Currency & Exchange

National currency: Estonian kroon (EEK) = 100 cents
Fixed exchange rate: 1 EUR = 15.65 EEK.

Most of larger hotels, stores and restaurants accept Visa, MasterCard, Eurocard, Diner’s Club and American Express. However, it is advisable to carry some Estonian kroons with you.

Traveller’s checks can be exchanged in most banks but are less likely to be accepted in shops. Eurocheque is the most widely accepted traveller’s check, but American Express and Thomas Cook are also accepted.

Banks are plentiful and are open from 9:00 to 18:00 on weekdays, while some offices are also open on Saturday mornings.

Visa Regulations

Nationals of EU and EEA member states are free to enter Estonia. The required travel document for entry is a national ID card or passport.

Communications

To call Tallinn from abroad, dial your international access code and 372 for Estonia and then the telephone number.

Within Estonia, you can make local and international calls from card-operated public payphones. Telephone cards costing 50 and 100 EEK are sold at newsstands, post offices and tourist information centres. Calling abroad, dial 00 and the country code.

The GSM mobile phone system is available; you better check compatibility with your operator.

Internet

Public Internet access points have been set up all over Estonia. They are located in local libraries and post offices. There are over 100 free wireless internet zones around the country, many of them in rather unexpected places - beaches, Old Town squares, stadiums, and concert halls.

Smoking restriction

A provision of Tobacco Act prohibiting smoking in catering and entertainment establishments where there is no separate smoking room entered into force in Estonia on June 5.

From now on, in restaurants, cafés, bars, pubs, night- and other clubs smoking is allowed only in a special smoking room, which establishments may choose to set up. Clients will not be served in the smoking room and it is not permitted to take even a coffee cup into the room. For the present, smoking is allowed on the outdoor terraces of catering establishments.

Shopping

Great news for those itching to spend; Tallinn is a consumer-friendly city and most shops in the Old Town and department stores throughout the city are open seven days a week, and major credit cards are widely accepted.

The best places to find quality fashion, shoes, perfume and the like are the elegant boutiques along Old Town’s Viru and Müürivahe streets, and the large, full-service department stores and malls that have recently been appearing all over Tallinn.

A required stop on any shopping tour of Tallinn is the outdoor knit market on Müürivahe street, where craftswomen sell their knitted products in the shadow of the town wall. Even more intriguing for the adventurous shopper is the Katariina Passage. Here in medieval-style workshops run by the Katariina Guild’s artists, onlookers watch as glasswork, ceramics, leather goods, quilts and other items are created right before their eyes.

Favourite souvenirs from Estonia include the following:

• Handicraft items such as hand-knitted woollen sweaters with traditional Estonian folk patterns, carved wooden beer mugs, fun felt hats, juniper coasters and limestone candle holders.
• Original art such as graphic prints, handmade jewellery, colourful glassware or fine ceramics.
• CDs of Estonian composers of international acclaim (Tormis, Pärt, Tubin, Tüür).
• Soviet-era trinkets, sold in antique shops.
• Dark, bittersweet Estonian chocolate and other local sweets produced by the Kalev confectionery.
• Hand-painted marzipan.