Tallinn Botanic Garden

The garden was founded in 1961 in the Pirita river valley, and it is unusually large for a city botanic garden - well over a hundred hectares, much of it left as forest and river bank rather than laid out. That gives it a different feel from a compact formal garden: you walk between collections through actual woodland.

What you actually see

• The outdoor collections - roses, rhododendrons, perennials, an arboretum and a rock garden.
• The valley - the wild ground the garden is laid out in.
• The glasshouses - the palm house, a succulent and cactus collection, and tropical and subtropical sections.
• The seasonal shows - a programme through the year, of which the rhododendron flowering in late spring is the single busiest moment.

When to go

Late May to June is rhododendrons and the peak of the outdoor collections. July to September has the roses, the perennials and the valley at its fullest. November to March is for the glasshouses, which are warm, humid and a genuine relief in a Baltic winter, and which are what makes the place viable eight months of the year.

Honest expectations

The outdoor collections go dormant for a long season here, and between October and April there is little to see outside. The glasshouses are good but not enormous.

The site is spread out and the paths run up and down the river valley - it involves more walking than the map suggests.

Nearby

The TV tower is a five-minute walk. Pirita beach, the convent ruins and the Song Festival Grounds are along the coast road back into town.