Okay kids this way. to the medieval pub. Let's go. Wait. It's this way.
.
Hi guys, I'm Kristin and welcome back to my channel Traveling with Kristin,
where I take you behind the scenes in the digital nomad lifestyle.
If you're new to this channel and you're interested in the ability to work
remotely from home or while traveling,
then I invite you to subscribe because I do daily live streams talking about
different topics in the digital nomad lifestyle and weekly shows like travel
destination videos, vlogs,
and interviews with successful digital nomads.
Today you're watching an episode of Digital Nomad Destinations where I break
down things like cost of living, coworking,
community, food rentals,
and anything else that you wanna know in a digital nomad friendly destination.
Today's episode is about Estonia,
which is also the most digitized country in the world.
So perfect for digital nomads, right?
I decided that it sounded like a super cool country that I just had to check
out, so I did just that.
And last winter I spent a month in a Estonia hanging out in Tallinn and
exploring the rest of the countryside.
What I found was a super cool country with a unique blend of ancient
history, natural beauty, and of course tech savvy.
Estonia has been in the news quite a bit in recent years,
mostly because of their digital nomad friendly e-residency scheme
in 2019,
they're also expected to launch the world's first ever digital nomad visa.
So you can live in Estonia for up to a year and still travel to other Schengen and
EU countries for up to 90 days.
This could be..
my favorite Baltic country.
Estonia is located in northern Europe, right between Russia and Latvia.
It's also right across the street, aka, the Baltic Sea from Finland.
And you can actually get from Tallinn to Helsinki by ferry in just a matter of hours,
even though the official language is Estonian.
Pretty much everybody who I met there spoke English,
so that's definitely a plus. Estonia is part of the Eurozone,
the European Union, and the Schengen Zone. So that means for all of you,
non-EU passport holders, myself included,
staying in Estonia counts towards your 90 days per 180 days in the
zone.
Estonia's capital is the picturesque medieval city of Tallinn.
It's absolutely stunning, beautiful,
and it's super easy and small to get around. You can just walk around by foot,
ride your bike,
and there's public transport everywhere.
In nature with only
1.3 million people and measuring about the size of the Netherlands,
Estonia is the least densely populated country in Europe.
One thing I learned about Estonia since I've been here is that half of the
country is actually covered with natural forest and all of the
national parks are open 24 hours a day.
So the government actually encourages people to camp and sleep outside.
No matter where you are in Estonia, you're never far from nature.
So any of you nature lovers out there, I highly recommend to check it out.
I mean, this is amazing.
Estonia is filled with beautiful beaches, thousands of islands, marshes,
also called bogs, and tons of primeval forest.
So what are some of the digital nomad friendly features? First of all, internet
Estonia has free, open and fast internet.
Some of the fastest in the world.
There's even 4G LTE coverage in the middle of the woods.
This comes in really handy because the campsites are open 24/7 and the
government actually encourages people to camp pretty much anywhere.
Not surprisingly, Estonia is also known for their pretty banging startup scene.
Apparently it only takes upwards of 15 minutes or so to open a company in
Estonia.
Estonia e-residency basically allows you to open up an online company,
fully functional with a bank account and everything that can do business in the
EU in a matter of less than an hour.
They've basically created a way for digital nomads to set up a location
independent company, which is amazing,
and I really hope that other governments and countries take their leads
this year. Estonia is also expected to launch the digital nomad travel visa,
which will allow digital nomads from any country to live and work legally
in Estonia for a one year period,
and also be able to travel to other Schengen and EU countries for up to 90 days
Coworking spaces. According to coworker.com,
there are about 16 coworking spaces as expected.
Most of them are concentrated in the capital of Tallinn.
There's also a few sprinkled throughout the countryside and in another city
called Tartu. Prices range anywhere from 60 to 250 euro old per month,
depending on what you're looking for.
If you want a flex desk or a private office.
What is the cost of living like? Well, Estonia isn't exactly cheap,
but it's not super expensive either. In general,
the nomad cost of living can range between two and $4,000 per month
depending on how long you stay.
The housing in Estonia is quite sensitive to seasonal demand,
especially in Tallinn because it's such a small city.
So the prices can skyrocket during popular times of year,
especially during the summer or whenever there are really big conferences and
events.
You can get some of the best deals of the year during winter, of course,
because the weather's not as nice. Right now on Airbnb,
I'm finding one bedroom fully furnished apartments for anywhere from $800 to
$1,500 per month. But strangely,
I'm finding private rooms for about the same price.
Those same apartments that are around $800 to $1500 during the low season can
easily creep up to about $2,000 per month in the high season.
If you wanna see more about what some of the Airbnbs are like,
make sure to check out my Tallinn apartment tour.
I also couldn't find any co-living places in Estonia, so if you know of any,
make sure to leave a note in the comments.
So what about the food? I found the food in Estonia to be a really fresh,
healthy mix of Scandinavian dishes.
So this means lots of smoked fish, fresh bread, uh,
veggies and dairy products like yogurt and cheese,
some seasonal fruits like berries.
Estonia is known for having some nice micro breweries and craft beers.
If you're passing through Tallinn,
make sure to stop for pancakes and you can find wifi at a lot of the cafes in town.
What about nightlife? Well, there's a pretty solid nightlife culture,
especially in Tallinn and also a pub culture as well.
Estonia is generally considered safe,
and I did feel safe walking through parts of Tallinn and Tartu and other
towns at night, but as usual, use common sense and use your head to stay safe.
Spas,
no Estonia travel guide would be complete without mentioning some of the amazing
spas, saunas, and thermal baths scattered all around the country.
And even in Tallinn, you can find some saunas on every corner
how to get there. Uh,
you can reach Estonia pretty easily with direct flights from almost any major
airport hub in Europe. You can also drive in, um,
by bus or coach or train, um, or you can rent a car.
But please note that you do need an international driver's permit to rent a car
in Estonia, and most of the cars are manual.
When is the best time to go? So as usual,
that depends on your personal travel goals. I went during October, November,
and I saw everything from mild sunny days to full on snowstorm.
I am not equipped for this type of weather. Um,
it is freezing.
The summer is a good time to go hiking.
Check out some of the islands and beaches and walk through some of those marshy
bogs. However,
you can get a different experience throughout all different times of the year.
Um,
summers go a good time to catch some of the annual events and music festivals.
There are also a lot of different types of events happening year round,
so you can plan your trip to be there at the same time as one that interests you.
There's everything from poker tournaments to Mindvalley U to music
and folk festivals,
but don't completely discount the winter because you can just hang out in some
of the saunas and take road trips throughout the country.
You can even drive on an ice road on the Baltic Sea.
It's a beautiful time of year to be there and you'll get a deal on some of the
lower housing prices.
Let's go.
So that's my whirlwind tour of Estonia for you guys. I hope you liked it.
And if you wanna learn more about daily life there,
check out my Tallinn apartment tour and my Estonia travel blog.
Or for more digital nomad destinations, check out this playlist over here.
Okay, kids, this way to the Medieval Pub. Let's go. Wait this way.
.
Beautiful, beautiful.