Tallink is an Estonian company operating ferry services between Estonia, Finland and Sweden across the Baltic Sea. They even have a special cruise where you spend one day in Riga, Latvia. The company own seven ships, each holding between 2500 and 2850 people with between 22 and 986 overnight cabins. They do a variety of routes between these countries, ranging from a couple of hours to 18 hour trips. There’s lots to do onboard to keep you entertained though, with game rooms, restaurants, buffets, shops, spas and even live shows. There’s so many good things about the Tallink Ferry and we really enjoyed our time on it. So read ahead to see if it’s right for you too!

While they only go between 3 countries, there are quite a few routes between them, some more popular than others. One of the most popular routes would be between Helsinki in Finland and Tallinn in Estonia. This trip only takes 2 hours but is quite expensive starting at €38.90 per adult each way. It costs more for different times during the day and you can also pay more for a cabin or fancy lounges. Children under 5 travel for free, while children between 6-17 travel on a reduced rate. You can also add a car starting at an extra €37 per vehicle.

Another popular route is Tallin in Estonia to Stockholm in Sweden. It takes 16.5 hours, with every second journey swapping ships in Helsinki. If you do the one via Helsinki the trips need to be booked individually, otherwise the direct route costs €137.80. You can of course add children to this booking for an extra cost, and taking a car costs €119 extra.

If you’re interested in just doing Helsinki to Stockholm, this trip goes once a day at 4:40pm and takes 18 hours. Depending on the day prices start at €115.90 and a car will cost you an extra €102. Worth noting that when you add a car, the ticket price goes down to around €87 so it’s not as expensive as it looks.

As well as those bigger routes, Tallink also do some smaller routes too. There’s a trip from Stockholm, Sweden to the Åland Islands in Finland which takes 7 hours 15 minutes and costs between €15. 30 and €46.90 depending which time you get. You can also get to the Åland Islands from Helsinki or Tallinn. From Stockholm or from the Åland Islands you can also go to Turku, Finland, which takes 11.5 hours and costs between €20.30 and €30.30. Lastly, Tallink also do special cruises including day trips and a cruise to Riga, Latvia.

If you’re wanting to book a Tallink ferry, the best place to do it is directly on their website. Once you make a booking, you will get an email with a pdf booking confirmation. Also in this email will be a links to fill in your passenger details and to change your booking. Before your journey you can check in online, which we recommend doing as it’s quick and easy. There are also self service kiosks at every terminal which close 30 minutes before your departure. However only foot passengers can use these terminals, if you’re travelling with a vehicle there is a separate vehicle check in.

Once you’re checked in, all you’ll need to get on the ship is your boarding pass so make sure that’s ready. They accept boarding passes both in paper form and on your mobile phone. Even though you don’t need ID to get on the ship, make sure you’ve got it on you just in case you get asked. Tallink recommend arriving one hour before your departure to make sure you’ve got time. Boarding usually starts around 40-45 minutes before departure, but it hard closes 20 minutes before departure. Definitely do not be running late because if you arrive with less than 20 minutes, you will miss your ferry and need to buy a new ticket.

There are SO many things to do on board Tallink ships that you’ll wish your journey was longer. Firstly, there’s lots of types of seating areas such as big seats facing the windows, bus style seating with chargers, and seating around tables. Lots of places to sit and relax on your long journey on the Baltic Sea. For food, there are lots of different places to eat on every ship. There are À la carte restaurants, cafés, buffets, and places to get fast food. However if you don’t want to buy food onboard, we had no problem bringing our own food on with us too.

If you’d like a little retail therapy, there’s lots of shopping options available. There’s kids toy shops, gift stores, clothing stores, luxury stores, local designer shops and even tax free shopping. After all that shopping if you’d like to relax, five of the seven ships have spas and pools onboard. You can rent private saunas, have a dip in the pool or enjoy the hot tub. On some ships there is also entertainment programmes, such as live music, comedy shows, karaoke, and DJS. There’s also places to play games and of course places to go out and enjoy the fresh air on the balconies.

If you’re travelling with kids, there is so much on board to keep them entertained. There is face painting, quizzes, drawing, hiding games, costume characters, competitions and discos. There’s a playroom for younger kids, a game room for older kids, and in the summer a special summer centre for kids of all ages. On some of the longer cruises there’s even special themed cabins for kids.

If you’re travelling with pets, all the ships accept them if you buy a ticket for them and there are also pet friendly cabins available. And lastly, all the ships have free WIFI available in all the common areas, so if all you want to do is sit back and watch a movie, you can do that too!

One of the most popular routes for Tallink is Helsinki to Tallinn, specifically for day trips. There are multiple departures daily and the journey is only 2 hours each way. You can also save money on buying a day trip ticket on their website. If you’re staying in Helsinki or Tallinn and are thinking of doing a day trip to the other city, we highly recommend it!

In Tallinn, the ferry will depart and get into the Tallink Ferry D-Terminal. Luckily it’s only a 15 minute walk from there into Tallinn old town so its nice and easy for a day trip. Once in the old town, we recommend just walking around because Tallinn is one of the most beautiful cities we’ve ever visited. There’s cobbled streets with beautiful local shops, cafes and restaurants to enjoy. Make sure to head to Raekoja Plats which is the local town square with the town hall on one side and the oldest continuously running pharmacy in world on the other side.

For sweets, you must head to Bear Farm Chocolate which has the most incredible giant cookies we’ve ever eaten. And right across from it is Pulla Bakery which has some of the best cinnamon buns we’ve ever eaten.

After wandering around the town and eating all the delicious sweets, we recommend heading up Toompea Hill to the Patkuli Viewing Platform. It has a beautiful view over the city and all its city wall turrets and church spires. Just around the corner is another viewing platform called the Kohtuotsa viewing platform which has another great view. While you’re up on the hill there’s beautiful landmarks like St Mary’s Cathedral, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and Toompea Castle to visit. All of this is more than enough to keep you busy on your day trip to Tallinn with the Tallink Ferry.

In Helsinki the ferry will depart and get into West Terminal 2 at Tyynenmerenkatu 14. From there it’s an easy and quick 15-20 minute tram ride into the city. There’s a couple of different routes but we recommend the 7 or the 9 to Päärautatieasema in the city. From there, walk down the Esplanadi to Helsinki Market Square where there’s a great outdoor market open year round. Here you can get some delicious traditional food, or head to the nearby Old Market Hall for food too. Nearby you’ll see the beautiful Uspenski Cathedral which is definitely worth passing by.

After food, head south through the Tähtitorninvuori hillside park to the Kaivopuisto park on the water. They are nice places to relax and after, there are a bunch of nearby islands that are great to walk out too. Here there’s a small beach, the Uunisaari sauna and restaurant, and a lovely view back to the city.

Speaking of saunas, if that’s what you’d like to do in Helsinki we’d recommend having a look at Löyly. It needs to be booked well in advance but is one of the most popular saunas in the city. Another popular spot in the city is Cafe Regatta, a gorgeous little wooden hut on the water to the north of the city that we recommend visiting if you’re got time.

We hope this post has given you everything you need to know about the Tallink Ferry. They do a lot of great routes between Estonia, Finland, Sweden and a two night, one day cruise to Riga, Latvia. The most popular route is between Helsinki and Tallin, which are both great cities to day trip too! Booking and boarding the ferries are easy, and once you’re on board there is so much to do. Each ferry has lots of places to eat, shop, sit and they all have free WIFI on board. No matter if you’re on a short trip or a long journey, you’ll have plenty to keep you entertained.

If you want to see our trip on the Tallink ferry (along with the rest of our time in Helsinki and Tallinn), watch our vlog below:

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