Tartu

Introduction

Tartu Estonia

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Estonia's second largest town, Tartu lies 180 kilometres south from Tallinn. It is home to the country's oldest and most famous university, founded by king Gustav Adolf of Sweden in 1632. The whole town's life flows and ebbs around the university and students form a very visible and lively core of the population. The central old town is very compact and easily managed on foot and there is little of interest for visitors outside of it.

Neighbourhoods

Sights and Activities

Events and Festivals

Weather

Summers, though warm, are not particularly inviting. Although temperatures of over 30 degrees are possible, they are around 20 degrees during the day on average. Winters are cold with snowfall. Average maximum temperatures are around -5 degrees Celsius while nights average around -10 degrees. Occasionally, when the winds blow east from Siberia, temperatures can plummit way below -20 degrees. Precipitation is fairly even throughout the year, but winters and spring tend to be a bit drier. On average, there are between 10 and 15 wet days with around 50 mm of rain or snow a month.

Getting There

By Plane

Tartu Airport (TAY) offers flights to Tallinn and Riga.

By Train

Estonian Railways provides daily connections to/from Tallinn, with the early morning train connecting to Valga, where you can catch the train towards Riga. The train leaves early morning (around 7:00am) from Tallinn, Tartu at around 10:00am and arrives around 11:30am in Valga, where you can catch the onward train at 11:42am to Riga.

By Car

By Bus

By Boat

Getting Around

By Car

By Public Transport

By Foot

By Bike

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Budget

Mid-Range

Upscale

Work

Learn

Keep Connected

Internet

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Post

Eesti Post is Estonia's national postal service with generally fast and reliable services for sending postcards, parcels and letters. It can take up to 4-5 days to send mail to Western Europe though, longer outside the continent. Domestic services are much faster though. Post offices are generally open from 9:30am to 6:00pm Monday to Friday, and 9:00am to 3:00pm on Saturday, though some variations might be possible depending on the post office. Some larger central ones might be open evenings and on Sundays. There is no need to buy stamps at the post offices though; just get your stamps at some shops or kiosks and drop your mail off in any of the small orange post boxes, which are abundant throughout the country.