Tallinn Town Hall and Square (Raekoja plats): Tickets, Tower Climb and the Old Pharmacy

💡 The Short Version: Tallinn Town Hall (Tallinna raekoda) on Raekoja plats calls itself the only surviving Gothic town hall in Northern Europe; it took its present form in 1402 to 1404. You can walk in without booking from 1 June to 31 August for €7, and climb the 64-metre tower for €6 (€12 for both). Both are free with the Tallinn Card. On the square, Raeapteek has been a pharmacy since at least 1422 and has a free museum. Or book a tour: a 2-hour Old Town walking tour with stories and viewsad starts on Town Hall Square, so a guide can take you from the Town Hall up to the Upper Town.

⚠️ The Town Hall and tower have walk-in hours in summer only. From 1 September to 31 May the Town Hall can be visited only by appointment, Monday to Friday, at €14 per person with no Tallinn Card, and the tower is closed. The one exception is 28 to 30 December, when the Town Hall is open to all.

Raekoja plats: the medieval heart

Town Hall Square has been the centre of Tallinn’s Lower Town since the Middle Ages, next to the marketplace where the Town Hall has stood for over 700 years. The square is pedestrianised and paved in cobbles, and its edges are lined with merchant houses, many of them now café terraces. The cobbles are uneven, so flat shoes are best.

Citizens’ Hall, Tallinn Town Hall. Photo: Ilme Parik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Tickets and opening hours

Town Hall tickets are for the interior, from the cellar to the attic. Tower tickets are sold separately in the Town Hall cellar, at the entrance right under the tower next to the tavern.

• Concessions: students, disabled visitors and seniors aged 65 and over.
• Family ticket: up to two adults with children up to 19.
• Tallinn Card: free during the summer opening hours. It is not valid for appointment visits.
• Last entry: 30 minutes before closing for the Town Hall, and 17:30 for the tower.
• Closed: 23 and 24 June and 20 August, and during receptions.
• Wheelchairs: only the main floor is accessible, and there is no accessible toilet. Phone ahead on +372 6457 900 (Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:00).

Tours worth paying for

The Town Hall ticket gets you inside the building. A guide adds the streets and the Upper Town around it.

2-hour Old Town walking tour with stories and views

From €35 · 4.8 stars from 346 reviews · 2 hours · up to 20 people

The Tallinn Old Town: Stories and Views 2-Hour Walking Tourad meets on Town Hall Square (Raekoja plats 1). It is a story-led walk of about 2 km on cobbles that climbs to the Upper Town, and the route can be adapted for wheelchairs and pushchairs if you tell the operator in advance.

Guided Old Town historical walking tour

From €35 · 4.9 stars from 1,616 reviews · 2 hours · small group

The Tallinn: Guided Old Town Historical Walking Tourad meets under the Town Hall clock on the square. It takes in the Town Hall, the Niguliste Museum and Freedom Square in the Lower Town, then Toompea Castle, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and St Mary’s Cathedral, with the Kohtuotsa and Patkuli viewpoints.

Inside the Town Hall

The Town Hall is first mentioned in 1322, and it reached its present form in 1402 to 1404, when it was rebuilt as a two-storey building with a tower at the east end and a main floor carried on an open arcade. A Late Renaissance spire was added in the 17th century.

On the visit you see:

1. Citizens’ Hall (Kodanikesaal): the medieval entrance hall, with painted vaulting and pillars.
2. Council Chamber: home to the oldest and rarest woodcarving in the building, the Gothic benches of 1371 to 1374, and to biblical lunette paintings by Johann Aken from 1667.
3. Cellar to attic: the visit covers four floors. The attic is closed from September to May.

Climbing the tower

The Town Hall tower is 64 metres high. You climb 115 steps on a narrow, steep spiral staircase to the bell chamber at 34 metres. The town guards once watched from here for fire and danger, and rang the alarm bell, cast in 1586 by the cannon master Hinrik Hartman. Its clapper is now worked by the clock on the facade and the bell strikes the hours. The operator does not recommend the climb for very small children, elderly visitors or anyone unfit, and the tower is not suitable for groups.

On top of the spire is Old Thomas (Vana Toomas), the figure of an old warrior that has watched over the town since 1530. The spire burned in a Soviet air raid on 9 March 1944. A copy of Old Thomas went up in 1952 and a third figure in 1996, and the original now stands in the Town Hall cellar.

An earlier Old Thomas weather vane figure. Photo: Alastair Rae, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Raeapteek: the 1422 Town Hall Pharmacy

Raeapteek (Town Hall Pharmacy) at Raekoja plats 11 describes itself as the oldest pharmacy in Europe in continuous business in the same building. Its opening date is unknown, but in 1422 it already had its third owner. From 1582 to 1911 it passed through ten generations of the Burchart family, whose eldest son was always named Johann and trained as a pharmacist.

It is still a working pharmacy, with a museum alongside it:

• Old remedies: a pharmacy price list of 1695 sold burnt bees, stallion hooves, burnt hedgehogs, earthworm oil and human fat, as well as marzipan, which was held to ease heartache and restore memory.
• Medieval claret and marzipan: the pharmacy sells both at the counter.

Raeapteek is open Monday to Saturday, 10:00 to 18:00. The pharmacy closes for lunch from 13:30 to 14:00. The museum is free for individual visitors, and guides with groups of 10 or more pay €2 per person.

Museum room, Raeapteek. Photo: HartOve, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Practical tips for visiting

• Footwear: wear flat shoes with grip. The cobbles and the worn tower steps are slippery when wet.
• Winter market: the Christmas market takes over Raekoja plats from late November, with dates on the Tallinn Christmas market guide.

Where to eat near the square

• III Draakon: a candlelit medieval tavern inside the Town Hall at Raekoja plats 1.
• Olde Hansa: a medieval-themed restaurant a short walk from the square at Vana turg 1.

For more, see where to eat in Tallinn.

What to see next

• Toompea Castle and Alexander Nevsky Cathedral: climb the Short Leg (Lühike jalg) path to the upper town.
• St. Olaf’s Church tower: a higher view over the Old Town.
• Tallinn town wall and towers: the wall walks and Kiek in de Kök.
• Free things to do in Tallinn: free viewpoints, passages and gardens.