Family Holiday Review: Tallinn, Estonia

Rebecca Wood, 34, and her husband Joe, took their son Ollie, 6 months, to Tallinn in Estonia for their first weekend away as a new family. They flew from Gatwick to Tallinn with Estonian Air, and took a taxi from the airport to the city centre.

“Joe and I wanted to get Ollie used to travelling as soon as possible and a city break seemed like the perfect way to introduce him to flying without going away for a whole week.

Tallinn is usually known to Brits as a stag-do destination, but I’d also read how it was the ‘new Prague’ and wanted to investigate. Plus, the cooler weather seemed ideal for a baby’s first break – no risk of sunburn or heatstroke! Packing light, we headed off on our adventure.

Old vs new

The flight took just under three hours, and the taxi ride to the city centre was just 10 minutes, so we were soon settled into our accommodation, the Kalev Spa Hotel.

Tallinn is split into the old town, full of historic buildings, old restaurants, cafés and museums, and the new town, which has loads of trendy shops. Our hotel was in the old town so we explored there first. We had our all-terrain buggy, which helped negotiate the cobbled streets and we saw loads of other parents with buggies and children of all ages.

We walked up Toompea ,Tallinn’s biggest hill, to Toompea Castle, which gives a fab view of the city and the Baltic Sea. That evening we enjoyed boar casserole in wooden bowls at the popular, medieval-style Olde Hansa restaurant.

Welcome downtime

By the end of the first day we were pretty tired so we headed back to the hotel, where I made the most of the spa facilities. While I chilled out in the Jacuzzi, Joe took Ollie for a dip in the lovely indoor pool. We found the hotel was very family-friendly, the buffet breakfast suited us all well, and the rooms were comfortable.

After a good night’s sleep we took a guided walking tour of the city, which is the birthplace of marzipan, so we tried some along with a strong shot of hot chocolate, another local tradition. There’s so much to see in the city, I’m sure we’ll need to return to Tallinn very soon.”

More info

• Baltic Holidays
• Visit Estonia