Emerging from the heat of the smoky sauna, I ran across the wooden deck. I jumped into the infamous Baltic Sea before changing my mind. I felt the cold water Pierce my scalding skin from the bottom of my feet up like ice water scalding steamed vegetables from head to tail.
When I surfaced, my fellow travelers bobbed up and down, screaming and laughing so hard they could barely stay afloat. After thousands of miles of flying and working in different time zones, our weary team of journalists was infused with pure, visceral energy.
In Los Angeles, where I live, hot and cold sauna combos have become a recent health trend, with influencers recreating the pose in their backyards and chatting tiktok in their bathtubs. However, in Estonia, this way of life has existed for centuries. It is even inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list.
Located in the noblesner district of Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, Iglupark offers the most modern way to experience this ancient tradition: Groups can book private lessons, sweat out ice buckets of beer in the sleek black sauna, or relax in Adirondack chairs under flashing lights. While the scene may have been curated for the sake of social media – each piece of wood is aesthetically stacked – the intention of the approach is the same.
“There’s nothing wrong with how you go to a sauna,” said Eileen Prix, project manager for The Year of Sauna. “The Year of Sauna” is an initiative to share one of Estonia’s oldest cultural traditions widely. She told me that most Estonian homes have saunas – even many city apartments – and that there is one sauna for every 10 people in the country. Prix said Estonians go to saunas for stress relief and mental health, calling them “impressive natural medicine.”
Although Estonia’s sauna culture was recognized by UNESCO in 2014 (a few years before world-famous Finland), a documentary that delves into what it means to Estonian women, Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, put it in the spotlight last year, entered the 2023 film festival and has been nominated at festivals such as Sundance, San Francisco, Munich, and Hong Kong.
Less officially, this is also the year of food in Estonia. The 180° restaurant designed by Matthias Diether—a few minutes from Iglupark and inside Noblessner—became France’s first two-Michelin-star restaurant. The Michelin Guide 2023 called it stylish, futuristic, and ambitious, and Noblessner did the same. Once an industrial shipbuilding complex, it is now a trendy neighborhood with upscale apartments, beachfront bars, and more than one lively restaurant, and the abandoned submarine factory is packed with art galleries and museums.
Teliskivi Creative City, a former industrial area, has transformed into a vibrant hub that caters to the hipster crowd. It houses startups, boasts eye-catching street art, and is home to artisan cafes, galleries, independent design boutiques, and antique shops. The city’s art scene is anchored by the world-renowned Fotografiska, a museum of contemporary photography. However, it’s the smaller galleries like Val Gallery and Juhan Kuus Center for Documentary Photography that often surprise visitors. According to Visit Estonia, the region hosts over 800 cultural events annually, making it a must-visit for culture enthusiasts.
However, first-time visitors to Tallinn will want to start with the Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site hailed as a “very intact and well-preserved” medieval city – an incredible feat for a country that many nations have conquered throughout its history. On the first morning of my trip, I was sleepy-eyed. In a dreamlike moment, my eyes shifted from the colorful flower vendors to the Viru Gate, home to two of Tallinn’s best-preserved stone defensive towers and the most iconic entrance into the authentic fairytale Old Town.
“Unlike the busy old town of a big city, the old town of Tallinn is very calm and perfect for walking and relaxing,” said Jana Kuttinskaja, head of international media at the Estonian Tourism Agency. “Locals themselves enjoy visiting historic areas.”
Stepping into the Old Town feels like stepping back in time. Still, inside the medieval walls are some modern accommodations, including the Hotel Telegraaf, the Autograph Collection, one of the city’s most luxurious places to stay, And the Nunne boutique hotel overlooking Towers Square, which opened last August.
Living here means waking up on winding streets dotted with churches, gothic houses, hidden courtyards, and cobblestone squares that evoke images of 13th-century merchants trading goods. We climb the limestone hills to the Upper Old Town for an up-close look at the pink Tumbia Castle and panoramic city views. But first, we stopped in front of the ornate Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, a stark reminder of Estonia’s time under Soviet rule from 1940 to 1991.
“The experience of living under the Soviet regime for almost 50 years is today a constant motivation for vigilance and innovation,” Kuttinskaja told me. Today, he noted that Estonia is a country that “places great emphasis on digital innovation, education, and global connectivity” and is a thriving entrepreneurial environment.
It also has one of Europe’s highest literacy and secondary education rates, especially among women. It is a country that prioritizes the arts. “The Estonian brain is pretty much our only natural resource,” quipped Kuttinskaja, using the words of former Estonian President Kirstie Kajured. “We don’t have oil or gold.”
The population of the entire country is only 1.3 million. Still, the annual average number of visits to the theatre is 1.2 million. In recent years, the number of visits to the museum is more than 3.5 million. Tallinn has plenty of options: the city is home to more than 50 art institutions. Its PoCo Art Museum is a who’s who of the pop and contemporary art worlds, with works by Andy Warhol, Banksy, David Hockney, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and more. Meanwhile, the university town of Tartu, just 90 minutes from Tallinn by train or car, has been named the European Capital of Culture 2024. (Tallinn won the title in 2011.)
However, the most typical Estonian art form is the song. Historically, Estonians have used music to maintain their national identity. Despite the imposition from outside countries, you can often hear choral fragments from churches, concert halls, and music schools around the city. “In Estonia, you can find music everywhere all year round,” says Kutstin Skaja, but of all the festivals (from Tallinn Music to Verjandi Folk Festival, there are many), the song and dance festival is not to be missed.
Ms. Kuttinskaja said as many as 100,000 people gathered to listen to choirs and orchestras and watch dance troupes perform. Of course, there was also a lot of partying and dancing in the crowd. The next song-and-dance festival won’t take place until July 2025, but we don’t recommend waiting that long to visit Estonia. Get to know this land of songs, and it will stick in your head like a catchy lyric, calling you back to sing along.
