How would you plan a week in Estonia?

Rick Steves Scandinavia book only covers Tallinn and is where you want to sleep. Good day trips are Helsinki and Lahemaa National Park. The Viljandi Folk Music Festival occurs the last week in Jul: https://www.viljandifolk.ee/en but I don’t know if your son would have any interest listening to European folk music. Wikivoyage is another good source: https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Estonia.

I am set to spend 7 nights in Tallinn and 2 in Tartu in September - along with a week in Lithuania and a week in Latvia. So my experience hasn’t happened yet. I started researching Tallinn and kept finding more and more interesting things and day trips, so spending a week there doesn’t seem difficult. I am flying into Vilnius and out of Tallinn.

I have enjoyed In Your Pocket for good information also.

Just a question: if you three have longer than your oldest, would you consider letting them fly home earlier than the rest of you and continue further with the Baltics( or arrive a little after you)?

We have carefully planned a week (8 nights) in Estonia for an upcoming trip in May. We will be spending all but two nights in Tallin. Two days in Tartu. Tallin has many sights both in the immediate central city area and the nearby areas. Admittedly, many of them are secondary or even tertiary by European standards, but are the kinds of places that are less crowded, often visited by locals, and a joy for methodical travelers to visit. Tallin has a nice Tallin Card option for 24, 48 or 72 hours so you can sample many places for a fixed cost. It will be a challenge to just spend two days in Tartu and see the principal sites. We considered going to Narvo to look across the border into Russia, but it’s too challenging to visit when you have only a week. We do not drive in Europe, but are heavy users of public transit and trains, occasionally supplemented by a private driver or Uber or plain long walks. RS guidebook for Tallin is very good, but check out Bradt guidebook for more detailed coverage and coverage beyond Tallin.

Sounds like a great plan! Are you planning to just spend a week in Estonia? That is perfectly possible but if you have a week you can add Riga as well. And if your older child has to go home after a week, are you planning to join them or continue the trip?

It is perfectly realistic to go to Estonia for a week. Tallinn is connected to most major European airports. I would not spend the entire week in Tallinn, but you probably have to start or end there (unless you're extending the trip). So maybe two nights in Tallinn, two nights in Tartu and then three nights in Tallinn? Possible day trips from Tallinn are Narva, Pärnu and more.

You can certainly "do" Estonia in a week. But you will be greatly rewarded if you can somehow stretch your trip, and widen your focus a bit to include more of the region. And be careful how you count your days - it'll take you at least a day to get there, another to get back - it's a long way to go for a very short trip. Sure, Tallinn is as cute as a button, and quite satisfying for a few days. But there is soooo much more to see around the region - more of Estonia, and plenty more still in Latvia next door, and in Lithuania to it's south.

We spent about 18 days in the Baltics (mid-summer 2018) and we loved all three countries - this turned out to be one of the best trips to Europe I've ever done. The region is full of charms (history, scenery, culture, architecture, people, etc.), but not at all overwhelmed with crowds of tourists. Prices are reasonable (even cheap, compared to more popular parts of Europe). Ironically, you will be spending most of your planned trip in the only place in the entire region that does get something approaching "crowded" (and the most expensive) - Tallinn. It's very popular with cruise ships and day-trippers, and yes, its very charming old town does get a bit crowded (not quite Cinque Terre crowded, but it's by far the most touristy crowded place in the three countries).

As suggested above, Riga is absolutely worth a visit - then again, so is Vilnius. And there's more to Estonia than Tallinn (though very few foreign tourists get beyond Tallinn - this is a feature, not a bug). We loved Estonia's two large islands sitting nearby off the mainland - Hiiumaa and Saaremaa. Latvia's Baltic coast is also beautiful.

My advice is to see if there's any way you can manage extend your trip, even if not everyone can be there together the entire time. If so, it's a region rich in attractions and thin on tourist crowds - quite the delightful and rare combination in Europe these days.

BTW, there isn't really a Rick Steves guidebook for the Baltics. Just a short section on Tallinn in other books (they used to do guided tours around the Baltic Sea, including Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, St Petersburg...but when Russia invaded Ukraine, the St Petersburg part stopped, and I don't think there has been any update for quite a while). If you want a good guidebook, check out the Bradt Guide for Estonia (last update 2021, IIRC). Great news - they have a Latvia book scheduled for release in June 2024, so watch for that one. They used to have a Lithuania book but it's way, way out of date. We used the DK Eyewitness Guide for the region, which was not great, but was at least something.

I'll send a PM with a link to photos and a write up, if you're interested. Hope this all is useful.