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Tallinn’s museum and bookstore cafés
18.09.2024
Mall
Oja
Tallinn has a surprising amount of museums with wonderful cafés.
Whether in your hometown or further away, a café is always somewhere you can get a wonderful cup of steaming hot coffee, socialise with your friends or simply be alone with your own thoughts. You can visit a café just by itself, or you can bundle it together with a museum visit after which you can discuss your thoughts with your friends.
Old Town and the City Centre
NUKU Museum of Puppet Arts and Café Hendrik
The Estonian Theatre for Young Audiences is its own small world with a theatre hall, the NUKU Museum of Puppet Arts and Café Hendrik. Legendary puppet actor Hendrik Toompere had his hobbies and one of those was cooking, therefore, he always dreamed of having his very own café. Café Hendrik is a fantastic place to spend time and browse through photo albums of the actor’s life and roles.
The café offers salads, sandwiches, cakes and pies, and every workday has a daily special.
Café Maru in the Fat Margaret Museum and Visitor Centre
Tallinn’s most powerful tower, Fat Margaret Tower, is where you can find a centre for maritime and trade history. After the maritime adventure is over, you can get tasty refreshments in the café located on the ground floor. In the summer, the rooftop café with its magnificent view on top of the tower is also open.
Kalamaja, Telliskivi and Noblessner
Fotografiska Café in the Fotografiska Museum
Fotogafiska Tallinn is located in Telliskivi Creative City and is an acclaimed photography art centre where art meets music, delicious food and independent thought.
The exhibitions require time and space to take everything in. The ground floor of the centre has a won-derful café with a healthy breakfast menu and freshly baked pastries. Lunch specials are also on the menu on workdays. Besides the carefully chosen specialty coffee, they also offer a coffee of the day made from a variety of beans.
Café MARU at the Seaplane Harbour
The Seaplane Harbour is a one-of-a-kind maritime centre, located in seaplane hangars that are more than 100 years old with extraordinary architecture. Here you will find the authentic submarine Lembit, boats and sailing boats, the steam-powered icebreaker Suur Tõll, a replica of the Short Type 184 seaplane, mines, cannons and a number of other exhibits.
Café Maru is located on the second floor of the maritime centre, with spectacular views of the complete Seaplane Harbour interior and the exhibition. Café Maru’s menu is made up of refined flavours, simplicity and modernity, and the café’s cake menu is a wonderful treat for people with a sweet tooth. The café leads onto a wonderful outdoor terrace during the summer.
The PROTO Invention Factory café
PROTO combines virtual reality, science and fantasy – everyone can feel like they are an inventor here. After your journey of discovery is over, you can get some refreshments at the Invention Factory’s café with its exotic interior. The menu consists of simple delicacies and daily specials. The café is also open outdoors during beautiful summer days.
Kadriorg and Pirita
Reval Café in the KUMU Art Museum
The KUMU Art Museum is an Estonian art museum that introduces and interprets our art beginning from the 18th century and ending with the present day.
You can combine an artistic adventure with a visit to a café by visiting the Reval Café located in the KUMU Art Museum. Breakfast, lunch specials, an a la carte menu and a large selection of pastries and cakes are available.
Castle Café in the Kadriorg Art Museum
The Kadriorg Art Museum is the only museum in Estonia focused on early European and Russian art. The wonderful and elegant Castle Café is a classic museum cafe located on the basement floor of the Kadriorg Castle, where their wonderful food items are supported by a respectable interior and mesmerising pho-tographs. The Castle Café serves coffee and tea as well as pastries and cakes, but also small meals, crêpes and classic desserts.
The Tallinn TV Tower café-restaurant
The Tallinn TV Tower is Estonia’s tallest building and centre of entertainment, where there is always an interactive exhibit and wonderful activities to accomplish, especially for those who are not afraid of heights. The 170-metre tall platform offers stunning panoramic views of Tallinn, the sea and the sur-rounding nature areas. These fantastic moments can be prolonged at the Teletorn café-restaurant locat-ed at the same height, offering simple, clean and familiar local flavours.
Rocca al Mare
Kolu Tavern in the Estonian Open Air Museum
The Estonian Open Air Museum is the best place to learn about the life and real history of Estonians. The museum resides in a beautiful natural setting by the Kopli Bay and offers a glimpse into Estonian life in Estonian buildings between the 18th and 20th centuries. The historic 19th century tavern building originat-ing from Kolu village in Harjumaa is where you can go after visiting the museum to sample some Estonian dishes.
Locations where coffee and the joy of reading converge
Bookstores are a pleasant setting for a café, as a cup of steaming coffee and a wonderful book have al-ways been inseparable counterparts.
The café at the Old Town Rahva Raamat bookstore is somewhere you can start your day, get a bite to eat while reading a book, end the workday or meet up before a theatre play. The Literaat café-restaurant at Rahva Raamat in Telliskivi is a place where many wonderful things converge: delicious food, a glass of wine, great books, wonderful music and the best of friends.
The Rahva Raamat bookstore in Viru Keskus is Estonia’s largest and most diverse bookstore and in 2022, was awarded the title of Best Bookstore at the London Book Fair. Besides the spiritual food, you can get refreshments from morning until evening in the elegant Literaat Café.
In the Põhjala factory located in Kopli, there is a charming bookstore called Read, where mostly second-hand books are sold, but there's always a selection of new literature as well. Next to the bookstore, there is a lovely café called Kiosk No 3, where you can take a break and enjoy the freshly purchased books in a unique retro-inspired factory setting. By the way, the bookstore also doubles as an event venue called ankruSAAL, where concerts, book presentations, and workshops are organized.
