Tallinn the Cathedral Hill and the Old Town Your personal tour

Glad you are interested in this individual and personal tour! Here you can get an overview of the most important sights on the Domberg and in the old town. Of course, not all art monuments can be visited on the 5-hour tour (this would require one/two day tours) : from the following suggestions, you can put together your walk according to your interests and wishes in the online conversation with us!

• The start is, for example, in the "Snelli-Park" ("Snail Park"), the former fortifications of bastions with high walls, huge earthen walls and wide water ditches : at the beginning you get a short geographical overview of the cathedral and the old town with the planned stations based on a historical map.
• Along the only remains of the former moat we then go to the Domberg, the "origin" of Tallinn.

On the historic path you will pass the location of the former "Dom-Porte" and "Commandantur" to the castle square with the former "Ordens-Schloß" (today Estonian Parliament) and the castle tower "Langer Hermann". Unfortunately, the tower is not accessible.

On the Domberg, the former "upper city", you will discover many historical buildings :

• the "Alexander Nevsky Cathedral"
• the former "Domschule"
• Cathedral church "St. Mary"
• the "Stenbock House" (former palace of a wealthy merchant)
• the "Knight's House"
• Viewpoints "Piiskopi" (bishop), "Patkuli" and "Kohtuotsa" (courthouse) with great views of the old town (the former "lower city")
• the medieval old town gate "Kurzer Domberg" to the cathedral.

Everywhere you go, you calmly find the perspectives for your photos and decide to take a short tour.

On old cobblestone streets you walk over the "Langen Domberg" through the cathedral gate of the same name into the old town with the goal of the "St. Olai Church". On this route:

• “Cistern-Gate”, a gate (of 7 historic gates) of the old town with photo perspectives on “Domberg” and “Stenbock-Haus”
• You can visit a small part of the city walls and 2 towers : from the wall you have a beautiful view of the former complex of the “Cistercian Monastery” : on this historic square there is now an Orthodox church and the “Gustav Adolf Gymnasium”.
• Continue past the massively built "Mehlspeicher" (now a museum of design) through the old "Breit-Straße" (now Lai-tänav) to renovated warehouses and the "Ross-Mühle" (now a small art stage)
• From the tower of the "St. Olai Church" you get magnificent views of the Cathedral Hill, the Old Town and far into Tallinn's suburban quarters.

After the "St. Olai Church" you leave the old town a few meters and enter the upstream

• "Schonen-Bastion", Reval's largest bastion, which is located to the Baltic Sea and the harbour. And right back you enter the old town through the
• "Great beach gate" with the imposing bastion tower "Thick Margarethe" (today "Maritime Museum"). By the way, all the towers that still exist have been given their medieval names to this day.

With your historical map you will walk from the "Great Beach Gate" on the "Pikk tänav" (formerly "Lang Street") - the medieval main street Revals - to the numerous historic houses and squares of the old town :

• the "Krautmarkt" (former market for vegetables and fish)
• the "Palais von Rosen" (now the Swedish Embassy)
• the Guild Houses of the Blackheads -, Olai -, Kanuti - and Great Guild
• the former legendary "Café Georg Stude" (formerly a confectioner and marzipan maker)
• the "Holy Spirit Church"

After a small passage from the "Holy Spirit Church", the "Rathaus Platz" (formerly the "Großer Markt") opens. In this central square you have the most beautiful views of the facades of the merchant houses and of course of the town hall with its slim octagonal tower. This tower can be climbed up very steep (!) stairs and has great views of the old town houses. As on this entire tour, you make your decisions for a break in the cafe or a "coffee / snack to go".

The paths in the old town are short : from the town hall you go to the "Old Market", the early location of the town hall, through the "Vene tänav" (formerly "Russ Strasse") to the "St. Catherine's Church" : on the former complex of the Dominican Monastery a small labyrinth of numerous buildings from different centuries opens up to you in a narrow space, where walls and rooms from the time of the destruction of the monastery (1532) can still be discovered :

• the former large dining room of the monks has been home to the "Peter and Paul Church" since 1842
• on the foundations of the former monastery granary there is now a theatre
• in the medieval remains of the monastery ruins you will discover the oldest tombstones of wealthy citizens Reval
• in a narrow alley of the former monastery grounds you will meet workshops of artisans

From the "St. Catherine's Church" we go to the "St. Nicholas Church" : along the eastern city walls to the former sites of three old town gates of the Middle Ages :

• two towers of the "clay gate" (now a flower market) are still preserved
• past the "Karri Gate" (Herd Gate) over the large
• "Freiheitsplatz" with the "St. Johannis-Kirche" to
• "Forge Gate" and via "Mayers Staircase" to
• "Kiek in de Kök", tower of the bastion "Ingermannland" over the
• "Rüütli tänav" (formerly "Knight Street") with exemplary restored merchant houses past the
• "St. Michael's Church" (formerly the Swedish Church) to the
• "Nikolai Church" (now the Museum of Church Art)

From these many sights of the UNESCO World Heritage city of Tallinn, together with our advice, you can make a selection for your personally guided tour according to your interests. Arrange a free online call : the contact details can be found under "offered by incommer" under the menu item "More information". After your excursion you have gained many inspirations for targeted visits to museums and your own explorations to get to know Tallinn even better!