Estonia
 

Hey all,

Am planning a trip to Estonia in November for roughly 11 nights travelling alone. Am fascinated by the country and although it sounds weird, am fulfilling a pretty damn old ambition of wanting to visit Tallinn

I know November is probably not the best time of year to go as summers finished but winters not quite arrived but could anybody tell me, based on previous experience what the country is like around this time of year please? Any places that would be worth a visit around this time? Thinking of flying to hiiumaa but then found that there's the longest ice road in Europe connecting the mainland & kardla which sounds awesome! Are Other places like tartu, kuressaare, even Helsinki worth a visit?

Please could I have any tips or advice you guys have got?

Thanks!!

A little info. www.inyourpocket.com/estonia/tallinn

Hi,

I am in the process of booking a trip to Copenhagen and Stockholm... originally planned a 4 day stay in Helsinki, but I've been advised that might be too long... am seriously considering Tallinn and from what I'm reading, it sounds great. I'll be reading the replies you get on this thread!

Hi guys,

Iris1745- thanks very much had seen that website before, looks quite helpful!
Ruby99- I also looked at Sweden & Denmark , splitting between Malmo for a few nights and Copenhagen with some friends but we couldn't afford the prices for the next few months so please let me know what it's like!! Looks brilliant!! Am only looking at spending 2 days maximum in Helsinki as I would like to spend as much time in Tallinn/Estonia as possible & finland is pretty close! Thanks for the heads up!

I have only been to Estonia in the summer, but loved it. Helsinki is an easy day trip, and is definitely worth a visit!

Hi h93chris --

I visited Tallinn in October 2004 for 3 1/2 days and really enjoyed it. It was my first time in Eastern Europe (besides Moscow & St Petersburg), and I went to meet some Russian cousins with whom I had been corresponding for about 8 years or so. A mom who didn't speak English and her 18-year-old son who did. The weather at that time was a bit rainy and cloudy, but I did ok in a gore-tex jacket and sweater and wool socks. I had come over on the ferry from Helsinki, and then went back there afterwards. (I took the regular 4-hour-long ferry; I had been warned at the ferry office in Helsinki that in the autumn the winds across the channel might cancel or delay the high-speed hydrofoil so I played it safe. And I met all sorts of people there -- no Americans at that time of year. )

I used the inyourpocket website a lot at that time. Some of the things I enjoyed were walking around the Old Town (of course), and visiting the Kadriorg Palace, which is kind of like the Versailles of Tallinn. Part of it is now a museum. The photography opportunities are fantastic. I enjoyed seeing all the pensioners walking by or in the markets. Walk by a some of the gates of the Old Town. Near one there was a jail, which my cousins told me was used by the KGB during Soviet times.

My teenaged cousin took me to this crazy museum which had just opened, called the Museum of Occupation, or something like that. It told all about the Soviet occupation and how the ethnic Estonians resisted during that time and how they finally broke free of the Soviet chokehold. It was a bit startling to see a statue graveyard with Lenin heads in the basement next to the bathrooms ... Another day he took me to an open-air ethnographic museum that showed how rural Estonians lived in the 18th & 19th centuries. When we were there the season was almost over, but you might check if it will still be open during your visit.

As for my stay in Helsinki, i didn't think 3 1/2 days was too long. The weather, again, was a little bit rainy/drizzly, but I managed to go over to Suomenlinna Island and walk around, and then did an entire day of walking in a beautiful neighborhood, and went to a modern art museum.

Hope this is helpful.

You Could consider Riga, an easy bus ride from Tallinn.

Not sure what happened in Helenski, but was not great.

However, Stockholm and Copenhagen were special. We liked Bergen too, but a lot of rain.

http://www.inyourpocket.com/latvia/riga

ALadyInLondon-Do you think 2-3 days in Helsinki is too long then? My main focus is really Estonia but is Helsinki worth spending a few days in? I like the idea of doing the bus tour or bicycle tour & going round Helsinki :0

hickrchick- Sounds like your trip was really Russian orientated!! I had read in a few places that the Estonians & the Russians seem a lil tense towards each other; did you feel uneasy at all around some of the more ethnic estonians? is the KGB Museum worth goin to? I was interested in possibly goin around the suomenlinna island but i think the ferry might not be in operation due to November bein the off season!

iris1745- The original plan was to go around the baltic & scandinavia as a group with some friends but none of them seemed interested in Latvia due to one saying that the people seem pretty quiet & feel intimidated by visitors almost so we dropped the idea. I would like to go at some point on my own, as im doin with Tallinn so I can explore the country individually. We're now supposed to be meeting up in Stockholm which looks awesome!! But pretty damn expensive!!

Cheers for the rplies guys, been really useful!!

www.booking.com/stockholm Just put your dates in and look at hotel prices.

http://www.visitestonia.com/en/about-estonia
Go to TV tower and marine museum in Tallin and Old Town always really nice!

To Helsinki with the ship 2,5 h and not expensive tickets ships going out neat the oldtown!