Estonian Open Air Museum — Attraction in Tallinn

When we came to the Eesti Vabaõhumuuseum, the first we saw was ticket office with gift shop in it. The gift shop is amazing and has so much to offer: clothes, jewellery, crockery, toys, books, music, and much much more. Also, they have coffee, ice-creams and various snacks. We were asked to show proof of COVID vaccination to be allowed to enter the place.

The Eesti Vabaõhumuuseum area is large and there's possibility of riding bike to get to houses quicker. However, the houses are literally everywhere so you don't have to walk far to encounter the next one. We spent around 3h of walking minimum and got quite exhausted. However, we discovered only around 50% of places!

The houses are from 18-20th centuries, and are preserved very well. They are full of character and are so lovely both outside and inside. Importantly, some houses have people dressed in traditional Estonian clothes who either do particular activity to recreate a scene from the past (e.g. read a book while looking after sheep, making horseshoe or knitting decorative ornaments). Other workers are there to tell you a story of particular house, e.g. how a family used particular house, how people decorated their house for an event, how kids were taught at school, etc. The houses had lots of old well-preserved furniture, machines, and other objects which tell a story about particular house and family. There's lots of houses such as homes, school, fire department, sauna, animal enclosure, specialised buildings for crafting something, etc.

The area around the houses is also well thought of. When we were walking, we saw lots of native plants, berries and bushes. There's also things like benches, bridges, dog house, well, hay table, and others, all of which recreate atmosphere of old times.

It is important to mention that this place has a nice cafe with Estonian food. I suspect the dishes are based on old recipes. It was very tasty and the table service is nice.

Overall, this is a place worth visiting if you are interested in Estonian culture and/or 18-20th century. You can enjoy visiting it with kids because there's some fun activities for them, such as walking on "stork legs" or crafting decorations for the house. I definitely feel like this made my trip to Estonia very memorable, and I am very tempted to come again to explore the other half of Eesti...

Everyone told us to visit this museum. The reviews were great, so we decided to give it a try. The tickets during the winter season are a bit cheaper, because there are way less buildings open and there aren’t as many activities as during summer. We knew this in advance. But still… we didn’t expect that almost every building was closed. And the few that were open had some people in there that probably didn’t like their jobs. Some were grumpy (as in ‘close the door behind you, it’s getting cold’), some didn’t welcome us when we entered and continued chatting with each other. And others were shocked and kind of nervous that people actually came into “their house”. It really felt like we were entering their homes, but these were buildings where we could do activities with them (as stated by the signs outside). Very strange and it made us a bit uncomfortable. We saw some other buildings with people in there, but they closed those doors so we couldn’t enter. One even quickly turned off the lights when they saw us. But maybe that was a coincidence? Also some of these buildings were used as offices. We were basically the only ones with 3-4 other people that day, so maybe we picked the wrong date and no one was actually thinking about working that day… but they could have said that before we bought the tickets. I think it’s a cool museum during the summer season, but please stay away during the...

1 | A beautiful open-air museum located right by the sea. The area is fairly large and contains rural buildings from the 18th to 20th centuries, brought here from different parts of Estonia. As a visitor, you get a very good idea of how people of various professions used to live, cook, and work. It’s a great weekend destination for families with children. 2 | The open-air museum includes rural houses, animal enclosures, windmills, a café, a souvenir shop, and other buildings. I especially liked the playground — Estonians are really good at shaping public spaces and working with wood. 3 | The summer season runs from April 23 to September 28, and the winter season from September 29 to April 22. A regular ticket in the summer season costs €18, and in the winter season €14. A family ticket costs €38 in summer and €30 in winter. For an additional fee, you can ride a horse or rent a cart or a bicycle. 4 | If you plan to visit the museum outside the main season, I recommend checking in advance which buildings are open. Some of them may be closed. 5 | There is a parking lot right in front of the museum (free for visitors), or you can arrive by bus. The journey from the city center takes about 30 minutes. 6 | The museum is very well maintained. All buildings are restored and accompanied by information boards. We explored the museum quite thoroughly and spent about an hour and...