Thirty years after declaring its independence from the Soviet Union, Estonia has emerged as one of the world’s leading digital economies, home to companies such as Skype and Transferwise. And its capital, Tallinn, with a medieval city center and a NATO cybersecurity center, embraces modernity while celebrating its history. A solar-powered cruise terminal at the Port of Tallinn is scheduled to open in July, just in time for the resumption of Baltic cruising: from July through September, the MSC Seaview will make port in Tallinn. In less high-tech attractions, the city is encouraging a shift to walking tours for shore excursions (reducing the number of buses shuttling passengers from the port to the old city). Elsewhere, a new long-distance hiking route connects Tallinn to Estonia’s southern neighbors Latvia and Lithuania through a 1,330-mile cross-border Forest Trail. —Yulia Denisyuk
World's Greatest Places 2021
