Vanalinn or the ‘old city’ is the most interesting part of Tallinn. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 and the government, the organisation as well as the residents of the area have worked hard at preserving the straightforward and sincere spirit of this quarter. No touristy trash packaged in slick cellophane floats around here: no heckling touts, no loud banners, but lots of shoppers and interested sightseers milling around Raekoja plats (the Town hall Square) in various stages of satisfaction.

Since 1219 when the Danes first fortified their settlement on Toompea Hill, followed by the Livonian knights and the Swedes, till recently when the Russians added their batch, the old city has acquired an eclectic and never-boring collection of architectural delights.

From the phenomenal pink of the convent at the Toompea Castle where the Riigikogu, Estonia’s Parliament, conducts its business, to the Aleksander Nevsky Cathedral, Toompea is the mind-boggling collection of the curious, the cute and the cool. The Cathedral is a wonderfully ornate building with massive gilded pillars that soar up to the ceiling. 

In the Old City, next to each other are Fat Margaret – the short and stout tower called Paks Margareeta and the Maritime Museum. Fat Margaret’s counterpart, or so it would seem, Tall Hermann (Pikk Hermann) is the tallest tower in Tallinn and part of the medieval fortification. Also on Toompea are the Art Museum called Eesti Kunstimuuseum and the Dome Church, Toomkirik. At the very other end of Vanalinn are the awesome St. Nicholas’s Church and the Kiek in de Kok or Peek into the Kitchen. The Kitchen is actually a tower that offers a quirky look at Tallinn in the medieval times. Close to the Town Hall are the Raemuuseum, the Dominican Cloister, the Church of the Holy Ghost, the Piik jaig Tower, and a little further in the northeast is the City Museum. At the Town Hall is the 16th century cast iron weathervane fashioned as Old Thomas or Vana Toomas, the town’s defender.

 About 2 km east of Toompea is the Kadriorg Palace and its wooded grounds. The palace was designed by the Niccolo Michetti for Peter the Great in 1736. In a small cottage on the grounds is the Peter the Great Museum. 

10 kms west of Tallinn where the land juts out into the sea at Rocca-al-Mare is the Estonian Open-Air Museum where old Tallinn with its quaint homesteads and trade houses has been rebuilt. If you’re lucky your trip there will coincide with a street performance of folk dance or music. Open from May to October, the museum locally called Vabaõhumuuseumi, is an pretty and pleasant place to while away the day: it’s open in season from 10 am to 7 pm.