Outside the old city
Song Festival Grounds
A huge Modernist structure where the All Estonian Song Festival, which is held every five years, features 34,000 singers and dancers in addition to a massive audience.
Kadriorg
A beautiful and rich seaside resort district with mostly wooden buildings from the 18th to 20th centuries, as well as 20th century Art Deco and Functionalist structures. It also includes the baroque pearl of Estonia, the Kadriorg Palace and Garden.
Tallinn Zoo
This is an enormous area. Among its live exhibits, you'll find the world's best collections of mountain goats and sheep, which means there are a lot of them! Tallinn Zoo defies the realities of a relatively modest town -- it features all the elephants and crocodiles a visitor would expect to see in a larger zoo, as well as a breathtaking maze of lake-size ponds that host birds in summertime.
Kadriorg Palace
An imperial Russian summer residence built by Italian architect Niccolo Michetti for Tsar Peter the Great in 1718. It is situated in a 90 ha 222 acre park in the eastern part of the city. The Tsar himself, a classic and mysterious Russian soul, preferred to stay in a modest house nearby. This event signified the beginning of Tallinn's fame as a summer resort for noble and rich Russians for most of the 18th and 19th centuries. Currently, the palace is housing some paint collections and other art. A portion of the complex is now occupied by the Office of the President and not available to the public.
Kalamaja District
The oldest suburb of Tallinn, dating back to the 14th century. It was probably inhabited by fishermen Kalamaja means "Fish house" and mostly houses workers. The current wooden buildings are from the 19th century.
Pirita District
Includes forest parks, Botanic Gardens and Metsakalmistu the last resting place of well-known Estonians. A few kilometers east of the city center along the seaside road.
Patarei (Battery) Prison
This is the most recent and least-developed historical attraction in Tallinn. Originally decreed by tsar Nicholas I in 1820 as a fortress to protect the city from the sea-born attacks, it was turned into a notorious KGB prison in 1920. The prison ceased operations only in 2004. Entry 30 kr, guided tours from 70 kr, or pay 500 kr for a three-hour "new prisoner experience" culminating in a last meal with a glass of schnapps but no execution.
Tallinn TV Tower
A 314-metre high, free-standing structure with an observation deck on the 21st floor, which with its 170 metres, is the highest in Northern Europe. It offers spectacular views across Tallinn and, on a clear day, you can see Finland.
Holy Birgitta Monastery
A monastery of Scandinavian female saints, as well as a landmark of 16th century catacombs and ruins. It includes a guest house operated by the nuns.
National Art Museum KUMU
Opened in February 2006, this is the largest government built building since the liberation and it is an almost 50,000 m² 538,196 ft². The museum, whose architecture is by itself enough to justify the visit, houses a cyclopic house, partly cut out of limestone rock. Permanent exhibition is obviously focused on Estonian art in a wide interval of time. Quality of many pieces is very good and well worth a visit. Also very interesting is the not too spontaneous turn of interests of artists toward socialist themes during the USSR period. Exhibitions of modern art, mixed with net/social applications, are often surprising and amusing. Not to be missed or overlooked.
Rottermann District
An industrial district between the City and the Tallinn Port. The buildings are from the 19th and 20th century, with motifs of Art Nouveau and Historicism. New and stylish apartment buildings with shopping centre have now been built there widely regarded as architectural masterpiece in Tallinn.
The old city
Viru Gate
This section of town is known as All-Linn or "Lower Town", as it's where the merchants and artisans of old Tallinn lived. Today, Viru is still Tallinn's trendiest shopping street and the entire All-Linn is the busiest and most touristy bit of Tallinn.
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
a classic onion-domed 19th-century Russian Orthodox church that has become a touristy symbol of the city, much to the annoyance of nationalist types who regard it as a symbol of oppression. It was almost demolished in 1924 during Estonia's first brief spell of independence, but the Soviets left it to moulder and it has been restored to its former glory.
City Wall
A section of the City Wall can be climbed from the corner of Suur-Kloostri and Väike-Kloostri, with entry into three towers possible. Quite frankly, the views from up on Toompea are better, and the spiral staircases are steep and somewhat claustrophobic.
Raekoja Plats
The square in the heart of the Old City, ringed with cafes and restaurants.
Ex-KGB Headquarters
Now the Interior Ministry and not generally open to the public, this is where the KGB detained and tortured suspected dissidents. A Soviet-era joke says that this was the tallest building in Estonia: even from the basement, you could see Siberia. Interrogations were indeed conducted in the basement and you can see even today how the windows were crudely bricked up with concrete to mute the sound. The main façade of this building is now covered with scaffoldings as it is being converted into luxury apartments. If you walk along the side street next to the headquarters you can catch a glimpse of the bricked up windows between the building work
Raekoda (Town Hall)
Built in 1371, this heavy stone structure dominates the square. It now houses the Tallinn City Museum.
St Mary's Cathedral - Toomkirik
The oldest church in Tallinn, originally built as a Catholic church in 1229 but renovated and expanded many times since then, becoming a Lutheran church in 1561.
Museum of Occupations
Describes the life conditions under Soviet and Nazi regimes.
Toompea Hill
According to myth, the hill was built on top of the grave of legendary Estonian king Kalev, but more historically, it's solid limestone and the site of the Danish castle that founded the city in 1219. Toompea was the home of the Danish aristocracy and relations between the toffs and the plebs were often inflamed, which is why it's surrounded by thick walls and there's a gate tower 1380 guarding the entrance. Check out the viewpoints, some of which give great views over the city. There's also a cluster of amber merevaik shops around here no Estonian origin but popular among cruise tourists.
Medieval Old Town
Excellently preserved, built in the 15-17th centuries. This compact area is best explored on foot.