| Haabersti (Tallinn) | |
 | |
Location  | |
Coat of arms and flag   | |
| State | Estonia |
|---|---|
| Region | Northern Estonia |
| Website | Official page |
Haabersti is a district of the city of Tallinn.
To know
Haabersti is the westernmost district of Tallinn, lying on the coast of the bay of Kopi and on the following stretch of coast, beyond Cape Kakumäe. Within its limits are located two major city attractions, the ethnographic museum and the zoo of Tallinn. Typical dormitory districts built in the Soviet era are alternated with others much more elegant, which arose after the restoration of the independence ofEstonia of 1991 and the consequent passage of country to a market economy.
Although in the areas of Rocca al Mare and Kakumäe there are hotels and private apartments offered to tourists through the intermediation of portals such as airbnb, the majority of foreign visitors still limit themselves to day trips from their hotel in the center to the ethnographic museum and , if you have time, at the zoo Tallinn.
How to orient yourself
Haabersti: full screen map.Neighborhoods
- Kakumäe (Collina del owl) - The district north-west of Rocca al Mare, made up mostly of single-family villas lying on the sloping coast that ends at the homonymous promontory surrounded by cliffs. It is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Tallinn, with Pirita is Nõmme. In 2018, the Kakumäe marina was completed.
- Rocca al Mare - Built around the shopping center of the same name, Rocca al Mare is, from a tourist point of view, the most interesting district of Haabersti. The ethnographic museum is located there and in the area inside and outside the shopping center are hotels, restaurants, fast food restaurants and wellness centers. It owes its name to a country mansion dating back to 1863 that belonged to Arhur Girard de Soucanton, a rich merchant of the time of French origins.
- Väike-Õismäe (Small hill in bloom) - The neighborhood where the zoo is located Tallinn whose north entrance is, moreover, very close to the Rocca al Mare shopping center. It is a densely populated working-class neighborhood characterized by huge prefabricated apartment buildings, some built around a small pond in the time of Mikhail Gorbačëv. The designers of this latter urban complex, architects Mart Port and Malle Meelak, were awarded the USSR State Prize 1986 (in Russian: Государственная премия СССР, formerly known as the "Stalin Prize").
Kakumäe district
Väike-Õismäe district seen from above.
Marina of Kakumäe
How to get
The district is connected to the center by various bus lines (4, 10, 12, 13, 16, 21A, 22, 26, 26A, 27, 28, 36, 37, 42, 43, 45, 61). Lines 21 and 21B are useful for reaching the ethnographic museum directly from the center. You can take these buses at the stop in Freedom Square (Vabaduse väljak) or the next one in front of the Baltic station in Kalamaja district. These lines are infrequent, which is why the inhabitants of the district prefer to use their own car to get around the center. On the other hand, you will not travel on foot because the buses are never crowded even during rush hours.
The two express lines 46 and 47 appear more reliable, making fewer stops and useful both for a visit to the Tallinn Zoo and for the Rocca al Mare area centered around the homonymous shopping center. You can also use it to reach the ethnographic museum but with a change of bus at the Rocca al Mare stop (lines 22, 42, 43).
Of course, you can use taxi cooperatives and the service Bolt (formerly Taxify).
How to get around
To move from one point to another in Haabersti, refer to the directions given in the previous section. Since they are largely insufficient, you'd better download a generic application like Moovit which provides you with information in real time or consult the mobile site of the urban transport company (more complicated).
What see
Haabersti District
- 1 Estonian Open Air Museum (Eesti Vabaõhumuuseum), Vabaõhumuuseumi tee 12.
Full 10 €. 
Mon-Sun 10 am-5pm. Life-size reconstruction of a typical 18th-century Estonian rural village, with several mills, farms, stables and school buildings from the islands and different regions of Estonia and reassembled here. It occupies 80 hectares of land facing the sea. The employees of the museum are dressed in the costumes of the time. 
- 2 Tallinn Zoo (Tallinna Loomaaed), Paldiski mnt. 145. Mon-Sun 09: 00-19: 00. Inaugurated on 25 August 1939, it is still the only zoological garden in theEstonia. In 2012 it housed 13,336 specimens of 548 species of the animal world. It has many specimens of mountain goats, eagles and owls. It also has two tropical areas where there are the aquarium, the reptile house and the aviaries with specimens of exotic birds. There are also examples of crocodiles, mangosteens, chimpanzees and different types of monkeys such as marmosets.
Full 10 €. 
Mon-Sun 10 am-5pm. Life-size reconstruction of a typical 18th-century Estonian rural village, with several mills, farms, stables and school buildings from the islands and different regions of Estonia and reassembled here. It occupies 80 hectares of land facing the sea. The employees of the museum are dressed in the costumes of the time.
- The area known as the House of the Elephant hosts, in addition to elephants, specimens of pygmy rhinoceros while the Alpinarium hosts specimens of snow leopards.
- In the "Central Asia" complex you can admire Mongolian Przewalski horses, Bactrian camels and Tibetan oxen (yaks).
- The zoo has a lynx as its emblem due to a history worth mentioning: In 1937, an Estonian sniper team won the world championship in Helsinki. The team returned home with a young lynx, named Illu, who was temporarily housed in the gardens of the Kadriorg palace while waiting for the new zoo to be created. The outbreak of the Second World War interrupted the realization of the project and it was implemented in 1983.
What to do
.jpg/220px-Škoda_Jäähall_(2).jpg)
- 1 "Skoda" Ice Palace (Škoda Jäähall), Haabersti 3, ☎ 372 660 0500. Mon-Sun 00: 00-24: 00. inaugurated in December 2002, the ice rink has two pasta rinks measuring 28x56 m.
- 2 MyFitness, Haabersti 5, ☎ 372 6600520. Mon-Fri 06: 30-23: 00, Sat-Sun 09: 00-21: 00. A wellness center equipped with gym, swimming pools, saunas, solarium. It is also possible to undergo spa treatments and participate in group sessions of yoga and other oriental forms of meditation. It also features playroom for children.
Shopping
- 1 Rocca al Mare, Paldiski maantee 102 (From the central Vabaduse square take a bus of lines 46 Express, 21B or 22 and get off at the "Rocca Al Mare" stop.), ☎ 372 665 9345. Mon-Sun 10 am-9pm. Not far from the Estonian open-air museum and the zoological garden, the center includes a hundred shops and about fifteen restaurants and bars, including the Da Vinci Pasta and Pizza, part of the Estonian restaurant chain of the same name. Just outside the center, in a corner of the parking lot, is a large Mc Donalds.
How to have fun
- 1 Saku Suurhall, Paldiski maantee 104b, ☎ 372 660 0200. The Tallinn sports hall where basketball and ice hockey matches and often concerts of pop and rock music stars take place. The sponsor is the Saku Brewery, hence the current name.
Where to eat
Average prices
- 1 Al Mare Grill, Mõisa 4, ☎ 372 615 4107. Mon-Sun 11: 00-23: 00.
- Mack Bar-B-Que, Paldiski maantee 102 (Inside the Rocca al Mare shopping center), ☎ 372 665 9161. Mon-Sun 10: 00–21: 00.
- 2 Hesburger, Paldiski mnt 98a, ☎ 372 5850 1214. Mon-Sun 08: 00-23: 00.
