With kids · Tallinn · Estonia
Tallinn with kids
Family-tested sights, a calm base and the practical details that make travelling with children easier.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Teet Koitjärv, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Quick answer
Tallinn works well with children: the Old Town feels like a storybook, distances are short and museums such as the Seaplane Harbour and the Open Air Museum are hands-on. Cobbles and steep Toompea streets make pushchairs hard work, so a baby carrier helps in the Old Town. Top picks: Seaplane Harbour (Lennusadam), Estonian Open Air Museum and Kiek in de Kök and the Bastion Tunnels. Families usually base themselves in Kadriorg.
Key facts
- Family picks
- 6
- Best area for families
- Kadriorg
- Rainy-day options
- 2
- Busiest months
- July
Best things to do with kids
Museum · Kalamaja
1.Seaplane Harbour (Lennusadam)
The Estonian Maritime Museum fills three concrete-domed seaplane hangars built in 1916–17. You can walk through the submarine Lembit, built in Britain in 1936, see a replica seaplane and old fishing boats, try flight simulators, and board the steam icebreaker Suur Tõll moored outside.
Combine it with a seaside walk to Noblessner for lunch, and allow extra time with children for the simulators and play areas.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Rainy day
- History
Museum · Rocca al Mare
2.Estonian Open Air Museum
On a wooded shore west of the centre at Rocca al Mare, this open-air museum gathers farmsteads, windmills, a wooden chapel, a village school and a tavern from across Estonia, dating from the 18th to the 20th century. In summer, crafts, farm animals and folk dancing bring it to life; in winter the tavern serves warming Estonian food.
Eat pea soup or blood sausage at the Kolu tavern inside the museum, and visit at Midsummer for bonfires and dancing.
- Time needed
- 3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- History
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Architecture
Museum · Toompea
3.Kiek in de Kök and the Bastion Tunnels
Kiek in de Kök, Low German for 'peek into the kitchen', is a 15th-century artillery tower whose gunners could see into the kitchens below. It holds a museum of the city's fortifications, and guided tours lead into the 17th- and 18th-century bastion tunnels dug beneath Toompea, later used as air-raid shelters.
Book the tunnel tour, which runs at set times, and combine it with the Maiden Tower café on the walls next door.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Book ahead
- Tunnel tours have limited places; reserve a time online in summer.
- History
- Rainy day
- Kids
Viewpoint · Pirita
4.Tallinn TV Tower
The 314-metre tower was built for the sailing regatta of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, which was held in Tallinn, and was a focal point of resistance during the August 1991 coup attempt. Its observation deck at about 170 metres gives views over the forests, the city and, on clear days, towards Finland. An outdoor 'edge walk' on the roof is available for those with a head for heights.
Go on a clear day and combine it with the botanic garden next door and Pirita beach.
- Time needed
- 1.5 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Views
- Kids
- History
- Active
Landmark · Old Town
5.Town Hall Square and Tallinn Town Hall
The cobbled Raekoja plats has been Tallinn's marketplace since the Middle Ages. Its Gothic Town Hall, completed in 1404, carries the Old Thomas weathervane on its spire, and the Town Hall Pharmacy in the corner has been dispensing medicine since at least 1422. In winter the square holds the city's Christmas market; in summer it fills with café terraces.
Climb the Town Hall tower in summer for a close view over the roofs, and step into the old pharmacy's small museum room.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Free
- Iconic
- Free
- History
- Architecture
- Photo spot
Palace · Kadriorg
6.Kadriorg Palace and Park
Peter the Great commissioned this baroque palace for his wife Catherine I in 1718, and its main hall is one of the finest baroque interiors in the Baltics. It houses the Kadriorg Art Museum's collection of Western European and Russian art. The surrounding park, free to walk, has a formal flower garden, the Swan Pond and a Japanese garden.
Take tram 1 or 3 to Kadriorg, walk through the park to the palace and continue up the hill to Kumu.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- History
- Art
- Outdoors
- Couples
- Architecture
Rainy-day ideas
- Kiek in de Kök and the Bastion Tunnels — Book the tunnel tour, which runs at set times, and combine it with the Maiden Tower café on the walls next door.
- Seaplane Harbour (Lennusadam) — Combine it with a seaside walk to Noblessner for lunch, and allow extra time with children for the simulators and play areas.
Where families should stay
$$ · Best for families, quiet stays, culture and couples
Kadriorg
Kadriorg grew around the baroque palace Peter the Great built for his wife Catherine from 1718. Its large park has the Swan Pond, a Japanese garden, Kadriorg Art Museum and the Kumu, and the surrounding streets have handsome wooden villas. The seaside promenade leads north to Pirita. Trams 1 and 3 reach the centre in about ten minutes.
- Good
- Green, calm and close to the sea; Museums within the park; Direct tram to the centre
- Watch out
- Few hotels; Quiet in the evenings
- Nearby
- Kadriorg Palace, Kumu, Song Festival Grounds, Pirita promenade
Family travel tips
- The PROTO Invention Factory at Noblessner has interactive virtual-reality exhibits about historic inventions, good for older children.
- Kadriorg park has a large playground and the Miia-Milla-Manda children's museum.
- Many museums offer family tickets, and children under 7 travel free on public transport.
- Pirita and Stroomi beaches have shallow water suited to young children in summer.
- Restaurants generally welcome children and many have children's menus.
Day trips for families
- Lahemaa National Park (About 1 hour by car) — Estonia's oldest national park combines restored baroque manor houses at Palmse and Sagadi, the old sea captains' village of Käsmu with its boulder-strewn coast, and the Viru Bog boardwalk with an observation tower over the peat bog and pools.
- Keila-Joa (About 45 minutes by bus) — A waterfall about 6 metres high on the Keila river, with a restored 19th-century neo-Gothic manor, riverside parkland and suspension footbridges.
- Haapsalu (About 1 hour 30 minutes by bus) — A small seaside resort with a ruined episcopal castle, a wooden promenade along the shallow bay and a long-platformed former railway station that now holds a railway museum.
- Pärnu (About 2 hours by bus) — Estonia's 'summer capital' has a long, shallow sandy beach with a seaside park and spa hotels, plus an old town of wooden and stone houses.
When to go with children
The best months overall are May–September. July is the busiest, so book the big sights early. Weather by month.
Questions travellers ask
+Is Tallinn good for kids?
Tallinn works well with children: the Old Town feels like a storybook, distances are short and museums such as the Seaplane Harbour and the Open Air Museum are hands-on. Cobbles and steep Toompea streets make pushchairs hard work, so a baby carrier helps in the Old Town.
+What can kids do in Tallinn?
Seaplane Harbour (Lennusadam), Estonian Open Air Museum, Kiek in de Kök and the Bastion Tunnels, Tallinn TV Tower and Town Hall Square and Tallinn Town Hall.
+Where should families stay in Tallinn?
Kadriorg: Leafy park district around Peter the Great's palace, with Kumu and the sea promenade.