Tallinn

The hill of Toompea held an Estonian stronghold before King Valdemar II of Denmark took it in 1219 and built a castle in its place; the city's Estonian name is widely read as Taani-linna, "Danish castle". For most of the next seven centuries the rest of the world knew the town as Reval. It received Lübeck town rights in 1248, joined the Hanseatic League in 1285 as its northernmost member, and passed from Denmark to the Teutonic Order in 1346. A merchant town of about 8,000 people grew up below the hill, enclosed by walls and 66 defensive towers, and its trade between Russia and the west paid for the guild halls, churches and town hall that still stand.

Swedish rule followed in 1561 and Russian rule in 1710. Under the tsars Peter the Great built the palace at Kadriorg, a sea fortress went up on the shore, and the railway from St Petersburg arrived in 1870, bringing factories and workers' suburbs such as Kalamaja. Estonian independence was proclaimed in the city on 24 February 1918, and the name Tallinn replaced Reval in international use.

The Soviet Union occupied the country in 1940, Nazi Germany from 1941 and the Soviets again from September 1944. A Soviet air raid on 9–10 March 1944 started fires that killed 757 people and left 20,000 without shelter. In the following decades whole new districts — Mustamäe, Väike-Õismäe and above all Lasnamäe — were built for workers arriving from elsewhere in the Soviet Union, and in 1980 Pirita hosted the Olympic sailing events. Tallinn became the capital of an independent country again on 20 August 1991; the Old Town was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997.

The Old Town is the city's stage. Tallinn Old Town Days fills its streets with concerts, theatre and fairs every early summer, and the Christmas market takes over Town Hall Square in winter. Music runs deep: the national song festival, held since 1869 and staged in Tallinn since 1928, brings choirs of many thousands to the Song Festival Grounds every five years, and the grounds were the setting of the mass singing that helped end Soviet rule. Tallinn Music Week each spring showcases new bands from across Europe, and the Black Nights Film Festival, held since 1997, is one of the largest in Northern Europe.

The city lives in two languages. Around a third of its residents are first- or second-generation migrants from Russia and the former Soviet Union, most of them now Estonian citizens, and districts such as Lasnamäe remain largely Russian-speaking. The Orthodox cathedral on Toompea and the Lutheran spires of the lower town reflect that long mixture, though Estonia is one of the least religious countries in the world.

Tallinn is also proud of its modern side: Skype and Bolt began here, and old factory quarters such as Telliskivi, Rotermanni and Noblessner have become galleries, studios and restaurants. Manners are reserved and understated, and comfort with silence is part of the national character.

About 453,000 people lived in the city at the start of 2026, roughly a third of Estonia's population, and around 646,000 in the wider metropolitan area. Lasnamäe, a district of Soviet-era apartment blocks on the limestone plateau to the east, has been the most populous district since the 1980s. Kalamaja's wooden houses, built for factory workers, make it one of the best-preserved wooden districts in Estonia, while Pirita is a district of private houses and Kadriorg is one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in the country.

The economy runs on services, technology, government and the port, whose ferries carry heavy traffic to Helsinki. The city is home to eu-LISA, the EU agency that runs large-scale IT systems, and to many start-ups, while the Rail Baltica line is planned to link it with Warsaw through Latvia and Lithuania. Since January 2013 registered residents have ridden the buses, trams and trolleybuses free, the first such scheme in a European capital.

Daily rhythms follow the light. Summer evenings stretch late, and Midsummer Eve is marked with bonfires, music and dancing. Winter days are short and dark, life moves indoors to cafés, saunas and concert halls, and the city's beaches at Pirita, Stroomi and Kakumäe stand empty until the warmth returns.

Tallinn eats like the rest of Estonia, but with more choice. Black rye bread accompanies almost every savoury meal, and a traditional meal opens with a cold table of pickles, meats, sausages, potato salad and rosolje — a salad of beetroot, potatoes and herring. The Baltic herring (räim) and the sprat (kilu) are national fish; spiced salted sprats on an open sandwich with a slice of boiled egg, kiluvõileib, are a distinctively Estonian appetiser. At Christmas, blood sausage (verivorst), jellied pork (sült), roast pork and sauerkraut appear on tables across the city.

Sweet things have a long history here. Maiasmokk, the oldest working café in Estonia, has served cakes since 1864 and keeps a small museum of marzipan. Kama — a flour of roasted peas, barley, rye and oats soaked in milk or buttermilk and eaten uncooked — and pancakes (pannkook) are everyday favourites, and kali, a drink similar to kvass, survives beside modern soft drinks.

Beer is the usual drink with food. Põhjala, founded in the city and now the largest craft brewery in the Baltic states, makes porters and barrel-aged beers, and Vana Tallinn, a liqueur made since 1960 with Jamaican rum, herbs and spices, is the city's best-known bottle. The Old Town has the most restaurants, but Kalamaja, Telliskivi and the market by the Baltic Station are where many residents eat.