Estonia & Finland - ever been there ?

S

Silvera

Registered User
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Hi,

I'm contemplating taking a short break in Talinn, which also includes a few days in Finland.

Has anybody here been to either Estonia or Finland ?
Are they expensive places ?
Good scenery / architecture ?
Crime / Safety issues ?

I don't want the usual 'sun holiday' that most people seem obsessed with - I would rather a milder climate combined with nice scenery, resonable prices and somewhere a bit different.

Also contemplating a trip to Iceland sometime

Cheers,

Silvera.
 
off to Tallinn soon myself. From what I've found out about the place it seems to be fit the mild climate, nice scenary, chep prices and something diffeent criteria. Check out;

http://www.inyourpocket.com/free-instant-city-guides.html

Do not know much about Finland except that it is meant to be a good bit more expensive. Then again it is unlikely to be too much more than Dublin prices. Might be better value to combine Tallinn with a few days in Lithuania or Latvia instead

have a look at airbaltic.com
You could have an open jaw flight into Riga and out of Tallinn
 
Gone into my 'Favorites', too - many thanks.

Nice to see Belfast listed alongside all the E. European destinations - 'post-reunification' status, or what?

[Jess funnin', guys - don't jump down my complacent 'Surner' throat about it..! ]
 
Was in Helsinki for a weekend break last Oct, didn't think much of the place.
The main city tour had stopped for the winter and there wasn't much of a touristy nature, went to an island in teh bay that was an old military installation, big deal !!.
Not many restraunts about the city centre. The few we did find were not too expensive.
I wouldn't be bothered going to the city again, maybe the country side would be worth seeing !!
 
Hi Soy.



Have you been across there yet?



I'm headed to Tallinn in a week (on Sept 22nd) for 10 days.



Any tips on central accommodation? Prices? I KNOW they can't possibly be as expensive as Dublin. Been told that perhaps €3 a beer and €10 for a good meal is what to expect, but my mates were so trashed they didn't pay too much attention to prices.



Her's what I've been told: Always ask how much a taxi is going to be as there are public & private taxis and the private ones are a rip off, could be about 4 times the price. Try and figure out which was which, as taxi journeys should never be anymore than 120EEK / €8 / £5 if you get the right taxi so ask before you get in.



There's an ATM just past the Customs at the airport that allows international withdrawal.



It's a lovely town to walk around.



There's a bar in the centre of town - Nimeta (Bar with no Name ) is pretty good and will do decent food cheaply which is worth a look in.



Clubs: Wednesday night a place called Hollywood is supposed to be good.

Thursday Night Priveé is also go and is reportedly a classy joint, for the monied, - the Café en Sienne sort of crowd goes there.


That's all I got.

Cheers,



Shoib
 
there are 2 ferry companies i think it's viking line and silja line do return cruise ships between tallinn and helsinki, great value and very relaxing
 
I'm off to Tallinn for Christmas, with a quick ferry over to Helsinki for one day and one night. Booked with Home & Abroad travel in Camden Street. They organised ferry tickets as well as flights and hotels. Not too expensive. I'd heard Tallinn is quite beautiful, and it's good to have that confirmed per these postings.
 
Tallinn is a nice place. Old town is like other central Euro 'old' towns such as Prague but is unbelievably clean and very well organised. Very compact and easy to walk around. Cost of food/drink in old town is about 30% less than here. Most things are in the old town so you want to be staying near this. Got a good deal at Reval hotel near the port thru one of the online hotel providers (Go to the key posts section to get some links). Was about 500m from old town.
Definitely can see the scandinavian infuence in the way the place is set up eg. excellent public transport etc.
Get the 72 hour tourist card, you get free public transport and free access to almost everything in the town. Well worth it. The best days are the weekdays, at the weekend the town fills up with day trippers from Finland and stag parties from the UK. I would not be bothered with the place at the weekend. Hollywood is good on Wed. night but I think the other place you mentioned is a strip club?
Lots of good bars/restaurants can't really remember names as we just went somewhere different each night. As ever avoid the Irish bars. Total rip-off merchants.

Everyone speaks English so no problems there either and people are friendly. Everything is geared towars tourists so no problem getting info on what to do when you get there.
 
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Cost of food/drink in old town is about 30% less than here.
Click to expand...
How things have changed so cos I was there about 4 years ago and it was about 70% cheaper than here. Since then though Ryanair have started flying from England so stag parties are a plenty. One more place to strike off the list for return visit.
 
gar123 said:
there are 2 ferry companies i think it's viking line and silja line do return cruise ships between tallinn and helsinki, great value and very relaxing
Click to expand...

The Viking line is a party boat....Not very relaxing.

Silja line is much better, excellent buffet and must be over 23....more of a cruise. December to February is a quite dramatic time to take it as the sea has frozen over.
 
Hi Soy.

That's great info and was what I'd expected.

Not sure about Privee - maybe there are two parts to it. I shall check with my mate who gave the info.

Also thanks for the tip about the Irish bars - as ever everywhere abroad they do tend to rip folk off I'd imagine, so I shall go with my instinctive cynicism and steer clear of that inspite of any peer pressure.

The 72 hour tourist card sounds great. We shall definitely go for that.

I'm really looking forward to it.

And thanks also to Gar123 and alligator. Will definitely do the Helsinki trip too.

Cheers,

Shoib
 
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