QC-2, Niguliste 2/ fact much of the country is blanketed in Kullassepa 4, tel. (+372) 645 77 77, fax (+372) 645 77 WiFi or wireless internet hotspots. From long-distance 78, [email protected], www.tourism.tallinn.ee. Open buses to cafeś, pubs and even some shops and public 09:00 - 18:00, Sat, Sun 09:00 - 15:00. From May open areas - WiFi is everywhere. For foreigners visiting Tal- 09:00 - 19:00, Sat, Sun 09:00 - 17:00. J linn this means you’ll be able to check e-mails, SKYPE with friends back home or share photos on Facebook using your Android phone, iPhone or Blackberry - free of charge. Just look for the orange and black WiFi sign and you’re good to go. With all that free WiFi around, you’ll also want to purchase the Tallinn In Your Pocket iPhone app available here. In Estonia, WiFi information including WiFi locations is provided by www.WiFi.ee. 6 Tallinn In Your Pocket tallinn.inyourpocket.com Basics Arriving & Transport LANGUAGE As European capitals go, Tallinn is a remarkably easy-access NATIONAL HOLIDAYS city.