Private tours and shore excursions in Tallinn

by local historian and tour guide

for small parties and larger groups

Tours also for solo travelers, families, senior travelers, disabled people

Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. Tallinn is truly one of the gems of Northern Europe. The Old Town of Tallinn has been astonishingly well preserved and was inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997. The unique value of Tallinn’s Old Town lies first and foremost in the well-preserved completeness of its medieval milieu and structure, which has been lost in most of the capitals of Northern Europe. All the most important public buildings and churches, as well as many merchants' houses, along with barns and warehouses from the medieval period have been preserved in their basic original form.

But not only is the Old Town worth visiting. New or refurbished buildings of the Tallinn “City” are represent the modern face of the town – up to date office buildings, banks, high quality hotels, shopping centres, apartment buildings etc. Kadriorg park is one of the largest and most historical parks of Estonia, it lies just few miles /kilometres from the Old Town. The park contains a masterpiece of Baroque era architecture – the Kadriorg Palace built by Russian czar Peter the Great. Pirita is is one of the most popular residential areas in Tallinn. Olympic marina and Convent of St. Brigitta (in ruins) are most poular sights in that area. Hundreds of old wooden houses in traditional style can be found in Kalamaja (Fish House), Kassisaba (Cat's Tail), Pelgulinn (Shelter Town) and other historical suburbs. And that list of sights and interesting areas is not complete at all, it can be extended. Due to dramatic history, the city is full of contrasts and this diversity makes Tallinn attractive to regular visitors and also to cruise passengers.

Our tours and / or shore excursions for Baltic cruise passengers in Tallinn
Our tours are tailored to our guests' needs and interests, and can range from exploring busy inner city life to discovering intriguing niches off the beaten path that are inaccessible to more commercial tour groups. You can either choose one of our following sample tour programs or we can help you create your own custom itinerary.

First of all two main tour options can be considered for sightseeing

1. Walk of the Old Town
We will walk from cruise ship piers to the gate of the Old Town, it takes 10- 15 minutes. Or if you are staying in Tallinn we can begin tour from your centrally located hotel. Old Tallinn is neatly divided into two distinct areas – Lower Town and Upper Town (Toompea or Cathedral Hill). A sightseeing tour of Lower Town includes the Great Costal Gate, St Olaf Church, merchant houses, Transfiguration Church and of course city wall. All around the Old Town and Toompea are defense fortifications of towers and walls. In fact, by the 16th century, Tallinn’s defense system was one of the most powerful in Northern Europe. Have a look at some of these fortifications. Now it is time to head up to Toompea (Upper Town or Cathedral Hill). Experience the panoramic views from the hill.You will stroll through the narrow cobblestone lanes to the Dome Church. This church is otherwise known as St. Mary’s Cathedral and is one of the oldest churches in Estonia first time built 780 years ago. En route you will see noble buildings. Some other major sights in the Upper Town: impressive

Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky and Toompea Castle which is made up of several parts. Next we descend to the Town Hall Square in the Lower Old Town. Town Hall Square is central and most important square in the Old Town. We finish our tour in front of the Gothic Town Hall built in 1404.

If time permits we can include additionally the well-survived Gothic guild houses (the Great Guild Hall), the Holy Ghost Church with the unique street clock in Tallinn, Long Leg Gate Tower and  St. Catherine's passage where you can observe craftsmen at work in the various workshops. After the tour free time for shopping and for a rest (lunch). Of course you are free to take a break from the tour at any time. We are flexible. Transfer back to the ship.

Note: We can drive people with limited mobility in the Old Town by car or van (up to 18 seats), but unfortunately  several important streets are pedestrian only. But still it is possible to see nice number of interesting sights.

And here is the second more popular tour option

2. Outside and inside the medieval walls
We offer this combined walking and driving Tallinn tour for Baltic cruise ship passengers and our other visitors  in order to discover the most attractive and interesting sights outside and inside a medieval city. Our sightseeing tour starts with a drive through city center  viewing Estonian National Opera, the National Bank, Liberty Square, Viru and Solaris shopping centers, National Library, St Charles Church, a short drive you can see beautiful Kadrirog park and not very large, but lovely summer palace built by famous Russian czar Peter the Great about 290 years ago. Optional stop to walk in the park and in the palace garden. If time permits our sightseeing tour continues to the Song Festival ground and to Pirita. Song festivals have been a vital source of emotional energy for Estonians. Singing together, people have felt the strength to persevere and stand up for themselves in difficult times. Our sightseeing tour through Pirita district will feature ruins of St. Bridget's Convent (was largest nunnery in medieval Estonia), TV Tower, Olympic Yachting Centre, Tallinn’s most famous cemetery, Metsakalmistu and other. Drive back to the city center to begin walking tour in the Old Tallinn. Afterwards free time for leisure and shopping. Transfer to the ship

3. Outside and inside the medieval walls of Tallinn with short visit to the countryside
City tour with countryside (with optional lunch at the farm or a picnic). Some sights to see in the countryside: estate houses, medieval Saha chapel, Kostivere - central settlement developed by for former Soviet collective farm, bronze age cemetery, waterfall.

4. Comprehensive tour of Tallinn
It is a long, full day tour to discover the city with its wide variety of different sights and areas.
We will explore districts of Tallinn (neighborhoods of traditional wooden buildings, neighborhoods of single family houses, districts of Soviet style apartment blocks, suburb areas of the city, Estonian outdoor museum with old village buildings from the 18th - 19th centuries and of course the Old Town.

5. Tour around Tallinn city
A long, full day driving tour outside Tallinn with frequent stops to admire nice seashore,cliffs, waterfalls, small towns and villages, estate houses and other sights.

6. Jewish heritage tour in Tallinn
With this tours we will show you the same sights as in our normal tours, but we put also emphasis on the sights related to Jewish history in Tallinn. The process of permanent Jewish settlement in Estonia began in the 19th century. Pre World War II Estonia had about 4,500 people who identified themselves ethnically as Jewish. The Jewish population of Estonia is now about 3000. But Jews have played certain role.  Jews participated in the Estonian War of Independence with 68 volunteers and 110 mobilized soldiers. Notable Jewish people in Estonia: Karl Morgenstern-the first director of Tartu University Library, Yuri Lotman- one of the most well-known scientists in Estonia- a literary and semiotics scholar, Simon Levin- an outstanding lawyer, Adik Levin- a popular pediatrician, Eri Klas-  a conductor of Jewish ancestry, he is also a musician, public figure, promote and tribune of culture, Eino Baskin-an actor and many other.

We can consider different sights for your tour: visit to the synagogue and or Jewish community center, sites of former synagogues and pray houses, Jewish cemetery, Jewish memorial stones and monuments.

 7. Trip to Helsinki or tour of Helsinki
Helsinki is located 80 km/50 miles away. The ferry drive to to Finnish capital takes only 2 hours. It is possible to pick you up right in Helsinki and to give you a private tour of Finnish capital, side trips (for example lovely small town Porvoo 55 km from Helsinki) are possible too. In that case no need to meet in Tallinn, we will meet you in Finland and we can stay with you in Finland during your visit. It is possible to organize stopover tour of Helsinki for people having a lay between flights. We can pick you up at Vantaa airport, drive to the city takes approximately half hour. Few ours is enough to see major sights of Helsinki. If you have more time we can do more complete tour to discover Finnish capital and its surroundings. So our tour can be tailored to the time between flights.

8. Side trips from Tallinn
Very different destinations can be under discussion. Lahemaa national park, largest Estonian island Saaremaa island with Kaali meteorite crater and best preserved Medieval castle in the Baltic region (from the 14th century), Pärnu resort town and other destinations are possible too. Trip from Tallinn to Riga 300 km/200 miles (capital of Latvia), Vilnius (capital of Lithuania), Warsaw (capital of Poland) etc. So Tallinn is a good point to begin or to finish longer tour covering all 3 so called Baltic countries- Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. Aforementioned names makes just a list of some tours, and it is not complete list at all. Please contact us to get more detailed description of our tours. And again- if you have your own ideas what do you like to do or what to you like to see in Tallinn.

Private tour/ private shore excursion vs. ship excursion/ scheduled sightseeing tour
The advantage of doing a private tour a tour that is conducted at your own pace, that visits the sights that interest only you and that gives you the freedom and flexibility to change things on the go way to take advantage of the short time you will have in port.

All our tour programs are flexible.

Many cruise ships and ferries call on Tallinn. For instance 280 cruise ships with 390,000 passengers visited Tallinn in 2010. On peak-days around 10,000 Baltic cruise passengers could arrive in Tallinn. This is why the Old Town and some areas can be quite crowded when there are cruise ships in town. We try to avoid crowded places in the Old Town and outside so much as possible.

Ahti Arak- about himself
I am a native Estonian historian, teacher of history who was graduated at Tartu University in Estonia, and businessman (owner, Ahti Arak Tours.) I speak Estonian fluently, and have a good working-knowledge of English and Russian and have participated in many courses for tour guides. Most importantly, I enjoy meeting people and sharing cultures and would love the opportunity to show you the homeland and Tallinn I love.

I commenced my activities in the summer of 2000, offering tour guide services in a small southern Estonian town of Viljandi; but given the needs of our visitors, I soon expanded our business to Tallinn. A bit later, I began to provide our services throughout Estonia. Currently, my service operations include Latvia, Lithuania and Finland, but I also have been to Belarus, Poland and Kaliningrad oblast (Russia) with my visitors.

Ahti Arak Tours is registered in Estonian Commercial Register, No. 10789460, and in the register of tour operators and travel agencies within the Ministry of Economic Affairs, No. RK0202.

Contact:
Ahti Arak
Cell phone:+372 53 420 361
Ahti Arak Tours
email: tours@hot.ee
PO Box 937, 13402 Tallinn, Estonia or
Ploomi 30, 71017 Viljandi, Estonia

We are looking to hear from you !