A skyline of medieval gothic spires, towering stone bulwarks and onion-domed churches shoulders its way above the cobbled streets of old town Tallinn like a fantasy conglomeration of Tolkienesque architecture and castles. This is UNESCO’s proud fairy-tale capital; a place where mock-up medieval bars rub shoulders with sights like the grand Raekoda town hall and rough-hewn Viru Gate.

But fortress though it may be, Tallinn’s architectural fabric betrays some darker secrets of its past—shadows of the eastern yoke that once loomed large over Estonia per se; the orthodox spires of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral; the eerie façades of the KGB headquarters on Pikk; the endless blocks of tenements that pepper Tallinn’s Soviet new town.

This all makes for one seriously immersive journey, through both history and culture, and through a European city that’s truly on the up. So, on the weekend quiz your Tallinn tour guide for the best beaches and night spots to join the city’s usual crowd of locals and visiting Finns from across the Gulf, all coming here in search of a spot of legendary Baltic hedonism.