Hotels in Tartu

Tartu is Estonia's university city, home to a university founded in 1632 that still makes roughly one in five residents a student, and it carried that energy into its year as European Capital of Culture in 2024 under the theme Arts of Survival. The city has more than 20 museums, a strong street-art scene, and a growing Michelin-recognised dining scene that is unusual for a city this size.

It sits two hours south of Tallinn by road, so it takes a deliberate trip rather than a day excursion, and much of its charm is in wandering the wooden-house neighbourhoods rather than ticking off single sights. Winters are properly cold, which shapes a lot of the indoor cultural programming. Stay near the town hall square for the university quarter, museums and riverside walks.