Off the Beaten Track - Travel Guides
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Tallinn Getting to Estonia |
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Various
airlines fly to Tallinn International Ariport (Estonian Air, Lufthansa, Czech
Airlines, SAS, Finnair) with flights from London ranging between £120 &
£230 (incl taxes). The best route is
to fly direct from London Gatwick to Tallinn via Estonian Air (prices are
cheaper if booked more than 28 days in advance via the Estonian Air Online
Reservation site http://shop.reisi.net/
which is currently advertising one way flights for just £56 + tax). The Estonian Air flight from Gatwick
operates daily and has excellent flight times leaving London at 6pm
(arriving at 10:55pm) and returning from Tallinn at 16:20 (arriving at
17:15). Another cheap way of buying
tickets is via www.expedia.co.uk
or www.ebookers.com
or by phoning Dial-a-Flight (0870-333-4488). Alternative Flight Routes: 1)
Take a
Ryanair flight (www.ryanair.com)
from London Stansted to Tampere in Finland. Ryanair often offer flights which
are virtually free so this can be a very cheap way of getting to the Baltics.
From Tampere, you can take a 2 ½ hour coach to Helsinki (timed to co-incide
with the flights - 30 each way) and then take the Lindaline hydrofoil ferry
(1hr 25 mins) from Helsinki to Tallinn (310EEK/£15 single). Whilst a fairly
long trip, if you have the time this is a good way to see some of Finland and
would be much cheaper than a direct flight to Estonia. If you combine flying to Finland with the
Tallink ferry cruise to Tallinn & St Petersburg (see below) you could
assemble a very impressive and cheap way of seeing all 3 capital cities. 2)
Another
way of reaching Tallinn (again if you have the time) is to fly to Helsinki,
take the bus to the ferry terminal and then take the Lindaline hydrofoil
ferry (1hr 25mins each way) from Helsinki city centre to Tallinn (see www.lindaline.ee
- 310 EEK/£15 single). NB: The
hydrofoils only operate in the summer months - only slower ferries operate
during the winter months due to the icy conditions. At the time of
writing there are rumours of Ryanair opening flights to Latvia (Estonias
neighbour) or to Tallinn later in 2004.
Watch press for details or check www.ryanair.com. A taxi from
Tallinn airport to the city centre typically cost around 70 80 EEK (£4) and
takes around 10-15 mins. From the ferry terminal to the city centre takes
about 5 mins (around 60 EEK - £2.50). Ferry Cruise to St Petersburg On 2/4/2004, the Tallink ferry company commenced a new
ferry service from Tallinn to St Petersburg. This cruise is operated as a 3-leg
cruise: Helsinki to Tallinn, Tallinn to St Petersburg and St Petersburg to
Helsinki. This combination of crossings makes it possible to fly to
Finland, take the cruise to Tallinn, stay a few days in Tallinn before
travelling onto St Petersburg where you could spend one or two nights before
taking the ferry back to Helsinki for the flight home. Contact booking@tallink.ee
for more details (or www.tallink.ee - at time of
writing not all of this site is available in English). The whole 3-leg cruise
costs 2970 EEKs for a cabin for 2 (ie. about £67 per person). (It is even
cheaper if there are 4 people). NB: A special 72 hour visa arrangement
negotiated by Tallink allows easy access to St Petersburg, Russia. Contact
Tallink for more details of how this scheme operates. The cruise times are very convenient to allow you to save
on accommodation costs and maximise daytime in each of the ports: Helsinki Tallinn Depart: 16:00 Arrive: 19:15 Tallinn St Petersburg Depart:
20:00 Arrive: 09:00 +1 St Petersburg Helsinki Depart:
17:00 Arrive: 10:00 +1 The Silja line www.silja.ee are
planning to open a similar service to St Petersburg starting in June 2004. |
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