Tallinn Notes

Old Town is Ground Zero.
All Tallinn touring starts and ends with a walking tour of Old Town -- perhaps the best preserved middle-ages city in Europe.
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Getting from the ship to old town.
The distance from the ship to old town is about 2km. That's a little far to walk in the early morning. Hop in a cab and head for the Pegasus cafe. It's central and a top spot for morning coffee. It's a block away from the tourist information center.

The wikitravel site recommends these taxis: Sõbra [29], "economy" taxis with a mixed car fleet, somewhat cheaper than the competition. Unlike many other economy taxis, the cars are clean and the drivers competent. Also recommended are Tallink [26], (yellow Mercedes and Audi cars) and Tulika [27], (usually white Toyota Avensis)

Walking in Old Town
You can tour Old Town on your own. But as a popular German tour site says, "Tallinn has so much: you better have someone who takes you around - that what we preferred when we were in Tallinn." Cruise ship tourists beseige the old town during the afternoon. The best bet is to get an early start. I've made contact with traveller tour guides, who will give us an early tour: 9:30 start before everyone else is up. Tallinn Traveller Info tent, on the corner of Harju and Niguliste street, Tallinn Old Town, Phone: +372 5554 2111, (Email: tallinn@traveller.ee), [3]. An alternative tourist information center that provides you with best insider tips about Tallinn. Run by local young people, it is the best place to start any stay in Tallinn, no matter the length. They know all the best restaurants, cafes, pubs, clubs, cool secret places and phone numbers of every hostel in Tallinn. Besides that they also organize different alternative tours. Open only in summer, June 1 to August 31 from 9am to 9pm.

Bus Tour
Later on in the day the hop on hop off bus appears to be the ticket. There are actually two competing lines -- one private (City Tour) and one operated as an extension of the city bus line. http://www.citytour.ee/index.php?id=426 All the busses leave from Viru Square.

The City tour costs about 16 Euro or is included with the Tallinn Card (See Below). The two routes of interest are the Red and blue line. Red is around the town and goes by the ports. The Blue goes out to Rocca al Mare to the museum. Take your bug spray. The Red Line bus picks up people at the cruise ship terminal at 9:35 11:05 and 12:35. 'Red Line' (Toompea, Lasanamae, the KUMU art gallery, the ports etc)
'Blue Line' ( Rocca al Mare Museum, Zoo, the Hippodrome racecourse etc)

Tallinn Card
The Tourist Office offers a Tallinn Card offering tourist discounts. It can be purchased at the Tourist Office or at the Passenger Terminal at the pier. It costs 24 euros for all day. Note that the 6 hour version, which only costs 12 euros, is not valid on the City Tour busses or at several other spots. The card includes museum access and numerous other benefits.