Estonia, one of the Baltic States. How is it living with locals in Estonia? Read the article and find out how it was for me, during the trip.
Where is it located?
Estonia is one of the Baltic countries. It shares a border with Latvia, Russia and also does have a maritime border with Finland, to whom they have a great connection. It is no problem taking a ferry over to the Scandinavian “neighbor”.
Estonia was back then part of the Soviet Union and it is also possible to see in some parts, but for example not as much as in Lithuania, the third Baltic country.
Where to find hosts in the country?
The best chance you are going to have in Estonia is of course in the capital Tallinn, where just the majority of the population is living. In general it is always about, where are the most people living and where do most tourists go. In Tallinn, the most active users are to be found. It is also the only city where I was staying at a place from Couchsurfing.
Click on this link for a good explanation for Couchsurfing.
The second biggest city of Estonia is Tartu. It is located quite in the middle of the country, I would say. The biggest and oldest university is there, so that’s why it is probably also popular for the application. More than 30 active users are there, so you should be able to find a host over there.
In the city of Pärnu, which is right on the coast, between Tallinn and Riga and also the one of the biggest cities of the country, it could work finding a host but not easy. When I checked at the beginning of March, there were less than 10 people active. So it is possible, but not easy.
When wanting to go to Russia, it is also possible giving it a shot at the border town, called Narva, but there are even less active users, even though, the city is slightly bigger than Pärnu
Is it easy finding a host in ?
I personally had no issues finding a host over there, even by having a travel partner. It is in general important, how your profile looks and how the request is put. In general it should be durable in Tallinn, to find someone. Same thing should be in Tartu, it should be easy finding a host there, when thinking about, that there are many active users.
Just keep in mind, to make the request personal and check, if you would get along with them.
Also when being outside of the cities, camping should be working well, due to the high amount of nature of the country.
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What did I do with the hosts?
Our host was Siim, who was a local from Estonia. The request to him was spontaneous, but that was not an issue. The sleeping was happening in the living room, which was comfortable, but also a bit annoying, because always someone could walk through, but it was fine.
He was cooking something on the first day, which tasted well, some vegetables with potatoes. On the second day, it was time to cook something for him, it was just some pasta with a homemade sauce, which was simple, but tasted good as well.
We were not really doing something together, due to his work. So it was just during the day time to explore and at the end of the day, time to get to know each other and chat a bit. I felt comfortable, but a bit more local experiences would have been great.
His place was not too far outside of the city center, but also a really calm neighborhood, which was great!
How was the experience?
The experience in Tallinn was great. I really liked the city. With it being so close to the sea, it was possible to take a nice sea walk and also check out some sights.
My favorite was Tallinn old town, which is a small part of the city, which is basically the historical center of the city, to which I am going to do another article! Also really cool was the Patarei prison, which is basically an old prison from the communist time of the region.
It is a lost place, but also includes a museum, which was sadly closed during the visit, which was fine, it is still worth it going, with it being closed.
In general I felt that the city was really green and it felt like a nice city to be and probably even live in. It is known for being a great place for digital nomads, from what people have told while being there.
When searching it on the internet, almost 80% of the people living in Tallinn have a public green area located less than 250m from their place, which probably gave the feeling of being a really green city.
What is important to know?
Like mentioned a bit earlier, outside of Tallinn, the chance of finding a host would not be easy. Might be also possible on platforms like Trustroots, on which you could search even with a map. Be Welcome and Couchers.org are also options for finding hosts. Those providers are mainly possible in Europe and probably the US.
Summary
Estonia has much to offer and sadly I haven’t seen as much as I should have.
It is worth going, even when just spending time in the capital Tallinn. Tallinn is for me, from all the capitals from Europe which I was visiting, one of my favorites. I liked it a lot, because it was possible to live in peace and still had the option to go under people and the natural vibe was also something I was enjoying.
Finding a host was easy and I assume, when trying normally, you should have no issues as well, finding someone, who would like to accommodate you.
