Quality of life in Tallinn

Tallinn is Estonia's capital and largest city, located at the Gulf of Finland. A city of over 400,000 inhabitants, it is home to a third of the country's population, and besides serving as the national capital, it is also the capital of Harju County in Northern Estonia.

Tallinn has been and continues to be an important port of the Baltic Sea, with the busy passenger section of the port reaching the foothill of the picturesque medieval Old Town, which has been astonishingly well preserved and was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997. In a striking contrast, the immediate outskirts thereof are filled with a cluster of modern office towers, with intermittent architectural monuments to the Soviet era. Further out, you will find a bewildering variety of historic and modern neighbourhoods, religious, civic, industrial and maritime heritage. This all provides for the city seeing very sizeable tourist traffic given its size, which in turn means the infrastructure is robust and extensive.

Tallinn is a historic city dating back to medieval times. The first fortress on Toompea was built in 1050 and Tallinn was first recorded on a world map in 1154. In 1219, the city was conquered by Valdemar II of Denmark, but it was soon sold to the Hanseatic League in 1285. The city, known as Reval at the time, prospered as a trading town in the 14th century, and much of Tallinn's historic centre was built at this time.