Off the Beaten Track - Travel Guides

 

 

 

 

 

Site Map

 

Tallinn – Getting to Estonia

 

Useful Links

 

Home – Off the Beaten Track

Home - Tallinn

What To Do  >  By Day

What To Do  >  By Night

Top Tips

Accommodation

When to Visit

Getting to Estonia

Getting Around

Visas

Links

Contact Us

 

 

 

 

 

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 (Estonia’s 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.

 

 

 

 

Official Tourist Info

In Your Pocket Guide

Estonia Maps

Weather Forecasts