Estonia Attractions

Tallinn

There are few places in Europe where the aura of the 14th and 15th centuries survives intact as it does in Tallinn's Old Town, a jumble of medieval walls and turrets, needling spires and winding, cobbled streets. Nevertheless, Estonia's capital is so modern it's been dubbed 'a suburb of Helsinki'.

Tallinn's Toompea district is home to a bevy of fascinating sights including the 19th century Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral; Toomkirik, the Lutheran cathedral founded in 1233; the Estonian Art Museum; and the kookily named Kiek-in-de-Kök, a tall, stout tower built around 1475.

Saaremaa

Estonia's biggest island has always had an independent streak and was usually the last part of the country to fall to invaders. Just a few kilometres south of Hiiumaa, Saaremaa is a thinly populated place of unspoiled rural landscapes. Farmsteads nestle among forests that cover half the island.

Kuressaare, Saaremaa's capital, is the site of a 13th-century castle founded as the Bishop of Ösel-Wiek's island base. Viidumäe, west of Kuressaare, is a botanical reserve, where the favourable climate and conditions make it home to rare plant species such as the blunt-flowered rush.