Tallinn - The Tower Table

Tallinn's Old Town is one of the most intact medieval city centres in Northern Europe. The limestone towers and city wall are still standing, the lane layout in Vanalinn has not changed in six centuries, and the whole area sits under UNESCO protection. What has changed considerably in the last several years is what is happening in the restaurants.

Where to stay

Schlössle Hotel occupies buildings dating to the 13th and 14th centuries in the heart of Vanalinn, a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World where stone walls and timber beams are part of the guest rooms rather than hidden behind renovation. Von Stackelberg Hotel, a ten-minute walk from the Old Town at the foot of Toompea Hill, was built in 1873 as the town residence of Baltic German Baron von Stackelberg and restored in 2015, with the limestone facade intact and a clean contemporary interior. Hotel Telegraaf, an Autograph Collection property in the Old Town, occupies the city's former Central Telegraph Office, a 19th-century building with original wooden staircases and oversized doors that are still in use.

What to eat

180° by Matthias Diether, at Port Noblessner, holds Estonia's only two Michelin stars and sits in a regenerated industrial building with a direct view out to the Baltic. Chef Diether has a German-French background, but the menus draw from foraged greens, Baltic fish, fermented dairy, and dark rye in ways that are specific to this coastline. NOA Chef's Hall at Ranna tee holds one Michelin star under chef Tõnis Siigur, offering a seven-course tasting menu in a room built directly above the water. Barbarea, in the Põhjala Factory complex, is a bakery in the morning and a natural wine bistro in the evening, with a short seasonal menu and no ambitions beyond getting that right.

Where to drink

Veino on Rüütli Street has over four hundred wines available by the glass, weighted toward natural and biodynamic producers, a list that won Best By the Glass in the Baltics in 2024, served in a room small enough that the wine is the main event. Frank, in Kalamaja, is a bistro and cocktail bar that has kept its neighbourhood clientele for over a decade without changing much, in a district that still runs at its own pace. At Noblessner, the Põhjala Tap Room occupies a converted submarine factory with twenty-four taps of the brewery's current output and Texas BBQ smoked on the premises.

How to move

Tallinn has three areas worth knowing separately. Vanalinn is compact and walkable, with most of the medieval architecture within half a kilometre of Town Hall Square. Kalamaja, north of the centre, has the highest concentration of contemporary food and design activity, its wooden 19th-century houses sitting in visible contrast to the stone formality of the Old Town. Further out, Noblessner, the former submarine factory turned restaurant and creative district, sits at the edge of the Baltic and is home to the restaurant that currently sets the standard for Estonian cooking. All three are different enough from each other that a weekend in just one of them leaves something out.