Rebecca Currie 8/20/19 Rebecca Currie 8/20/19

Disneyland Paris on a budget

Best tips for planning a Euro Disney trip

So I think how to survive Disneyland and not lose your shit was a less appealing title. I posted on Instagram this week about the fact that sometimes its okay to not enjoy every second of taking kids away and that sometimes you feel like you are partaking in an endurance boot-camp…..anyone else feel me? Anyway this is a bit of a bigger overview on DLP you can find some good on-the-day tips in my last post here. I will break it down into sections so you can decide whether you’d like to book a package or DIY it but as I do the latter you will find most info geared towards that. This a long and non-glamorous read so best to do when you aren’t time short.

Ok so you want to go to Disney and don’t want a package. My first piece of advice is to not go in summer holidays. I hear you, your kid is at school and you want a summer holiday but there are a few reasons I would stay clear; Disney Paris has an awful lot of european tourists and this seems to be the busiest time by far, you will find Qs get really hefty, the heat is pretty intense if you are in Q or waiting for parades in the full sun. I just personally find its my least favourite time, these factors make it quite exhausting for all and I think you get the keast out of it. My favourite time is obviously Christmas and you can have a great time in a weekend but there’s also a few other half term holidays you can go where you won’t have the issue of the heat.

So moving on from that if you want to DIY you need a Eurostar/Flight/Eurotunnel. My preference is always Eurostar, I’m based near London and hate flying (I know, I do it a lot-but I still don’t like it). I’m breaking each option down below:

Eurostar-If you have younger children they travel on your lap for free if they are under 4. Having said this I have managed to grab a seat for Pads everytime. You can change your seat for free after you book and if you check the day before you can see where there are free seats so I switch to where there isn’t anyone next to me. I never pay more than £60 return to Paris, you need to look at least 3 months in advance or when they are having a “sale” I find Eurostar only ever goes up in price they won’t drop so don’t hang about. I also tend to go via Paris as 1. It’s much cheaper, you go one stop on the tube to Chatelet Les Halles and then get the RER A all the way to Marne La Vallee Chessy which you walk out and Disney is right there. You can get a eurostar to Marne La Vallee but you have to change in Lille and I find this is a lot more costly and time consuming but it depends whether you want to cut out the Paris metro system.
Euro tunnel-I think this way is more cost effective if 1. you live in the South East 2. If you are paying full price for 4 or more people. I normally find it to be around £140 per car, obviously you need to factor in petrol too but could work out better for you if you want flexibility in France with your car, have as I said more people or wanted to do DLP as part of a bigger trip. It takes about 35 minutes on the tunnel then you are looking at about 3 hours from Calais to DLP so could be time effective if you are in the South East.
Flying-If you are in the far North this may be your best option. I can only seem to find flights for about £100 return each at the cheapest From Leeds/EMA/Birmingham but you can probably get cheaper. I think if you are within 2 hours of London via train and you can get cheap advance tickets its worth looking at Eurostar still. Our Auntie came with us on our recent trip and she got advance singles from Birmingham on the train for £6 each way so it was still a much better option.

Eurostar is much better when you can bag a seat for these two

So, transport sorted I will move onto accommodation. You have quite a few options, I have varying opinions on this. Firstly this is not (unless you have a lot of time and money to throw at it) a pampering, relaxing trip so I don’t tend to bother with the top end hotels and that includes the Disney ones. I would love to stay in the main Disney but you are looking at about £1600 for a family of 4 for 3 nights its not worth that amount-for me personally. I’m also desperate to stay at nature villages which is the centre parcs at DLP but I’m saving it for next year when we can go for a whole week.

So here are my favourite options (In my opinion in order of luxury):

Explorers, this is by no means a luxury hotel, for me its the butlins of DLP……Stay with me people! It has large rooms big enough to house up to 8 people, you get a free (but basic) breakfast, it has a soft play in the bar/restaurant area and also a big pirate ship for the kids to play on, a 4d cinema and a really cool but freezing cold pool. As I said its not luxury at all but nice and clean and the kids love it. The free shuttles to Disney are really frequent and take about 10-15 minutes. Oh and its pirate themed :)
Vienna House Magic circus-slightly more dated than the dream castle with circus themed rooms, again plenty for kids, good theming and the rooms comfortably cater for larger families.
Vienna house Dream Castle-This is a cute, mid-range castle themed hotel within the Disney area. It’s a little nicer than Explorers but probably has less for the kids but still a fair bit and the theme is lovely.
Radisson Blu-Definately a more ‘high end’ option, its good if you are a family of 4 and you have a bit of time to enjoy the facilities (sauna, steam, pool etc) on our most recent trip we actually got the Raddison cheaper than the other options so went for that and it was lovely.

All of these are a quick and free shuttle to the actual park (taking around 10-15 minutes) and you can expect to pay an average of £90-£130 a night for a family of four depending on time of year which isn’t bad I think and you get free cots, some of these also fit up to 6. Obviously there are plenty of others I’ve just put some of them here.

Three other options….

Nature Villages Paris-As mentioned before, it’s the Centre Parcs of Disney (my two favourite holidays). I think you need to be able to have 2 free days to enjoy the facilities personally but if you do this is a really good option. We looked for our November trip and for £700 you can get a 3 bed chalet which again I thought wasn’t bad for a weekend.
Newport bay-One of the main Disney hotels and for me the only one thats worth a mention here. You will pay about £900 for 3 nights (again family of 4) It’s about 5 minutes from the parks and I’ve only been in for a look and it was nice but personally I wouldn’t justify the extra price tag.
Disneyland hotel-Literally at the park entrance. This is one for a special occasion as you are looking at £1500-£1700 for the 3 nights but I would love to stay here.

You can also look at Airbnb if you are on a real budget as these can come up really cheap £40-50 a night but then you have less facilities and no shuttle to the park so in the long run you can rack up a fair bit in taxis (€20-€25 is average).

So travel and accommodation sorted last up is tickets…..I would recommend buying in advance to save yourself some ££££. It’s worth mentioning the annual pass options as I have one and love it and I believe it’s worth doing if you go for 2 days or more. You pay for kids once they reach 3. I tend to use www.attraction-tickets-direct.co.uk they will cost you around £43 for a 1 park, 1 day ticket or £60 for a 1 day 2 park ticket (current price, subject to change). Direct with Disney it will cost you a little more depending on dates (roughly £6 pp). It’s worth noting that if you stay in one the main Disney hotels you get extra magic time for your ticket which is the best as you can get in there before anyone else. On the gate the tickets are much more expensive (€80-€100) so I would definately buy in advance.

Annual passes-I’m covering this here as I think it’s definately worth looking at. There are 4 types and I have the infinity as the perks are so good but next time we go I think I will get Paddy the magic plus. I’m going to break them down below briefly….

• Discovery-the most basic. You pretty much only get park entry for 150 days a year. If this is within your travel time it’s worth you getting if you are going for 3 days or more because if you park hop this works out cheaper. €179 upfront or initial payment of €60 and €11 a month.

• Magic Flex-300 days entry per year, 10% off in the Disney shops, 20% off gate tickets for friends and Disney hotels from €130 per room. €259 or €19 per month with an upfront of €60. I don’t feel like this ones worth a great deal to be honest.

• Magic Plus-350 days a year entry, 10% off in the shops, €130 hotel rooms, 20% 1 day entry tickets, 10% off in the restaurants, 20% off buffalo bills Wild West dinner show, 10% golf Disney, reserved separate entrance to parks (no Q yay!) extra magic time (early exclusive access to parks, then one of the best is you can get 1-day/2 park tickets for friends for €45 so that’s so good if you go with others, and they can use your extra magic time. €299 or €22 a month…..does anyone ever pay upfront?!

• Finally Infinity. You get all of the above plus 20% of Disney shops, €108 hotel rooms, a free PhotoPass, 15% off restaurants, 15% off breakfast with characters, €39 a day for family and friends, free guest wheelchair/pushchair, free access to swimming pools, vip seatingbfor yhe shows and 365 days a year entry. It’s €499 upfront or €36 per month.

The hardest thing with the annual pass is obtaining one….haha literally you have to buy a ticket on the gate, go in and go to the pass annual bureau to the right as you face the castle. You give them your ticket which they redeem against the price of your pass and then just set up a direct debit and take a picture of you. You need to take your passport for some reason…..we opted for the infinity as at the time we didn’t pay for either child and I use my family and friends tickets for Ben/Mum in law/Bestie and now we are paying for Pads we will weigh up wether it’s worth him having one or not. I’m pretty sure on our first visit last Christmas we saved enough in shops and restaurants (we were a big group) to make the money back and I will have done 7 days in the park with it but saving a lot on the day tickets for our family so for me totally worth it-but that’s your call.

I’m just going to briefly mention restaurants which I will go into detail in another post. Everyone says it and it’s true. Sorry. Eating at DLP is not a gourmet affair. My tip is take some croissants or a breakfast bag into the park, if you have time leave the park and go five guys or Vapiano which you walk out of the main park towards Disney village and hang a right before the big Disney shop on the corner. You have to leave security but it’s not far at all. Five guys of course is fast food but a decent burger and Vapiano is a cool self service Italian chain popular through Europe. They make the pasta in front of you and the pasta is made in house so makes a nice, much calmer lunch spot. Having said that there are plenty of counter service restaurants in the park, you can get a meal for around €15 including drink but I would try and eat 11-11.30 as again queuing gets hefty.

My only final tip is that if you are doing it this way I would recommend going the day before, letting the kids settle (if you have them) you can wander round Disney village, sort your annual pass if you want to get one or head to your hotel for a swim. When you reach the station hang a left and you will see the bus station with all your free hotel shuttles. Two days is enough but I would take three if you can. Then travel back the day after your last park day as otherwise it’s just exhausting. Fireworks are at about 8pm in winter and 11pm in summer so I would definitely do that one of the evenings.

So there you have it. Not my most glamorous post but some hopefully useful info on how to grab the best deal. Let me know if there’s anything I’ve missed and you can find my guide to the parks and rides on my other post ✨

2nd ride of the day, no queues in extra magic time!

How to plan your day at Disney

Rebecca Currie 6/25/19 Rebecca Currie 6/25/19

Backpacking in Scandinavia and the Baltics

A beautiful lake beach in Karlstad, Sweden

Hi folks 👋🏼 Ok so I know for some parents the thought of backpacking with toddlers is……well fresh hell?! Or that’s how husband describes it. I don’t find this is true, tiring yes, at times a bit stressful, weighty on your back-absolutely but incredibly rewarding. Also I’m aware some of you may not have small ones or extra humans at all so here’s a little guide on how to get around/see the delights of Northern Europe without selling an organ or something.

First up you need to plan your route (no brainer) and also I think it makes a difference which season you go. The visits I’ve made in winter have been incredible but I do think you spend more as you need to be inside more and some of the places we visited on our recent trip probably wouldn’t be suitable if it was really cold but you can find some quirky alternatives. One of my starting points is always where can I get a cheap flight.

Great starting hubs for me are Oslo and Copenhagen, you can pretty much always get flights under £30 even in high season and from Copenhagen you can get the train to Malmo (Sweden) over the bridge that connects the two countries which is cool in itself, (last time I did it was about £10) or from Oslo you have tonnes of train routes.

So a breakdown of our recent trip: Oslo-2 nights >Train to Karlstad (Sweden) 2 nights >Train to Stockholm (Sweden) 1 night/2 days >Overnight ferry to Helsinki >Helsinki 2 nights >Ferry to Tallinn (Estonia) 2 hour day ferry >Bus to Loksa, 2 nights at projekt kodu in Lahema National Park Estonia >Bus back to Tallinn and one night in Tallinn >Flight home from Tallinn to Gatwick

So we had a pretty packed itinerary and we had 4 kids between us aged 1, 3, 3, and 5. I really fancied adding Russia into our itinerary as from Helsinki you can visit St Petersburg and get a free 72 hour visa if you go via ferry. It was quite complicated and we decided not to as our trip was packed enough. It was amazing to spend so much time in forests and surrouded by nature. Even when we were in cities it didn’t feel that we were in a city.

So largely I prefer to travel via train but if you have older kids/no kids you can certainly travel via bus-it’s incredibly cheap and they are of a great standard particularly in the Baltic’s. For my ferries I tend to always book via Direct Ferries. I find they give you all the options and compare providers which is really useful. You can find their website here…

https://www.directferries.co.uk/

Stockholm to Riga (Latvia) will cost you about £130 for a 4 berth inside cabin and Stockholm to Helsinki for a 4 berth inside cabin will set you back about £160. If you wanted to visit St Petersburg I would definately go from Helsinki or Tallinn as from Stockholm it’s 38 hours and for me that’s a bit long. We were a bit worried on the ferry we wouldn’t have a great deal to do but the kids absolutely loved it. We travelled with Viking, they had an amazing soft play and kids club onboard and we paid for the buffet, it was €32 with unlimited food and wine and the kids went free so for us it was great value and the food was so impressive. Honestly it was such a fun part of our trip I would really recommend it.

You get some amazing views on the ferry out of Stockholm

Aside from our ferry we used trains in Oslo/Sweden, (our decision to stay in Karlstad was based purely on the fact it’s roughly halfway between Oslo and Stockholm) which you can find on the SJ website, it’s easy to navigate-all in English and the key is advance booking. In late August you can get a high speed train from Gotenberg to Stockholm for £15 one way (a steal-I think) you don’t pay for infants on laps and we bought tickets for the three year olds cause we didn’t want them on knees but they were much cheaper than adult tickets and I think (but don’t quote me) they can go without a ticket.

Cinnamon buns providing us a quiet train journey

Bus travel in the baltics is really cheap, the train networks aren’t great but if your kids are good travellers or older or you are on a solo trip it’s definitely worth looking at. You can go between Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for around €10 a trip with an average of 4 hours per journey. I’d take the 3 year old but wouldn’t risk the baby yet as he’s a high energy boy.

Accomodation. We stayed in some really exciting places. Obviously budget was on our mind and this is where Scandinavia can cost you. Budget was generally £30-£50 a night, sometimes it was cheaper but this was per family so I don’t think rediculous-if you were travelling with a friend you’d split the cost and when we go next I will check out more hostels etc. Here’s a little breakdown of our digs….

Oslo-Traditional Wood cabin Airbnb

Karlstad-wooden cabin at Campsite

Stockholm-Boat Hostel/Hotel

Overnight Ferry

Helsinki-we had an incredible apartment found on Airbnb

Estonia-Projekt kodu eco retreat and hostel

Tallinn-Apartment near the old town (found on Airbnb)

Highlights for each place for me we’re: Oslo-the waterfronts, lovely neighbourhoods and incredible forests.

Karlstad-the campsite, again being in the most incredible forest and the playground in the city, I can’t explain how awesome it is!

Stockholm-I have too many here, I’ve written a blog on Stockholm which you can find here…. https://www.bexytravels.com/europe/Stockholm

Helsinki-The shopping!!! Kids shops were INSANE…..if you love toys (like me) Moomins, good food and ethereal, stylish humans you will enjoy helsinki.

Loksa/Laheema National Park-Projekt kodu was a particular highlight, biking through the forest was wonderful and also the food.

Tallinn-again I could say a lot as it’s one of my favourite cities but I would definately say Telleskivi the creative quarter and eating at Rakatsaevu 16 and pizza kana klook (voted 16th best pizza worldwide).

My staples when looking for accommodation are www.booking.com and Airbnb but when you’ve found somewhere it’s always worth checking directly with the property as their rates may be better. Our pals Becky, Flynn and Freya can be found over at http://www.wishesandwellies.com

Is there anything else you’d like me to cover? You can always drop me a comment below or contact me via Instagram.

The wonderful showers and Sauna at projekt Kodu

Have been to any of these countries? Ever fancied it? I’d love to hear about it if you have!

Rebecca Currie 6/10/19 Rebecca Currie 6/10/19

Why you should book that £30 flight to Stockholm…

Stockholm.

Anyone else looked at those Ryanair £30 return flights and just thought there’s probably nothing to do/it’s cold/too expensive when you are there? Yeah me too. I was so wrong. From our 12 day Scandi adventure it was probably my favourite place and I can’t wait to return.

Here’s 8 reasons to go:

1. It is such a cultural hybrid. Parts of Paris, cute Italian style cobbled streets, Eastern European style old buildings, Scandi design

2. It has the most beautiful old town (Gamla Stan) which is on its own island.

3. It has the most wonderful cafe culture, the city has the best coffee shops and cinnamon buns! 4. It has the coolest Scandi shops. If you are shopping for kids clothes or homewares or grown up clothes you will be in heaven!

5. There’s a whole island filled with museums and there’s something for everyone! ABBA, junibacken (kids story museum), Viking ship museum, Skansen Swedish open air museum and then a fab fairground. 6. Swedish meatballs. (That’s a reason right?)

7. There’s nature everywhere. Take a boat, there’s so many cool islands to explore. 8. Ferry links are awesome. You can get to Helsinki, Tallinn, St Petersburg and Riga for really good prices-making it a great option for a twin centre.

A cute square in Gamla Stan, really reminded me of Paris!

Martzen trotzigs-the 3rd most narrow alley in Europe.

The low-down. How can I bag a bargain break to Stockholm? Ok so my top tips would be to grab yourself a cheap flight, Ryanair are offering £30 returns in September from various London airports. Take a small backpack to avoid paying for your luggage, get an early morning flight and a later one back and stay for 2 nights, that should give you 48 hours. I’d stay for a week but you’d still get a great taster of it. I’d reccomend a stay at STF Rygerfjord hotel and Hostel. It’s actually a boat and for £96 you can get two nights for 2 people. That would be a shared bathroom and bunk beds but for £114 you can get a private bathroom and a double. So if you are a travelling duo you can comfortably get two nights in Stockholm for £100 each. If you head over to https://booking.com/s/bef5cf2a With this link you will get £15 for your first booking and so will I.

You can rack up the ££ when you are there (although I don’t think it’s as pricey as folk say) but you totally don’t have to. Try Greasy Spoon for American diner style food in a massively insta worthy setting and Kaffebar for fuss free and delicious brunch (For those interested, this was a favorite spot of Stieg Larsson as he wrote The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.) There’s some great value lunch options too, try Herman’s for a veggie/vegan buffet or meatballs for the people if you are more of a carnivore.

Use public transport, download the free app SL and buy your tickets on there as I don’t think you can buy on the bus/tram. If you like museums and touristy things I would buy a Stockholm pass (around £55) and hit the big things on one day to utilise it. I’m not a museum person at all but I will make an exception here as there were so many I wanted to try and most are included with the pass, as is the bus tour. You can purchase here… https://www.stockholmpass.com/mobile-prices/

So there you have a mini budget guide, I’d love to visit in winter too but a friend from Stockholm once said you have to go in summer and I’m really glad we did, it was beautiful.

For our Scandi adventure we teamed up with our Friends Becky, Flynn and Freya over at http://www.wishesandwellies.com check Becky out for incredible pictures and kids fashion!

Rebecca Currie 4/23/19 Rebecca Currie 4/23/19

Disneyland Paris

Disneyland Paris

Ok pals so here’s a little breakdown of how to fit as much in at Disneyland In two days as poss without spending forever queuing, cause let’s face it nobody needs to spend the day queuing at the most magical place on earth….

Disneyland Paris…..where do we start?

I’ve broken it down so this one is how to make the most of your visit and get as much in as possible. I’m assuming you have one day but if you don’t I would say go to Disney studios on the second day, use the lineberty app to meet and greet characters (you can’t just queue) which is fab as you can “get in line” on your phone to save you so much time and waiting around. I would do this and then go to the parade at the main park/redo any rides in the main park on your second day, then anything you’ve missed you can go back to. The Studios park isn’t worth a trip on its own but 100% worth a visit….if that makes sense? I will do a separate post on studios.

So, back to the main park……I would strongly recommend a couple of things;

•Download the Disneyland Paris app. It’s definately not perfect but gives decent info, opening times, parade times, character meets and also tells you ride wait times which is wonderful.

•Get there as early as you can, buy tickets online and get in the Queue, you need to be through the gates when it opens.

•If you are staying in a Disney hotel get your extra magic time in!

•Be prepared to eat early. Nobody wants to spend their day queuing for food, get an early start, early breakfast and have lunch around 11-11.30. You won’t have to wait and will pretty much get a table.

So I’m going to be assuming you have adults and kids/are as a group and can go on any ride. You get 2 fast passes per day, per entry ticket and this guide assumes you are there off peak.

8.30-9.30 is extra magic time (if you stay at the Disney hotels/are an annual pass holder) so if you can get in at this time I would head to the castle and grab yourself a picture before it gets too busy and straight into Fantasyland to Peter pans flight. I would then do the following:

Dumbo It’s a small world Mad hatters teacups The carousel-if you fancy it, it’s not spectacular but you would probably have time. If you have a princess obsessed little one I would get inline for a meet and greet prior to 10am (opening time) as you will wait for 90 minutes any other point in the day. You will still have to wait but it will be much better.

Asssuming it’s about 9.30 head over to Frontierland and straight to the Q for big thunder mountain. I wouldn’t use a Fastpass here as if you arrive around opening time you won’t have to wait long. If you haven’t got extra magic time you have two options, if you are mainly there for the kids do fantasyland as above or if you like the grown up rides go over to Indiana Jones, again the wait hopefully won’t be too long but you might want to use a fast pass if it is. Then head to pirates of the carribbean, I find it’s never too busy normally a half an hour wait and you can’t get a Fastpass.

After this you have a couple of options, I’m assuming it’s around 10.30 you could head to Discoveryland and get your Hyperspace mountain, theres also buzz Lightyear space blast you can get a Fastpass for but if you do have one left I’d probably go for startours as you still have to wait for about 15 minutes even if you have a Fastpass. This is my least favourite area, not because I don’t love toy story, the rides are just not my favourite. Orbitron and Nautilus are worth checking out if the wait isn’t too long. My hubby really likes the rides in Discoveryland so he got there first last visit and went on hyperspace mountain without using a Fastpass so it does depend on what you enjoy.

My preference is to eat before Discoveryland (send somebody to get a space mountain Fastpass) I like to eat in Frontierland-the Mexican fuente del Oro…..it’s definately not fancy but fills you up and if you get in when it opens (I think 11am) you won’t Q and get a table.

After Discoveryland I like to check any character greets on the app and also any shows/the daytime parade. If nothings on I like to check a couple of shops and then head back to fantasyland to go for:

•Blanche Neiges et les sept Nains (Snow White) which is an underrated ride that generally has a smaller Q •Alice’s curious Labrynth which is a cool maze but no need to do early as you don’t have to wait •The land of fairytales there’s a sweet boat ride and runaway train suitable for infants, just past small world and there’s often a character appear near the gate. •Sleeping beauty’s castle and the famous dragon-allow plenty of time for a wander here. All of these are perfect for any age and nice for the smalls to burn off steam and explore.

Head back to Frontierland/Adventureland and go for •Adventure Isle •Les Cabane des Robinson •Thunder Mesa riverboat landing Again all small person friendly. If you cut through back towards the castle you can check out Aladdin’s enchanted passage which is cool and underrated. I would then use this time to pass through Main Street USA, check out the shops and then go on the Disney Railroad (one of my favourite things).

We love a genie pic! You can usually find him near Aladdin’s passage.

During winter the main Parade is on at 17.30 and I would recommend to get a spot early (45 mins) on Main Street so this is your time to pull the snacks out with the smalls. After this you have until closing time for the illuminations so you can go back to anything you have missed (I’ve obviously left out a few bits like phantom manor) or anything you really like….most people watch the parade so if you are quick afterwards you may squeeze back on a popular one.

For me the parade is the best bit but I would reccomend 3 days if you can so you may not need to watch it twice. If you have the time/money I would have 2-3 days/2-3 nights and do day one as above, day two start in studios and finish in the main park again so you could always catch the parade on the second day. I have also assumed that like me you have travelled as part of a group but if you are in a duo with a little one you can use the single rider lanes and also my 3 year old has done a lot of these rides, obviously not space mountain, big thunder, Indiana Jones but quite a few.

If you did do the three days you can definately break this into two and target one section on one morning and a different one another. So If you had a 3 day pass you could take your time, my 3 day itinerary would look like this:

Day 1-Main Disney park, Fantasyland 1st thing and explore it properly, head for Peter Pan, then Dumbo then Small world then the rest of it (send somebody to get big thunder mountain fast passes and do that next then get Indiana Jones Fastpass while you do pirates.

Day 2-head to studios park (will do a separate post)

Day 3-Disney Park again, start in Discoveryland, buzz’s spaceblast (no Fastpass) then hyperspace mountain, Orbitron and nautilus then head back to anything you missed/want to repeat from day one.

This above would give you plenty of time to see everything/shop and explore the Disney village outside the park. You could go home on the final day in the evening as you will have already seen the parade and illuminations on the first day.

I will do a separate guide on practical tips/booking and a separate post on the studios park. Please let me know if you want to know anything else and if you have any other useful tips for DLP.

Rebecca Currie 4/23/19 Rebecca Currie 4/23/19

Tallinn in winter

Fairytale buildings, snowy landscapes, saunas and british stags……Tallinn seems to be known for pretty specific reasons but I’ve been desperate to go for a while and it didn’t disappoint.

I’m not going to lie, this is largely an account of how much food I ate in 3 days. As we were child free, we were seeking some relaxation, food drinks and pretty streets to wander and it certainly delivered on those fronts. I think one of my favourite things about Tallinn is there isn’t a tick list of sights, you can just go and soak in the pretty town, eat glorious food, enjoy the sauna culture and enjoy the snow.

The low-down:

Flights-Ryanair cheap job £73 each return from Stansted (that included 2 bags between 4 of us)

Hotel-Raddisson Blu Olumpia fab hotel with small (but lovely pool and sauna on top floor). Easy walk to the old town, around 15 minutes and rooms were clean and comfortable. It was £269 for 2 for 3 nights. We wanted a nice hotel but you get some amazing airbnbs which are great value!

Spends- £150 for 3 nights (Friday to Monday)

Activities- 2 hour spa visit at Tallink spa and hotel which came in at 20 euros. Everything else we did was free (exploring) or involved eating.

Logistics-5-10 euros to get from the airport and only a 10 minute drive, you can get a local cab or an uber (not much price difference). We also got a taxi to Kalamaja as the snow was pretty heavy but we walked back, the city is very walkable but when the taxis are cheap and the weather is really cold we succumbed. You can head to the port to get a ferry to Riga, Helsinki, St Peters and Stockholm. (Around 20 euros for a day return to helsinki and 2 hours each way).

How we spent our 3 days

Friday- Lunch at Lido. So apparently Lido is a bit of an institution in Tallinn, it’s a buffet restaurant in the Solaris shopping mall (about 5 minutes from our hotel and about the same from the old town). You go in and its a buffet, some self serve and some you ask the folk behind the counter. The selection is amazing and its really hard not to eat everything, you are best looking around first to scope out what you’d like. The fried potatoes are a must and there os tonnes of meat, fish, vegetable dishes, desserts, pancake bar, salad bar, soups, bread-basically everything. The food is delicious, my only criticism is can be a bit cold-maybe because we visited during a quieter time. Its super cheap (you pay per item) a huge plate of potatoes is about 1 euro 50 and meats and fish tend to be 2-4 euros…….for 2 big plates of food and a salad plate and mulled wine I paid 13 euro but you could seriously spend less, I’m just greedy! After a quick walk round the old town I made the team trek to Rost for coffee and cardamom buns and also a little stop off at the iconic Kalev chocolate shop. On the way back I dragged everyone to Babulja for THE most incredible giant blinis (the soured cream type with apple and the cheese and ham……YOU ARE WELCOME) and some pretty awesome cocktails.

Saturday- We chose not to have breakfast at our hotel as it was on the pricey side and well thats my favourite meal of the day. We headed in an uber to Telliskivi creative quarter which is a magical little community in the old fishing town of Kalamaja. Think east london/brick lane meets a cool european food market. As we were out a bit late we missed breakfast at the super popular Fhoone (I would recommend booking) and ended up having lunch which was pretty awesome. We also wandered round the indie, arty shops which is absolutely my bag and if you are a keen photographer and enjoy street art this is the area for you! I would 100% take a trip to the Balti Jaama food market as its like a estonian version of the mercado de la boqueria in barcelona you can get so much, the usual fresh stuff but also hot street food and there’s a vintage and flea market upstairs-try the bao buns there too. From here it’s an easy walk to the old town and we walked round the walls, saw some pretty impressive look-outs, the stunning Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and explored the cute alley-ways. In the square look out for the town hall, there’s the coolest little pub called III Draakon, everyone’s dressed in medieval clothing and it’s super dark inside, you can get beer, cider and possibly wine, they have pies for snacking (Apple alllllll day) for about a euro and elk soup for about 1.50. It’s criticised a fair bit as being a novelty and the staff being quite rude but we loved it and found the staff lovely so I would put it on the list!

Pegasus-Ok I’m going to talk about Pegasus. I was told to go to Rataskaevu 16 which is voted the best restaurant in the city. We couldn’t get in so booked at their sister restaurant Pegasus. It was incredible. The service, the food, cocktails, the best bread and butter I’ve ever eaten (I’ve eaten a lot) all those little details. For the quality it was so reasonably priced and I can’t wait to return. I had the beef tail confit and then the Roe deer striploin and they were unreal…..they were also so good at catering for my sisters dairy allergy and even though they tweaked her dish really put loads of thought into her alternative. When I go back to Tallinn in june I am definitely going to book Rataskaevu as they even have a children’s play area which is pretty much the dream for a food-loving mama.

Sunday-Sunday was our chill day started off with pancakes at the famous Kompressor. It’s apparently the only restaurant in the old town locals will actually eat as its so authentic and the portions are huge. For about 10 euros I got a coffee, a coke (I was hanging-don’t judge) a huge pancake, garlic bread side and potato balls. The garlic bread is weird like deep fried rye bread with a garlicky dip-still delish though, you can get sweet and savoury pancakes, both yum and you order at the counter. Again service is very eastern europe, direct but for me friendly and I would again say you need to book but you need to go. In the afternoon we headed to the Tallink spa and conference centre for a relaxation sesh….weekdays are cheaper at 14 euros for 3 hours but as it was the weekend it was 20 euros. It’s not that fancy but we had a fab time, there’s lots of different sauna rooms which is expected in the land of saunas and some cool pools and my favourite part, a swim up bar. Kids are welcome too and you can stay there. We were tempted by this hotel but they are renovating which put me off slightly. We had a super fun and relaxing afternoon.

That evening we wanted to head to Kaja pizza Kook but gutted to find they had shut (our mistake as they close when they run out of dough, as we were back near Telleskivi we thought we would check out Lendav Taldrik which is a quirky indian restaurant with high ceilings and old fashioned tables. The food was good (similar to uk prices) but portions were huge. I think they do a lunch deal too. There are conflicting reviews for this place about horrible service but again we enjoyed our food and service was good for us.

Our flight home was fairly early Monday and I would of happily spent a week there 3 days is enough to do plenty. I am returning in June as part of my Scandinavia and Baltics tour with the smalls and there’s a few things I will check out that I didn’t do this time:

Kadriorg palace and gardens
Lahemaa national park
Seaplane harbour maritime museum
The beach
The edgewalk at TV Tower
BIking tour

I also have more restaurants I want to visit but if anyone has anymore tips for Tallinn or Estonia in general please drop them in the comments.