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Old Town, Tallinn

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Tallinn Local time

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Estonia

Travel to Tallinn

Flying to Tallinn

Estonian Air and easyJet offer direct flights to Tallinn from the UK. Other airlines offering (indirect) flights to Tallinn include Lufthansa, Air France, Austrian Airlines and SAS.

Flight times: 

From London - 3 hours.

Travel by road

Summary:

For such a modern and impressive country, Estonia's road network is still rather basic, though it is improving with major investment in recent years. Traffic drives on the right and the minimum driving age is 18. Speed limits range from 30-50kmph in towns to 90-110kmph on main intercity roads. Drivers must have the original V5 C (Vehicle Registration Document) as well as insurance documents covering them for Estonia if driving into the country. EU licenses are valid for foreign drivers.

Emergency breakdown service:

Automobile Club of Estonia (tel: 1888).

Routes:

There are few dual carriageways and even the main route south to Latvia (E67) only has a single lane in each direction. This road also connects Tallinn with the southern city of Parnu. The E20 cuts east towards the Russian border, which it reaches after the city of Narva, while route 2 heads southeast to the university city of Tartu.

There are plans for a new multi-lane highway connecting Tallinn with Russia and Latvia and on to the rest of Europe's motorway networks via Poland, but this still seems to be years away.

Driving times:

From Pärnu – 1 hour 45 minutes; Tartu – 2 hours 30 minutes; Narva – 3 hours ; St Petersburg – 7 hours; Vilnius – 9 hours 30 minutes.

Coaches:

The main bus station (Tallinna Bussiterminal) is located a 10-minute walk from the Old Town at Lastekodu 46. Services run to all major Estonian towns and cities as well as outside the country to Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and all of Europe. The main operators are Lux Express (tel: 680 0909; www.luxexpress.eu) and ECOLINES (tel: 614 3600; www.ecolines.net).

Travel by rail

Services:

Tallinn Railway Station, Balti Jaam, Toompuiestee 35, is located just on the edge of the Old Town and offers services to domestic destinations such as Narva, Pärnu and Tartu, but only one international route, across the border to Moscow. The service to St Petersburg was withdrawn in 2008.

Operators:

Elektriraudtee (tel: 673 7400; www.elektriraudtee.ee) runs electric trains to the satellite towns and villages outside the capital, while Edelaraudtee (tel: 1447; www.edel.ee) runs longer distance trains. The daily overnight train to/from Moscow is run by GoRail (tel: 631 0044; www.gorail.ee).

Journey times:

From Pärnu – 2 hours 45 minutes; Tartu – 3 hours 15 minutes; Narva – 4 hours ; Moscow – 16 hours (overnight service).

Travel over water

Summary:

The ferry port of Tallinn, Sadama 25 (tel: 631 8555; www.portoftallinn.com) is the biggest port in Estonia and the surrounding Baltic region. It is located close to the Old Town and has four terminals. Tallinn ferry port facilities include tourist information, bureau de change, ATMs, bars and shops.

Ferry services:

Tallink (tel: 640 9808; www.tallink.ee) operates ferry services from Tallinn to Stockholm (journey time – 15 hours) and Helsinki (journey time – 2 hours 30 minutes, express service – 1 hour 30 minutes). The Rostock-Helsinki-Tallinn route is run by Tallink Silja (tel: 631 8320; www.tallinksilja.com/en).

Nearest port:

Tallinn.

Transfer distance:

0.8km (0.5 miles).

Transfer time:

5 minutes.

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