AT minus-four degrees in Tallinn, it really is Baltic out.
As snowflakes light up the Estonian capital’s night sky at a sauna park, I lower myself into the gasp-inducing Baltic Sea.
Completely numb within seconds, I leap back out twice as fast. But I feel revitalised.
Like with their Finnish neighbours, such daring dips are a way of life for Estonians, who believe in the rejuvenating power of the contrast of hot and cold — it’s a daily ritual to go from a sauna into freezing water.
Just as breathtaking but in a very different way is the city itself.
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A guided walking tour of Tallinn’s Old Town quickly displays why it’s a Unesco World Heritage site.
Hotels and homes have been built around the 13th-century town wall, which has been preserved to dramatic effect.
Pastel-coloured medieval buildings with snow-coated red roofs lining cobblestone streets make for scenes that feel like the set of a Disney film.
All roads seem to lead to the quaint central square — home to bars, cafes and restaurants serving modern Nordic/European food.
A visit to St Nicholas’ Church, which doubles as a museum, delivers Estonian history via medieval artworks, and a glass lift takes me 50ft up to a sky-deck offering city views.
The local PoCo pop-art museum showing off Banksys and Warhols is also a must-visit.
There’s so much to see but nothing is overcrowded.
With flights from just £34 return and the average price of a pint £3.80, it’s a no-brainer for a bargain city break. But there’s so much more.
After a 40-minute drive to the snow-filled Sportland hiking and ski resort in Korvemaa, I learned why Estonia is also the perfect countryside break.
“The forest is Estonians’ church,” says nature guide Marilin. “Nature is air for us, you can’t live without it.”
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This is where they rest and reinvigorate themselves, away from the stress of city life and where bears, lynx and wolves run free. “They can see you . . . but you don’t see them,” Marilin reassures me.
Open-air rave
Estonia, says Marilin, is all about peace and tranquillity, “the stress- relieving effects of trees” — hugs are free — and the power of nature.
I rode a kicksled a few hundred metres to tourist hotspot Small Lapland where I was taken on a traditional dogsled ride by four Alaskan malamutes — which was then followed by a hug with the dogs, aka “cuddle therapy”.
From snowshoeing and sharing homemade food around a campfire during winter, to bogshoeing and malamute scooter rides in summer, Estonia is truly a unique cultural experience.
Indeed, that was the reason I visited — for the launch of its second city, Tartu, as European Capital of Culture for 2024.
A two-hour drive south, Tartu has nine universities, and the students are transforming the city with street art and sculptures celebrating their youthful energy.
Murals and graffiti
Murals and graffiti bring buildings to life, while contemporary bars and diverse restaurants inhabit the city’s gothic architecture.
The modern 350-metre-long glass Estonian National Museum is by day a sombre reflection of a country so impacted by World War Two and Soviet occupation.
But the night of my visit, it hosted an epic open-air rave to mark its newfound status.
Like the sauna-and-sea experience, Estonia seems a land of contrasts — quiet but lively, a cultural melting pot where history meets modernity, and heritage embraces innovation.
Unquestionably cold but undeniably cool, Estonia is, for us Brits, something of an unearthed gem.
