With our Nordic Nomads adventure in full swing and us over halfway through our time in Finland, we had had a couple of days exploring Helsinki and had decided it was time to tick off another country. Whilst not quite the world’s closest capital cities (that honour goes to Vienna and Bratislava when excluding Rome and Vatican City), just over 50 miles from Helsinki across the Gulf of Finland is the capital of Estonia, Tallinn. With such a short distance between them, Helsinki and Estonia are connected by regular ferry crossings, and even one of Finnair’s shortest air routes, with just a 15-minute flight time.
Not wanting to miss the opportunity to tick off another country, a visit to Tallinn was the one non-negotiable thing that I had wanted to do during our trip. As such, we jumped on a tram from outside our accommodation and were soon at the Port of Helsinki’s Länsiterminaali (west terminal) which is served by both tram lines 7 and 9. With multiple operators serving the Helsinki-Tallinn corridor, its important to head for the correct part of the Port of Helsinki. Tallink Silja Line and Eckerö Line both depart from the Länsiterminaali, whilst Viking Line depart from their Katajanokan Terminal close to the Market Square. Tallink also operate ferries to Stockholm via Mariehamn from the Olympia Terminal so make sure to double check where you depart from.
We were travelling with Tallink Silja Line and found the check-in process at the Länsiterminaali really quick and easy, with us stepping off the tram at 0912, and arriving into the departure lounge just five minutes later. A quick scan of the QR code on the booking email at a self-service kiosk printed our boarding cards for both journeys and then it was up some escalators into the departure lounge. With both Finland and Estonia being part of the Schengen zone, there are no border formalities, although make sure to take your passport in case of any additional checks. The departure lounge has plenty of seating, a shop and a café, and we settled down to wait for our ferry to arrive with a hot drink and cinnamon bun.
We were scheduled to depart at 1030, however at 0920 our ship, the MS MyStar, came into view around the islands of the Helsinki archipelago and performed the maritime equivalent of a handbrake turn before backing in and docking at 0930. Disembarkation of the inbound foot passengers was completed by 0940 and, although boarding was advertised as being between 0950-1010, boarding for priority passengers started at 0945. We were travelling in ‘Star Class’, the most basic level of ticket, so had to wait, however general boarding started only five minutes later at 0950.
Unfortunately, this was the most chaotic part of the whole process, as each ‘gate’ at the Länsiterminaali only has four automatic boarding gates, resulting in a bit of a scrum as everyone tried to board. We eventually made it through and stepped onboard to the MS MyStar at 1002. There was a bit more chaos as we go onboard as the entrance to the pre-paid buffet is right next to the stairs, one deck up from the entrance, so the stairs were a bit logjammed. Eventually we made it up and headed to the back of deck 9, from where we could access the sundeck on deck 10, although if you are heading for here, I’d recommend heading to the back of the ship on deck 8 and then going up to avoid the congestion around the front stairs.
Clearly, despite the chaos, boarding had gone well as it wasn’t long after we reached the sundeck that we departed at 1014, 16 minutes early. Whilst the sundeck is a great place to watch the departure of the ship from, there’s not much shelter and as we made our way out from the protection of the harbour the wind chill increased pretty significantly. As such we descended to the enclosed ‘garden’ at the rear of deck 9 for the next bit of the crossing. This area is much more sheltered and even has heat lamps, so we could sit ‘outside’ and enjoy the good weather, whilst remaining warm and enjoying drinks from the bar. However, after an hour or so of sailing, we decided it was time to head inside and find a late breakfast /early lunch as we were about halfway through the crossing.
Heading for the onboard self-service restaurant, Beth opted for a smoked trout open sandwich, whilst I went for a Meatball Plate which was essentially meatballs, mash and lingonberries. Whilst not cheap, the portion sizes weren’t small and it certainly helped stave off our hunger. At around 1135 we could start to see Estonia from the side windows of the ship and around 20 minutes later we passed Naissaar island as we entered Tallinn Bay. Another 15 minutes and we were able to get our first views of the Estonian capital and passed the breakwater of the Port of Tallinn at 1220. We docked alongside Terminal D at 1228 (2 minutes early) and disembarkation started five minutes later. Getting off the ship and out of the terminal was a quick process, and we stepped outside onto Estonian soil proper at 1240, having only been slowed down by people not walking on the travelators.
I’ve got to say I was impressed with how simple this journey from Helsinki to Tallin was, from the seamless interchange between tram and ferry along with the easy check-in process in Helsinki, to the comfortable and relaxed journey onboard the MS MyStar. Whilst I know that this is a very popular route and therefore the ferry companies will be well practiced in making it as efficient as possible, it was all just so easy! I’ve got to say, if you’ve got a spare day whilst in Helsinki, a day trip to Tallinn is an easy option for something to do.
