Travel

About Estonia

Estonia, one of the smallest countries in Europe, is located in northern Europe, on eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, being bordered by Russia, Latvia, Finland and Sweden. The total area of the country is about 45,000 km² and population reaches ca 1.3 million. The capital of Estonia is Tallinn. Tartu, the second largest city in the country, is best known for its university, established in 1632.

Estonia is a member of the European Union and Schengen visa area since 2004. The local currency in Estonia is Euro (EUR). See http://www.visitestonia.com for more information about Estonia.

Citizens from EU, USA, New Zealand, Canada and Australia do not need a visa to enter the country and you also do not need one, if you are travelling with a Schengen visa. All other nationalities please find it out on the web page of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia and contact the organizers for official invitation in due time.

Travelling to Tartu

By air

The best way is first to fly into Tallinn Lennart Meri International Airport at Ülemiste (IATA code: TLL). There are good and cheap connections to Tallinn from many different European airports. Flights are offered by different airlines directly as well as Air Baltic (via Riga). The airport is very close to the city near Lake Ülemiste. Coming from outside Europe you probably have to change at Frankfurt, Amsterdam or London. Tartu has also limited flight connections to Helsinki on Sundays and Mondays (at time of writing). It is operated by Finnair and bookings can be made on Finnair homepage or through travel agents.

If you arrive in on Tartu Airport, you can take the shuttle bus operated by Tartaline for 5 euros from the Airport to your accommodation. Information and booking instructions can be found at the Tartaline website. 

Arriving at Tallinn Airport it is best to take one of the frequent buses and check the following website for information. The distance is 180 km and the travel time about 2:30 h. Please make sure that you put in “Tallinn Airport” (Tallinna lennujaam). There is an English version of the site as starting station.The tickets could be purchased in advance, especially on Fridays and Sundays. However, if the plane is late you lose the ticket, so it might be better to buy them upon arrival. The vending machine takes credit cards. 

Riga airport has more numerous connections with rest of Europe than Tallinn has, so considering Riga is an option. There are about 6 bus services a day between two cities (250 km apart), both ways; see Lux Express or Ecolines for schedules and tickets. Some buses depart from airport but not all, so check Riga coach station as a departure point as well.

By bus 

There are several connections from different cities to Tartu. From Tallinn main bus station there are frequent connections to Tartu. The travel time is about 2.5 hours, Information about timetables and sale of tickets is found here. 

It is also possible to travel the whole way to the summer course by bus from Russia or Central Europe. An advantage is that these bused usually are very comfortable (often even with wireless internet on board) and also very cheap. The disadvantage is the long journey time. So these are an alternative only if you do come from St. Petersburg or Riga or want to combine your visit to the course with a trip to the Baltic. There are frequent and inexpensive bus services from St.Petersburg to Tartu. Lux Express is one of the operators. The travel between these cities takes 6-8 hours, and the company also operates services Warsaw-Riga-Tarrtu (22 hours) and Königsberg-Riga-Tartu. Another bus company offering coach travel to Estonia from many places in Europe is Ecolines.

By train

Tartu has a train station so travel to Tartu by rail is also possible. Infos and timtables can be found at the Estonian railways service or at the excellent server of the German Railways. From the Tallinn Lennart Meri International Airport you have to walk to Ülemiste station (1 km walk). To do so, exit the airport walk out in the front to the main road and pass Hotel Ülemiste. You will soon see a huge shopping center Ülemiste keskus. The station is on the far side of the centre across the road. If you make a stop-over in Talinn you can also use the city center station “Balti jaam”. 

About 8 trains operate per day between Tallinn and Tartu, five of which are express trains. Trains are usually new and convenient.