Winter sports in and around Tallinn
Everything you need to know about winter sports in and around Tallinn in today’s Ambassadors blog.
During winter in Estonia, it’s easy to feel tired and inactive from the lack of sunlight. Luckily, you don’t have to wait for warm weather to get back outside — there are many great opportunities to take up winter sports around Tallinn and Estonia in general to help get your energy back up.
Ice skating
While being one of the best winter sport options for cardiovascular health, ice skating is great for building balance and improving joint flexibility. If your leg joints crack every time you wake up in the morning(and you are still in your 20’s :D), the solution can be found in ice skating as this sport involves every muscle group in the body. Besides that, ice skating is relatively easy to learn, even if you are one of those international students who never experienced snow before coming to Estonia. An hour of skating supported by a more experienced company should be enough to be able to stand on the ice as well as skate at a medium speed.
Outdoor ice rinks and even indoor ice halls are available in almost all administrative districts of Tallinn. The closest option to TalTech would be Mustamäe ice rink, open every day from 10 am to 9 pm until the middle of March. Skating prices vary from €6 to €8 per hour and skates rental would cost €4.
Old Town ice rink, located in the entrance to the Tallinn Old Town, would perfectly suit couples, Tallinn newbies or anyone who would like to make their skating experience a little cozier. Despite that this option is by far the busiest of all, the atmosphere that is offered is absolutely worth it. The skating tickets are €7-€9 and renting skates would be €4.
On the cold days when skating outside is frankly impractical, check out Tondiraba Ice Hall. The ice hall is a multi-purpose indoor arena complex with a capacity of 7,700 spectators that can host basketball games, ice hockey games, curling and concerts, so make sure to check with the free ice hours in the link above. Despite the arena’s prestige among the sports fans in the Baltics, the prices for free ice hours are more than reasonable: €6 for skating and €2.5 for renting skates. Taking a session with a coach is also possible.
Other ice skating rinks and halls include Nõmme ice rink, Pirita Sport Center’s Ice Rink, Jeti Ice Hall and Škoda Ice Hall.
Skiing & snowboarding
Skiing? In Estonia? You heard it right. Although Estonia is, in fact, flat, it thankfully has found its skiing enthusiasts who transformed a 90m high artificial hill located in north-eastern Estonia into a wonderful ski resort, called Kiviõli Adventure Centre. You will find it 133km away from Tallinn in Kiviõli, an industrial town in Ida-Viru County. Being Baltics’s highest artificial hill it offers four 400–700 meter long ski slopes. A ski pass and a full set of equipment for a whole day would cost €30 and €27 respectively. If you are a beginner, starting off slopes of this size would be just perfect for you. Do consider taking a personal lesson with an instructor: €45 per 45 min. and €75 per 80 min. are the options. This should be enough to learn the basics and be able to ski on your own after the lesson.
When it comes to accommodation options, the adventure center offers an affordable hostel with twin, triple and quadruple rooms as well as a holiday home that can accomodate up to 10 people. Waking up right at the resort and going for a morning ski must be one of the most underrated recreational activities. According to Harvard Medical School, a person weighing ~70kg burns 223 calories in 30 minutes of downhill skiing. Now think of the amount of calories that could be burned if you ski for several hours a day, starting from early morning. Other benefits of skiing include strengthening bones, joints and core muscles, improving balance, cardiovascular benefits and a significant mental health boost.
Husky sledding tour
If neither of the options seem adventurous enough then there is another extremely interesting, authentic experience Estonia has to offer. Most of the Northern nations for over a thousand years have been using dog power for hunting and travel. Archeologists tell that dog sledding was invented by the native and Inuit people in the northern parts of modern Canada and later on rapidly spread throughout other places. Recreational dog sledding mostly uses Siberian Huskies or Alaskan Malamutes, the main reason being their strong tability to combat cold as well as their strength, speed and stamina. Dog sled teams are assembled with lead dogs, point dogs, swing dogs, and wheel dogs.
Prangli Travel is where about 20 huskies are all eager to meet you. Their tour starts from Tallinn where the company’s tour guide takes you to the Husky Park that is an hour away from the city. Once you are at the park, you are introduced to the huskies, their life, their characteristics and specialties. After huskies are harnessed you will enjoy a sled ride in the middle of a charming wintry countryside of Estonia. The whole tour takes around 4–5 hours and besides spending time outdoors includes light snacks, cake and tea indoors. The best time to go on this tour is when outside is covered with lots of snow. Tallinn has recently been generous for it, so make sure to not miss your chance!
Tallinn can get cold in winter (thankfully you probably won’t experience Estonia’s lowest ever recorded temperature of -43.5°C), so don’t forget to dress warm and take a hot drink with you! Hopefully, a great winter sport experience can make the freezing weather a little more bearable — you might even start looking forward to the next winter!
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