Radisson Collection Hotel, Tallinn

Rooms and decor

Picture a 24-floor glass tower standing in the middle of Tallinn, tall enough to be a landmark you can spot from almost any corner of the city — that's the Radisson Collection Hotel, Tallinn, part of Radisson Collection, the brand's 5-star flagship group. There are 280 rooms done in a clean, warm Scandinavian Modern style, using natural wood, earth-tone fabrics and geometric weaves drawn from Baltic craft. Open the door and you find a big soft bed, good linens and a window-side sofa that becomes a lot of guests' favourite corner, because the floor-to-ceiling windows open onto very different views depending on which way the room faces. West-facing rooms look out at the red-tiled roofs of the Old Town (Vanalinn), a UNESCO World Heritage site, with the spire of St Olaf's Church cutting the skyline; north-facing rooms catch the Baltic Sea and the cruise port with the big ships sitting at berth. Plenty of reviews agree that paying to upgrade to an Old Town view is the best money you can spend — waking up, opening the curtains and seeing Vanalinn bathed in golden light is the kind of thing you remember. The bathrooms are modern, with a rain shower and good-smelling Scandinavian toiletries. If you like a calm, clean look that doesn't shout luxury, this will land well.

Food and amenities

The heart of the hotel has to be Lounge 24, the rooftop bar on the 24th floor at the very top of the tower, with a clean 360-degree view taking in the Old Town, the Baltic Sea and the lights of Tallinn in one sweep. The hour around sunset — in summer the good light runs until nearly 10pm — is when the bar is busiest. A number of the signature cocktails lean on local Baltic herbs and spirits and pack a punch worth trying, and reviewers rate this the best spot in the city for a photo and a drink. Downstairs is the main restaurant serving a generous breakfast buffet that reviewers can't stop praising: a wide spread of warm dishes, fresh-baked bakery, smoked salmon, Baltic cheese, fruit and Estonian sweets like kohuke, a chocolate-coated curd snack. The large Travel & Living Spa is another highlight, with an indoor pool, dry sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and several treatment rooms — quiet and good for easing tired legs after a full day in the Old Town, especially in winter when it's below freezing outside and the Estonian-style steam room is pure bliss after the cold. The gym is open 24 hours, well equipped and looks out over the city.

Location and getting there

The Radisson Collection sits in the City Center (Kesklinn), the heart of Tallinn's business district, right next to the Viru Keskus mall and about a 7-minute walk from the Viru Gate, the medieval gateway that marks the start of the Old Town. Walk through it and you reach Town Hall Square (Raekoja plats), the central square that's more than 700 years old, ringed by medieval restaurants, old churches and winding cobbled lanes you can stroll all day without tiring. The city's main tram and bus stops are right in front of Viru Keskus, a few steps away. Tallinn airport (TLL) is just a 10-minute drive from the hotel, handy for short business trips and for travellers who just want to get to the hotel quickly after landing. The cruise terminal that handles Baltic cruise passengers is close too, under a 10-minute drive. In short, if you want to be in the middle of the city, walk the Old Town, hop on public transport easily and get in and out of the airport fast, this location works well.

Things to know before booking

Straight talk to help you decide. The first thing many reviews echo is that this is a new, modern building — anyone hoping to sleep in a medieval Vanalinn building with old timber beams or stone walls may feel the atmosphere isn't right. The feel here is clean Scandinavian Modern, not the old-world charm of an Old Town hotel; if you want the medieval feel, pick somewhere inside Vanalinn instead. The second is the lifts — 280 rooms share them, so during the check-in and check-out rush, or when tour groups and cruise guests arrive at once, you can wait a fair while, and some reviews grumble about losing time when rushing to a meeting or the airport. The last is peak pricing — during the cruise and summer festival season (June to August) rates climb toward $280 a night, fairly high for Tallinn, and food and drink in the hotel cost several times what you'd pay in the Old Town. To save money, walk out and eat in Vanalinn, where the medieval restaurants and good cafes are plentiful and far friendlier on price.

Our take

From the hundreds of real reviews our team pulled together, the Radisson Collection Hotel, Tallinn is a 5-star that sells "Old Town and Baltic Sea views from an icon tower, plus Lounge 24 on the roof and a large spa" at an impressively fair price by Northern European standards. If the trip in your head is waking up to the curtains open on a sunlit Vanalinn spire, walking the Old Town all day, coming back for the spa, then heading up to the 24th floor for a cocktail at sunset, this is about as well-rounded a choice as it gets — and the airport being so close suits short-stay business travellers too. But if you're after the feel of a genuine medieval hotel inside Vanalinn, or a friendlier price, this may not be the answer. Overall we give it 8.9/10, best for luxury-minded couples, business travellers and anyone who values the views, the pool and the spa more than the character of a historic building.