Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

‘My Favourite Hotel’ review – Swissotel Tallinn, Estonia

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Today, our ‘My Favourite Hotel’ review is the Swissotel Tallinn in Estonia.

We are currently running this reader-written feature to provide some positivity and inspiration to Head for PointsYou can find all of the ‘My Favourite Hotel’ reviews so far by clicking here.  This was scheduled to be a series of about 25 hotels, but a good response from readers means that we have commissioned another batch and are continuing the series.

Today’s hotel is the Swissotel Tallinn, close to the gorgeous old town of Estonia’s capital.  It is reader Theo’s favourite hotel and here is his review:

Overview

Opened in 2007, and one of the tallest hotels in the Baltics and the tallest building in Tallinn, the Swissotel stands at 117m tall, spanning 30 floors. It’s positioned a short walk to the old town and the city’s main shopping area, and within a short (10 minute) taxi ride of the airport.

swissotel tallinn hotel review

The Swissotel in Tallinn holds a very fond place in the hearts of everyone who has ever worked for Skype as it was the ‘only’ place to stay for any visiting Skype colleagues.  Having racked up close to 100 nights during my nine years with the company it remains one of my favourite hotels in the world.

Until recently, initiation on your first business trip to Tallinn involved being taken to the Valli Bar in the old town and coaxed into drinking ‘Millimallikas’ – a spicy shot of Sambuca and Tequila with a drizzle of Tabasco that creates orange tentacles down into the glass (hence the name which means Jellyfish in Estontian).

Skype was such a source of pride for Tallinn, that you could jump into any taxi and ask to be taken to ‘Skype’ – despite the office being a good 20 minute journey from the centre.

The rooms

Each of the 238 rooms at Swissotel Tallinn is spacious and modern with floor-to-ceiling windows offering fabulous views over the old town or harbour from many of the rooms. You’ll want to bring the entire bathroom home, each having a large walk-in rain shower and a luxurious free standing bathtubs.

swissotel tallinn hotel review

Rooms are available in standard (Swiss Avantage) or luxury (Swiss Executive) configuration, with the latter being higher up the tower and offering improved views. The Swiss Executive rooms also include access to the hotel’s executive lounge which offers a comfortable work space with drinks and snacks available.

If you’re travelling on a tight budget however, you won’t be disappointed with the standard rooms.

swissotel tallinn hotel review

For those travelling with kids, the hotel also offers the option of a separate adjoining kids room which your children with love. An infant room is also available offering a cot, baby bath, nappy changing table, feeding chair and bottle warmer.

Drinking and dining

On the 30th floor the hotel has a bar and the Horisont restaurant, both of which get very busy most evenings. It’s a perfect place to enjoy a few G&Ts whilst watching the late Baltic daylight fade into night. The restaurant is one of the top-rated places to dine out in Tallinn, and deservedly so. The food, wine and service are all exquisite (although I must confess my expenses budget didn’t extend to eating there often except on very special occasions).

For more affordable eats, there’s a second restaurant (The Quarter) on the 8th floor, which also offers excellent food at expense-friendly prices. This 8th floor restaurant is also where breakfast is served.

Breakfast at the Swissotel is genuinely worth fasting for. It’s an impressive self-serve buffet with a a wide range of hot and cold plates. Everything about this breakfast is quality and will not fail to impress you.

swissotel tallinn hotel review

I always maintain you can judge a hotel by the quality of the scrambled eggs it serves. For those alone, this hotel gets my full star rating. The black pudding and cinnamon-stewed prunes are also both very worth reserving space for.

The No.3 lounge and bar on the ground floor serves drinks and light snacks throughout the day into the evening.

Pürovel Spa

If you’re craving some rest and relaxation or need to work off some of the excess calories from breakfast, the Pürovel Spa & Sport rates amongst the best facilities I’ve ever come across. The gym is superbly equipped and the swimming pool is a tranquil oasis.

swissotel tallinn hotel review

Of course being in Estonia, you’ll also find a large sauna and an aromatic steam room. A comprehensive menu of spa treatments is also available which are all much more reasonably priced than elsewhere in Western Europe.

swissotel tallinn hotel review

Earn Accor Live Limitless points too ….

Since 2016 Swisshotel has been part of the Accor group, and the chain’s own loyalty scheme was replaced with the wider ‘Accor Live Limitless’ (ALL) programme in 2017.  Membership gives you a 4%-5% discount on the room rates when booked via Accor’s own website, and of course you can earn and redeem ‘ALL’ points when staying at the Swissotel in Tallinn.

Conclusion

Like a favourite restaurant, it’s not easy to pinpoint what exactly about the Swissotel in Tallinn makes me long to return there. This hotel has found the rare balance of style and service, without it feeling forced or stuffy. The rooms are large and superbly equipped, and the breakfast is a must. The Pürovel Spa is a wonderful space to de-stress. This is a place where you can genuinely feel comfortable and at home.

Prices start from €99 per night per room without breakfast, so it won’t break the bank either.

If you want to find out more, the hotel’s website is here.


Accor Live Limitless update – October 2024:

Earn bonus Accor points: Accor is not currently running a global promotion

New to Accor Live Limitless?  Read our review of Accor Live Limitless here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our analysis of what Accor Live Limitless points are worth is here.

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from Accor and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Comments (14)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • davvero says:

    This does look a lovely hotel. I’ve been to Tallinn before when it was very cheap to fly LHR-HEL-TLL (and loads of BA tier points), I found the Hilton there to be one of the nicest I’ve been to. I’d love to go back sometime but it’s quite expensive to get there now, at least using oneworld. I’m not sure if any LCC flies there.

    • davvero says:

      I think reading the review that the Swissôtel might beat the Hilton, but it’s very close and they both seem nice so if I go back I’d likely choose the Hilton for the diamond benefits. Although if Emyr in the HfP hotel booking service can offer benefits in the Swissôtel then that would be worth looking at.

  • Heathrow Flyer says:

    I stayed at this hotel a few years back and I was equally as impressed. Great bathroom in the generously sized rooms, very decent spa and good breakfast.

    Estonia gets a lot of things right and Tallinn is definitely worth a visit.

  • Nick G says:

    Tallin is a pure gem in Europe. Been numerous times but always stay in the Telegraaf. Small but luxurious and now in the Marriott group it’s a gorgeous place thoroughly recommend.

  • BA-Flyer says:

    Agree it’s a great hotel, but you might want to be careful who you share a twin room with. There is a large frosted glass window between the room and bathroom. We discovered that the frosting was not very sufficient – you could very easily make out people on the other side of the glass. It was even worse in the morning, if the bathroom light was on but the room light was off.

  • Mike P says:

    Yep – Tallinn is an awesome city. Only spent a day there so far but thoroughly enjoyed it and it’s at the top of the list for a city break.

  • RussellH says:

    Nice to see someone else who judges hotel breakfast by the standard of its scrambled egg!

    I think it was BJ who agrreed with me back in February when I commented favourably after a stay at the DT Queensferry Crossing…

    • AJA says:

      +1 For hotel breakfast serving freshly squeezed orange juice.

  • Matthew says:

    Given that it was the “Skype” hotel I’m surprised they didn’t redesign it into a place that everyone now hates (just joking!)

    I’m going to buck the trend a bit and say that I wasn’t overly impressed with this hotel, there were just so many things that weren’t quite right for a 5 star hotel.

    Having said this, the location is reasonable, a few blocks to the old town, and beside a shopping mall. The staff were fantastic however there were not enough of them and therefore queues, and the bar is excellent when it’s open which is annoyingly after sunset in Winter/Spring.

    In the refurbished rooms the shower leaks water on the floor outside the shower because it has been designed poorly, and the floor leans away from the shower so that water ends up in the bathroom floor.

    Stay there if the price is right, don’t go out of your budget for it.

  • Russell Gowers says:

    “I always maintain you can judge a hotel by the quality of the scrambled eggs it serves”

    This is such a good system. I’ll be adopting it.

    • Hotel-User says:

      The better system in my humble opinion is the Eggs Benedict.

      One 5* Sofitel served with blowtorch topping ….. ugg ( sumed up hotel though )

    • Bill says:

      Scrambled eggs and sausage test is what I call it

    • Charlieface says:

      When looking just at the website I always look at the quality of the bathroom in the pictures

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.