Estonia travel tips

Is Estonia safe?

6 guides, each rated 1 to 5 with the reason — and two lists per place, where you are comfortable and where to pay attention. Nowhere is called dangerous; the specific thing is what helps.

5.0 average across 6 guides · Very safe
Tallinn, EstoniaPärnu, EstoniaTartu, EstoniaSaaremaa, EstoniaLahemaa, EstoniaHaapsalu, Estonia

Tallinn Very safe

Very comfortable, and the old town is walked late. Pickpockets in the old town crowds in summer, and the bars near the port that exist for the ferry crowd from Finland. Ice on the cobbles from November to March is the real hazard.

Comfortable: the old town · Kadriorg · Telliskivi · Kalamaja

  • the old town crowds in summer — pickpockets
  • the bars near the port late — the ferry crowd; not a destination
  • the cobbles in winter — ice

Pärnu Very safe

Very comfortable and family-oriented. The bay is shallow for a long way out, which is why it is warm and why the children are safe in it. Jellyfish in a hot August.

Comfortable: the beach · the town centre · the resort quarter

  • the bay in a hot August — jellyfish; harmless but many

Tartu Very safe

Very comfortable at any hour. The river in spring is high; the cobbles in winter are ice. That is all.

Comfortable: the centre · Supilinn · the river banks

  • the cobbles in winter — ice

Saaremaa Very safe

Very comfortable and empty. The cliffs at Panga are unfenced; the sea is cold; the roads are straight and the deer cross them at dusk. That is the list.

Comfortable: Kuressaare · the whole island

  • the Panga cliffs — unfenced
  • the roads at dusk — deer

Lahemaa Very safe

Very comfortable. The bog is walked on the boardwalk and nowhere else; ticks in the grass from spring to autumn; the sea is cold. Nothing else.

Comfortable: the villages · the boardwalks

  • off the boardwalk — the bog is a bog
  • the grass in summer — ticks

Haapsalu Very safe

Very comfortable and slow. The bay is shallow and warm; the castle walls are climbed at your own risk. That is all.

Comfortable: the town · the promenade

  • the castle walls — climbed at your own risk

The ratings are this site's own, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in; they are not an index. Read the general advice in travel safety tips.

The guides in Estonia

Tallinn’s old town from Toompea hill, spires and red roofsTallinnEstoniaThe best-kept medieval city in northern Europe, with a startup nation behind the walls, a sauna culture that means it, and Helsinki two hours across the waterA red lifeguard tower on the wide sand of Pärnu beachPärnuEstoniaThe summer capital: a long shallow beach on a warm bay, spa hotels from the tsars’ time, and a wooden town behind the dunesTartu town hall and its square with the Kissing Students fountainTartuEstoniaThe university town on the Emajõgi, a kissing-students fountain, a science centre for the family, and the intellectual capital of a country that takes the idea seriouslyTwo visitors in front of Kuressaare castle on SaaremaaSaaremaaEstoniaThe big island: a Teutonic castle with a moat, windmills, a meteorite crater, juniper heath and a coast that nobody else has foundThe boardwalk through the pines and heather of a Lahemaa bogLahemaaEstoniaEstonia’s first national park, an hour from Tallinn: bog boardwalks, manor houses, fishing villages on a stony coast, and the forest that is most of the countryReeds and wooden villas along the still water of Haapsalu bayHaapsaluEstoniaA small spa town on a warm bay with a bishop’s castle, a promenade Tchaikovsky walked, a railway station with the longest platform in the north, and a lace shawl to buy