Sillamäe

Sillamäe is a town of 17,000 inhabitants in East Estonia, where the Sõtke River into the Bay of Finland. In Soviet times a closed city of nuclear scientists, the Soviet heritage is still very visible here.

Understand


A settlement named Sillamägi ("Bridge Hill") started growing in the mid-18th century, though a text from 1502 mentions a roadside tavern located here. It was a resort for the intelligentsia of the Russian imperial capital Saint Petersburg, for instance physiologist Ivan Pavlov spent some time here and a street is named after him.

In the 1920s the town was industrialized with an oil shale processing plant, a power plant and an industrial port being built. They were destroyed during WWII, but rebuilt afterwards together with a metallurgical plant for extracting uranium for the newly invented atomic bomb. As such, from 1947 onwards to the fall of the Soviet Union, Sillamäe was a closed secret military city that was even not marked on maps. Activities conducted there were mostly military industrial and included mining and refining uranium.

Sillamäe was opened up in 1991 when Estonia became independent, and the uranium plant was turned into a rare metals plant - one of the most important industries in this part of the country. The city retains a treasure trove of beautiful Stalinist architecture, and this is not the only thing Soviet about the city - indeed Sillamäe can be considered the most Soviet town in Estonia. Most of the inhabitants (88% as of 2011) are Russian speaking and even hold Russian citizenship, and even some price tags in shops are written like in the 1970s. Knowing some Russian can come in handy.

Get in
Bus and train schedules are easily available online – read more under Estonia.

By bus


There are frequent bus lines from/to Tallinn (~€10) (2.5-3h), and Narva (30-40 min). Some buses on the Tallinn-Saint Petersburg route also stop here.

By car
Sillamäe is on Highway 1 connecting Tallinn (185 km) with Narva (30 km), which is at the Russian border - St. Petersburg is a further 150 km east of Narva.

By boat
The port is mainly for freight. Car passengers could come in with a daily freight ferry from nearby Ust-Luga in Russia with less busier border controls, but the service is probably suspended because of the pandemic and Russian attack on Ukraine with subsequent embargoes.

Get around
The town is small, for instance you can walk from the bus station to the central attractions or to the shore in about 10 minutes.

There are three local bus lines going around town with a couple of departures a day. Moreover county buses to nearby cities ply the streets entering and exiting Sillamäe.

See


Sillamäe is divided into three parts. East of the bus station are 1980s apartment buildings reminiscent of Lasnamäe in Tallinn; itself not too interesting but it has a pleasant park along the coast. The "old town", i.e. built before the Second World War, is west of the bus station along Kesk street. Pretty much all of Sillamäe's landmarks are there. Still further west across Sõtke River are the industries and the port.
 * 1940s and 50s Soviet architecture is prevalent in Sillamäe, as much of the town had to be rebuilt after the war, indeed the town core can be regarded as an architectural ensemble of such buildings. The most prominent examples are the town hall mentioned above, the on the central square, the  (Kesk 11) faced by the  (Kesk 10). These buildings retain elements like balustrades and flowerbeds, but Soviet statues have been removed.
 * Take a sombre moment in remembrance of the Cold War and the unfortunate nuclear arms race, and see what used to be a puddle of uranium refining waste product now a small hill or large heap.
 * 1940s and 50s Soviet architecture is prevalent in Sillamäe, as much of the town had to be rebuilt after the war, indeed the town core can be regarded as an architectural ensemble of such buildings. The most prominent examples are the town hall mentioned above, the on the central square, the  (Kesk 11) faced by the  (Kesk 10). These buildings retain elements like balustrades and flowerbeds, but Soviet statues have been removed.
 * Take a sombre moment in remembrance of the Cold War and the unfortunate nuclear arms race, and see what used to be a puddle of uranium refining waste product now a small hill or large heap.
 * Take a sombre moment in remembrance of the Cold War and the unfortunate nuclear arms race, and see what used to be a puddle of uranium refining waste product now a small hill or large heap.
 * Take a sombre moment in remembrance of the Cold War and the unfortunate nuclear arms race, and see what used to be a puddle of uranium refining waste product now a small hill or large heap.
 * Take a sombre moment in remembrance of the Cold War and the unfortunate nuclear arms race, and see what used to be a puddle of uranium refining waste product now a small hill or large heap.
 * Take a sombre moment in remembrance of the Cold War and the unfortunate nuclear arms race, and see what used to be a puddle of uranium refining waste product now a small hill or large heap.
 * Take a sombre moment in remembrance of the Cold War and the unfortunate nuclear arms race, and see what used to be a puddle of uranium refining waste product now a small hill or large heap.

Buy
Shopping in Sillamäe mostly means buying groceries and other everyday goods - if you want to go to shopping malls, head to Narva. There are some supermarkets northeast of the bus station and the highway exit including a Maxima and a Coop Maksimarket, and an indoor grocery market named Sillamäe Turg. In addition there are some shops shattered around town.



Eat










Drink




Sleep


In addition there seems to be individual apartments for rent through different online services.

Connect


All three Estonian operators offer 4G coverage in Sillamäe.

Go next

 * Narva – Estonia's eastern-most and third largest city, on the Narva River, which is the border with Russia. Famous for the Hermann castle, right opposite of the Ivangorod's castle, and the Kreenholm factories. Even though it might seem grey and dull.
 * Narva-Jõesuu – The beach side town of Narva on the Narva River.
 * Toila – A small coastal and historic resort town further west.
 * Jõhvi – The capital of the county, but rather uninteresting from a travellers point of view.