{"id":7470,"date":"2023-06-28T03:08:06","date_gmt":"2023-06-28T10:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dontforgettomove.com\/?p=7470"},"modified":"2023-06-28T14:34:10","modified_gmt":"2023-06-28T21:34:10","slug":"estonia-travel-guide-itinerary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dontforgettomove.com\/estonia-travel-guide-itinerary\/","title":{"rendered":"Estonia Travel Guide: What to See and Where to Go"},"content":{"rendered":"

Estonia is one of those countries that is often missed on European travel itineraries. Dwarfed\u00a0next to its giant Russian neighbor to the east, and forgotten next to its more well-known Finnish counterpart to the north, Estonia tourism has often been overlooked. But those that venture off the usual tourist trail have an incredible reward waiting for them when they arrive in Estonia. Aside from the historical wonders of the capital city Tallinn, Estonia is full of hidden attractions that warrant at least a week or two of exploring.<\/p>\n

Traveling to Estonia is perfect for all types of outdoor lovers. Slower paced travelers will adore the incredibly well maintained nature preserves throughout the country. Adrenaline junkies have a plethora of adventure activities to get their heart racing. But no matter the pace, every traveler will enjoy getting a deeper sense of Estonia\u2019s people. Especially how their unique history has played a part in preserving the local culture, which they so passionately enjoy showing off to their guests.<\/p>\n

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Although traveling through Estonia would be fantastic with any mode of transportation, we highly recommend renting a car<\/a><\/span>, as some of the highlights were really far off the beaten track. Not only does a car allow you to reach the more rural attractions, but it also gives you the freedom to spontaneously venture off the main road to hidden spots along the way. As a jumping off point, the following here are our favorite highlights from our weeklong Estonia road trip. We zipped through these places in just 5 days, but given the time we’d recommend slowing down a bit to have some more down time.<\/p>\n

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Estonia Road Trip Day 1<\/h1>\n

Balloon Tallinn<\/h2>\n

We kicked off our wild Estonia travel itinerary with an adrenaline-pumping balloon ride\u00a0that jolted our sleepy selves wide-awake. Balloon Tallinn<\/a><\/span> offers rides in their helium balloon that rises 120 meters into the air, giving you the perfect view of Tallinn city and the Baltic Sea. 120 meters might not\u00a0sound high from the ground, but once we started going up it became apparent just how far we were going. We’re not the biggest fan of heights, so after a few minutes into our ride\u00a0Jules and I were already getting jumpy. We asked the guide if we were at the top yet, to which he replied \u201cno, we\u2019re only one third up.\u201d Yikes!<\/p>\n

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\"tallinn<\/p>\n

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Once you get settled at the top you start to forget about the height and start enjoying the views. From the balloon you overlook the Baltic Sea and can see the historical buildings of Old Town in the distance. It\u2019s pretty windy and cold up top, but they give you a blanket to stay warm. For those that are interested in a hot air balloon ride, this experience is the perfect precursor because it isn\u2019t quite as scary. Even for the daredevils, it\u2019s definitely worth a peek to see Tallinn from above and only takes about 15 minutes for the whole ride.<\/p>\n

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Bear Watching<\/h2>\n

One of the best parts of traveling in Estonia is that there is so much wilderness that surrounds you. And wilderness means plenty of space for wild animals like bears, moose, lynxes, boars and the odd wolverine. With this in mind we decided to head into the forest for a chance to spot some of Estonia’s finest wild animals!<\/p>\n

We met our guide in Alutaguse, located in northeast Estonia, and from a small roadside stop walked about a mile to our official bear watching hut.\u00a0The shelter is a basic wooden hut with bunk beds, sleeping bags and a compost toilet. Although we were told that bears are mostly likely to come out around 8:30pm, we spotted our first one around 7pm when it was still light out. We were in absolute awe of this huge, magnificent animal lumbering around the trees that we were frozen, unable to look away.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately that meant we failed to capture any photo or videos of the bear, but believe us, they’re out there. We also saw bears later in the evening around 9:30pm, but the dim lighting meant we could only make out an outline of the animals. We did see other animals, including the local raccoon dogs and, we think, a wolverine, which is very rare!<\/p>\n

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