{"id":155318,"date":"2026-01-31T04:07:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T02:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/?p=155318"},"modified":"2026-01-30T10:34:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T08:34:44","slug":"a-baltic-guide-to-lgbtq-nightlife-in-tallinn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/a-baltic-guide-to-lgbtq-nightlife-in-tallinn\/","title":{"rendered":"A Baltic Guide to LGBTQ+ Nightlife in Tallinn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

 <\/p>\n

One of my closest friends for the past quarter of a century is a Finnish woman named Pirkko. She visits Estonia about twice a year, and we always make a night of it. This means only going to bars of course, as I\u2019m not exactly her type. Last week was her annual holiday visit, and when I met her at the port, she told me, \u201cWe always go to your bars. This time, let\u2019s go to mine!\u201d I asked her, \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d She replied, \u201cBars where we can meet people more like me, and not as much like you.\u201d \u201cBut I\u2019m American,\u201d I jokingly told her. She chided me, \u201cYou know what I mean.\u201d In all fairness, this was a side of Tallinn I had not seen, so I was all for it!<\/p>\n

She first took me to a speakeasy, or cocktail bar, called Sessel, at Viru 3 in the Old Town. This is a place I have walked by a million times but never seen, because you have to go through an arts and crafts shop to reach the staircase to the second floor, where the bar is. While not specifically an LGBTQ+ bar, Sessel advertises themselves as friendly. The interior is very cosy, the music relaxing, but the beer selection was extremely limited, and we spent nearly ten minutes waiting for our rather pricey drinks. At the bar.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
HELLo! Bar is a nice, safe place to enjoy a night out with LGBTQ+ friends.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n

On the way to the next place, I asked Pirkko if she ever felt uncomfortable at the bars we usually went to. \u201cNot really. In fact, I\u2019ve always been rather open, and I\u2019ve never felt uneasy in Tallinn, not in the past 20 years that is.\u201d We arrived at HELLo! Bar at V\u00e4ike-Karja 1, also in the Old Town. As it was a Tuesday night, it wasn\u2019t too crowded, and Pirkko was the only woman there. We stayed for several drinks\u2014I got my beer, which had a good selection and fair prices\u2014and Pirkko got more cocktails. She said they were a tiny bit pricey, but still a bit cheaper than in Helsinki.<\/p>\n

The staff at HELLo! Bar were friendly to me, and I felt welcome in their establishment. We all have a friend who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and this is a great place to go with them.<\/p>\n

When it was getting close to closing time, Pirkko suggested a club near Noblessner called HUNGR, at Peetri 6. A quick web search however revealed that it was closed that night, and we couldn\u2019t find a schedule either, but their Facebook page does list upcoming events. She also suggested a place called Heldeke!, which I already knew. I\u2019ve done stand-up there a few times, and they have frequent burlesque-style shows, as well.<\/p>\n

While I accompanied Pirkko to her hotel, she told me about a swingers\u2019 bar, called Sauna Club 69. When we looked it up though, it says there are two types of events: swingers events, with men and women, and men\u2019s only parties. This venue is at Sakala 24, just outside of the Old Town. We passed the Kiek in de K\u00f6k Museum on the way to Freedom Square, and I saw one more bar that was open, at Komandandi 2. \u201cHow about this place here, X-Baar? There\u2019s a rainbow flag on the door.\u201d Pirkko informed me she didn\u2019t want to go there. \u201cWhy not?\u201d I asked. \u201cAre you too tired?\u201d She simply replied, \u201cThat\u2019s a gay bar. I\u2019m not a gay man.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Many LGBTQ+ bars have slightly secretive doors, which adds to their allure.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  One of my closest friends for the past quarter of a century is a Finnish woman named Pirkko. She … Read more<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":155307,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[307,308,310,19543,19546,22674,25757,26775,26776,26777,26778,26779,26780],"class_list":["post-155318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leisure","tag-nightlife","tag-bars","tag-speakeasy","tag-lgbt-4","tag-cocktails","tag-lgbtq-3","tag-clubs","tag-x-baar","tag-hungr","tag-sauna-club-69","tag-hello-bar","tag-sessel","tag-gay-bar"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155318"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155324,"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155318\/revisions\/155324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}