August 2025. We’re travelling to the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and more specifically their respective capitals Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. Are they interconnected by rail? Yes, but not in the most straightforward or userfriendly way possible. The Rail Baltica project should remedy this. Unsurprisingly though, this megaproject faces political and budgetary hurdles. It will most likely not be ready by 2030. But that doesn’t stop us. What to expect from the Baltics? Is it affected by overtourism?
Out first hotel of the trip would be the Swissotel in Tallinn. Our previous stay at a Swissotel dated from our stay in Sydney before the pandemic, so we were curious how the brand has evolved since.
The Swissotel is located in the tallest building of Tallinn, on the main road between the airport and the city centre. After a short Uber trip from the airport to the hotel we were warmly welcomed by the staff. The check-in agent double checked if we knew we had booked a room with separate beds and whether we might prefer one with a double bed, it’s nice to see the hotel welcoming 2 men travelling together like this. Often when travelling as a gay couple you are frowned upon or given a room with separate beds, so it was nice to see it the other way.
The room itself was nice and big, slightly dated and probably still in the original 2003 opening style. There were plenty of power plugs however, so it felt up to date. There were 2 comfortable beds and a big desk to work on.
Due to it being an executive room the minibar was included in the room rate and quite nicely filled for a complimentary minibar.
The bathroom was quite spacious, with a lot of unused space. It looked like they planned to install a bath tub here, or that they did and then took it out again. On some pictures of the website it shows bathrooms with bathtubs in this space, so it was peculiar. The toilet and the walk-in shower are each put into their own corner. The shower had a huge rain shower head, but a rather lower water pressure giving only a trickle of water.
The full range of toiletries was available through multiple use dispensers mounted on the wall, only for handwashing did they provide a small bar of soap. One bathrobe was already hung ready to use in the bathroom while the other was provided in the wardrobe, just like the slippers.
In the morning breakfast was served in the restaurant on level 8, here they had a nice buffet spread but we did lack some local items. There was also an eggs made to order station.
When seated the staff came around to bring you coffee and tea, with a very fast and friendly service.
On the 11th floor was the wellness and fitness area. The pool was in a kidney shape and they posted some signs to ask to swim in a circle. The water had the perfect temperature, not too cold, no too hot. They also provided a sauna and a steam room. While we booked an executive room the wellness area was included in our room rate but it looked like it wasn’t included in every room rate. This did provided for a quieter environment despite the big size of the hotel.
They also had a restaurant and bar on the highest floor, overlooking Tallinn. We had a drink at the bar one evening and enjoyed the panoramic view and sunset.
All in all the Swissotel provided us with a solid stay. It was unfortunate that they decided to close their club lounge in between the time of booking and the time we visited. Otherwise the staff was really friendly and welcoming and the hotel was clean and well maintained.
Baltic States 2025
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- REVIEW | Air Baltic Business Class Munich to Tallinn.