Originally Posted by
xenole
The problem is that Tallinn isn't Helsinki. It's not in the same country either even if there are numerous similarities.
Yes, it's a 15-20 minute flight away or a short ferry ride, but outside of Tallinn, there really isn't anything major, at least in the guide books.
The country is still getting on it's feet and has only really had it's own identity for the last 2-3 decades.
I can't really say what the level of English is outside of Tallinn and unless you speak Finnish or suchlike, I would put odds on you having issues outside of the two main cities.
Unfortunately, Tallinn is seen as a stopover point rather than a destination. In time, this may change, but for the time being, Tallinn and Estonia provide a very limited arena within Europe.
To be fair, (and I realise this sounds a bit of a contrast to my earlier post), I had a great 10 day trip earlier this year driving 1,600km around rural Latvia and Lithuania, which are probably less developed than Estonia. A very interesting experience, and didn't really have any language problems anywhere. So if you have the time, I'm sure the rest of Estonia is lovely too.
However, my TP runs are normally 1 or 2 nights at the most, so not much time to get into proper back-country. Also nice to get a few days away from the London autumn/winter weather.