A few doors away, in the Soprus building, a former cinema and one of the few examples of Stalinist architecture in the Old Town, is Kaheksa (Vana-Posti 8; 627 4770), which is packed with twenty- and thirtysomethings dressed in sleek outfits by the local designer Ivo Nikkolo and drinking fruit smoothies laced with vodka (£3 each). The complex also houses one of the city’s hottest nightspots, Club Hollywood (627 4770, www.club-hollywood.ee), a maelstrom of pouting teenagers, up-for-it tourists and go-go dancers gyrating to the latest dance tracks.

Not all the nightlife is raucous. Kolme Naoga Mees (Kuninga 1; 648 4261) is a charming little wine bar with friendly staff, comfortable chairs and a well-stocked cellar; Cafe VS (Parnu Maantee 28; 627 2627, www.cafevs.ee) has a groovy crowd, imported DJs and Indian food; and Hell Hunt (Pikk 39; 681 8333) is a trendy bar that serves its own (delicious) pilsner, brewed on Saaremaa island.

Traditional Estonian food has not yet been edged out by the arrival of pancetta and porcini. Grandma’s Place (Vanaema Juures: Rataskaevu 10; 626 9080) is a dining room straight from the 1930s, with flock wallpaper, antique furniture and beeswax candles. My succulent roast pork with sauerkraut and sizzling horseradish sauce made me wish I had an Estonian granny.

Tempting though it is to stay in the Old Town, it would be criminal not to ride a tram into the suburbs to visit Kadriorg Palace (606 6400, www.ekm.ee/english/kadriorg), a superb example of 18th-century tsarist architecture built for Peter the Great and surrounded by formal parkland, fountains and cherry trees. It is now home to the Museum of Foreign Art.

Beyond Kadriorg, and a £4 taxi ride from the Old Town, is the space-age Television Tower (623 8250, www.teletorn.ee), which was built by the Soviets for the 1980 Olympics and rises 1,030ft above the surrounding forests, a hollow, rusting icon to communist pomp. It’s ugly, kitsch and beautiful all at once. Admire the stained-glass windows downstairs — examples of transparent communist propaganda — then take the lift to the restaurant on the obser- vation deck where, on a clear day, you can see Helsinki, 50 miles away.

Where to stay: last year saw the opening of the first five-star design hotel in the Baltics, the Three Sisters (Pikk 71; 630 6300, www.threesistershotel.com), a stunning conversion of three former merchants’ houses in the Old Town. The 23 rooms have wooden floors, beamed ceilings, DVD players and big, comfortable beds; from £140 at weekends. If that is full, try the Schlössle Hotel (Puhavaimu 13/15; 699 7700, www.schlossle-hotels.com). It has attractive rooms in a historic building, friendly staff and charges £134. (Note: all hotel rates are for double rooms, including breakfast.)

Page 2: Riga
Page 3: Vilnius

()Riga

IT’S A five-hour drive south to Latvia’s capital, a cosmopolitan city of parks and boulevards, opera and ballet, coffee shops and galleries. Like Tallinn, it has an attractive Old Town with winding cobbled streets and medieval churches, but Riga is a grittier, working city with a more obvious Russian flavour.

About half the population is of Russian descent, partly thanks to Soviet policies of enforced migration. Evidence of the mass deportation of Latvians, and other Stalinist (and Nazi) atrocities, can be found at the Occupation Museum (00 371-721 2715, www.occupationmuseum.lv), in an appropriately ugly windowless 1970s building on Town Hall Square. The exhibits are chilling, including a reconstruction of a Siberian gulag barracks and children’s drawings of terrifying journeys in crowded cattle trucks. But they also show the indomitability of the human spirit: how prisoners fashioned chess sets, violins and sewing kits out of soup bones and packing cases.

Next door is the House of Blackheads (704 4300), which was built by a guild of merchants in the 14th century, damaged by a bomb in 1941, razed by the Soviets in 1948 and completely rebuilt in 2001 for the city’s 800th anniversary — another symbol of the region’s revival. Behind the magnificent Dutch Renaissance facade are impressive cabinet rooms and, beneath a glass floor, the building’s original foundations.

The Town Hall Square is surrounded by a maze of winding streets, ideal for getting lost and discovering soaring churches, cosy cafes and atmospheric restaurants. Head north for the hulking Dome Cathedral, a popular venue for organ recitals, and Riga’s best coffee shop, Kafijas Veikals (Maza pils 6; 722 4216). This tiny Viennese-style cafe, owned by the church and decorated with stained glass, is popular with politicians, who drop in from the nearby parliament building.

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