Travel - International
Air
Estonia’s national airline is Estonian Air (OV) (website: www.estonian-air.ee), which operates six direct flights a week (everyday except Saturday) between Gatwick and Tallinn. For more information, contact the Estonian Air office in the UK (tel: (020) 7333 0196; fax: (020) 7333 0068); e-mail:lon@maersk-air.com). Aeroflot, Air Baltic, Finnair, Lithuanian Airlines and SAS also operate flights to Tallinn. Flights to Tallinn via Moscow, Helsinki, Riga or Stockholm are available from all major European cities. Connections to the USA are via Helsinki and New York or Los Angeles.
Approximate flight times
From Tallinn to London is approximately three hours, to Frankfurt/M is approximately two hours 30 minutes, to Los Angeles is approximately 22 hours (via Helsinki), and to New York is approximately 13 hours 30 minutes (via Helsinki).
International airports
Tallinn (TLL) (website: www.tallinn-airport.ee) is located 5km (3 miles) northwest of the city. Buses run between the city and the airport (travel time – 15 minutes). A shuttle bus to the main hotels and the city centre meets all flights. Taxis are also available. The airport facilities include banks/bureaux de change, duty-free shops, shops, post office, restaurants, two business lounges, tourist information and car hire (Avis, Baltic, Budget, Europcar, Finest, Hertz, National and Sixt).
Departure tax
None.
Sea
Ferries operated by Eckerö Line (website: www.eckeroline.fi), Silja Line (website: www.silja.com) and Tallink (website: www.tallink.ee) and run several times a day between Helsinki (Finland) and Tallinn (travel time – 3 hours 45 minutes). Express catamarans (operated by Nordic Jet, Silja Line and Tallink AutoExpress) and hydrofoils (operated by Lindaline) also ply this route (travel time – 1 hour 45 minutes). Express services run only in the high season. Tallink operates daily from Stockholm (Sweden) to Tallinn (travel time – 11 hours). Silja Line operates ferries from Tallinn to Rostock (Germany) in high season (travel time – 21 hours).
Rail
Estonian Railways (Eesti Raudtee) (website: www.evr.ee) is underdeveloped, although there is a route on the EVR Express between St Petersburg (Russian Federation) and Talinn. There is no longer a train route between Estonia and Latvia. Travel is slower than by bus. Children up to seven years may travel free if accompanied by an adult and not taking a separate seat.
Road
There are direct routes along the Baltic coast into Latvia, Lithuania and Kaliningrad, and also east into the Russian Federation. Routes into the Baltic states are via Poland and Belarus or Poland and Lithuania; border points: Terespol (Poland) – Brest (Belarus) and Ogrodniki (Poland) – Lazdijai (Lithuania). Bus: Long-distance services run regularly to Riga, Vilnius, Kaliningrad and St Petersburg. Eurolines, 4 Cardiff Road, Luton, Bedfordshire LU1 1PP, UK (tel: (08705) 143 219; fax: (01582) 400 694; website: www.eurolines.com or www.nationalexpress.com) operate to other European cities, including Berlin, Hamburg, Kiel, Kyiv, Minsk, Moscow, Oslo, Riga, St Petersburg and Warsaw.
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