Travel and Visa

 

Travel info

Tartu is situated in southern Estonia and connects to the world through recently reopened Tartu Airport and Lennart Meri Airport in Tallinn.

The distance between Tartu Airport and the city center is about 10 kilometers.

The distance between Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, and Tartu is approximately 200 kilometers, or about 2,5 hours by express coach or car. Express coaches depart every hour and are the preferred method of transport (timetable).

Tartu Airport has connections to Helsinki.

Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport has direct air links to numerous cities, including the nearby Baltic capitals, Riga and Vilnius. It is also easy to fly in direct from Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Istanbul, Kiev, London, Moscow, Munich, Oslo, Paris, Prague, Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Vienna and Warsaw.

There are some express buses which also take passengers from the Tallinn Airport (stop “Tallinna lennujaam” in Estonian) on their way to Tartu (timetable). If you wish to get on the bus at the airport, it is advisable to buy the ticket online in advance, printing out the ticket yourself.

You can also reach Tartu from Riga Airport (245 km from Tartu). It is advisable to buy the bus ticket to Tartu in advance (online, printing out the ticket yourself)

From Stockholm and Helsinki, there is also a ferry connection to Tallinn. It is especially frequent from Helsinki (timetable), hence planning your route through there will not add much to the total duration of your trip.

Apart from that, Estonia has bus links with major cities in Germany, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic countries. Due to the relatively short distances, coach trips from Riga and St. Petersburg are a good alternative to air travel. Both cities have direct connections to Tartu.

 

Visa info

Citizens of EU/EEA member countries do not need a visa to come to Estonia. The travel document required for them to enter Estonia is the personal ID card or passport.

Other nationals:
A list of countries NOT needing a visa to come to Estonia is seen here.
Nationals of countries not listed there should apply for a visa. The procedure and additional information is described here.