Travel Information

Tartu is situated in Southern Estonia and connects to the world through Lennart Meri Airport in Tallinn and Riga Airport in Latvia. The distance between Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, and Tartu is 186 km, or about 2 hours by train and 2.5 hours by express bus or car.

Travelling to Estonia by Plane

• The largest international airport in Estonia is located in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, with direct flights from many major European cities. Information on airlines, schedules and customs is available on the website of Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport. 
• One more possibility is to fly via Riga, the capital of Latvia (http://www.riga-airport.com/). However, bus connection between Riga airport and Tartu is much less frequent, check https://luxexpress.eu/en and https://ecolines.net/international/en and buy the tickets in advance.

Travelling to Tartu (from Tallinn)

• Bus (more information & tickets: https://www.tpilet.ee/en/ or https://luxexpress.eu/en/ -luxexpress website might offer cheaper tickets). Tickets can be bought online and downloaded to a smartphone. Tickets from the driver are available only when there are free spots on the bus. The buses tend to be full (especially on Fridays and Sundays) so we recommend buying tickets a few days to a week before departure. Buses are rather frequent: on average, they depart every 30 minutes, however, there are no late-night buses. The bus can be boarded from either Tallinn bus station or Tallinn Lennart Meri airport. If you are planning to come straight to Tartu, without visiting Tallinn, please book Tallinn airport – Tartu bus.
  • Boarding the bus from the airport: to reach the bus terminal, turn right as you exit the customs, and follow the signs.
  • Getting to the Tallinn bus station from the airport: the easiest way is to take a taxi. Public transportation: tram number 4 (in direction Tondi; from stop “Lennujaam” to stop “Bussijaam”) and a short 5-minute walk from the main road to the bus station; bus number 2 (in direction Balti Jaam; from stop “Lennujaam” to stop “Bussijaam”) and a short 5-minute walk from the main road to the bus station.
• Train (more information & tickets: https://elron.ee/en). Tickets can be bought online and downloaded to a smartphone. Tickets are also available on the train. 1st class tickets (with allocated seats) tend to be sold out so we recommend buying them a few days before departure. The regular tickets do not have allocated seats. Trains run about 10 times per day. Note that the train schedule is currently only available ten days in advance, but it is unlikely to change significantly. The train can be boarded from either the main train station (Balti jaam) or Ülemiste (the station closest to the airport).
  • Boarding the train from Ülemiste station: the easiest way to get to Ülemiste station is to take a taxi or a short (15-20 minute) walk. Public transportation: tram number 4 (in direction Tondi; from stop “Lennujaam” to stom “Ülemiste jaam” and a short walk to the train station.
  • Boarding the train from the main train station (Balti jaam): the easiest way to get to Balti jaam is to take a taxi. Public transportation: bus number 2 (in direction “Balti Jaam”; from stop “Lennujaam” to stop “Balti jaam”) and a short 5 minute walk from the main road to the bus station.
  • More info about travelling to Tartu from Tallinn can be found from: https://sisu.ut.ee/tartuconference/travel
  • More information about public transport in Tallinn can be found here: https://transport.tallinn.ee/#tallinna-linn/map/en & https://www.tallinn.ee/en/pilet

• Getting to Tartu Observatory (Tõravere): Tõravere is located about 20 km away from Tartu (about a 25 minute car drive or a 30-40 minute bus ride). That will be arranged for you.
  In addition there are free buses running every 30 minutes between Tartu and Tõravere.