Last updated:
Tallinn and a waterfall visit make a useful pairing for a Harju County trip. Tallinn belongs to Harju County, and its medieval Old Town received UNESCO World Heritage recognition in 1997.
Two days give you a plan with Tallinn on the first day and either Jägala Waterfall or Keila-Joa Park on the second. For the Tallinn day, the Old Town and the Kiek in de Kök Fortifications Museum offer a medieval focus. The museum brings together four medieval towers in a complex stretching beyond 500 metres.
A Tallinn self-guided walking tour with audio guide and GPS map takes 1 hour and 40 minutes. It includes a 4.1 km walking route, 21 audio commentaries, a route map with waypoints and coverage of 21 points of interest.
Waterfalls suit a nature day, while Padise Monastery offers a medieval history alternative. At Jägala, the water falls about 8 metres across a width exceeding 50 metres. At Keila-Joa Park, the Keila waterfall drops 6.1 metres before the river valley forms a canyon below it. Padise offers a different focus: its Cistercian monastery dates from the 14th century.
Lahemaa National Park is another option if wildlife and village landscapes appeal to you. The park covers about 750 square kilometres along the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, and about a third of that area is sea. The park supports moose, boar, bears, beavers and lynx, without that being a promise of sightings. Its landscape also includes 72 villages and more than 30,000 hectares of cultural landscapes.
Tallinn is a practical base to consider if your plans centre on its museums, palace and Old Town. Alongside the medieval sights, Kadriorg Palace adds a visit to imperial history: Russian Tsar Peter I began building it in 1718. For a different viewpoint, the Tallinn TV Tower has a viewing deck 170 metres high. These give you reasons to keep time in Tallinn rather than fill the whole stay with excursions.
A self-guided walk is an option for exploring Tallinn Old Town. The self-guided walking tour in Tallinn with GPS app lasts 2 hours and 30 minutes. It includes the Tales of Reval app on one device, an Old Town route guided by GPS, and interactive stories told by Wilhelm. Riddles, puzzles and scavenger hunt challenges accompany coverage of 13 historic stops and landmarks, in a format you follow at your own pace.
The available annual climate figures do not establish which months suit walking or which months are hottest or rainiest. For Estonia as a whole, the 2019 average temperature was 7.6 °C, compared with a normal of 6.0 °C. Precipitation that year totalled 671 mm against a normal of 672 mm. These are national annual figures, so they cannot give a seasonal recommendation for Harju County.
Kohuke suits a stop for something sweet: it is made from freshly pressed sweet curd with a chocolate coating. The curd is known in Estonian as kohupiim.
Two days allow a suggested plan of Tallinn first, then either Jägala Waterfall or Keila-Joa Park.
No particular month can be recommended from the available national annual climate figures.
On a self-guided walk, with a GPS app route as one option.
Jägala Waterfall, Keila-Joa Park, Padise Monastery and Lahemaa National Park offer choices for nature or history.
Tallinn suits a stay focused on the Old Town, museums and Kadriorg Palace.
