Romania recently claimed the world’s fastest Internet speeds. Estonia also likes to see itself on the forefront of tech.
Cluj is the tech hub for Romania, making house prices unreachable. There was a joke, after Elon Musk bought Twitter, that he’d use the rest of his billions to buy two apartments in Cluj.
Tallinn has a neighbourhood of abandoned flats worth a million euros each.
Cluj is near a lot of forests. Between a quarter and a third of Romanian territory is forested. While many forests (and bears) are further East, Cluj is more accessible to forests than other cities in Romania.
Estonia advertises that it is fifty percent forest. Even in Tallinn itself, when walking through the museum district of Kadriog park, you may feel like you are walking through the forest. But half an hour out, you can go hiking somewhere where civilisation is invisible, and inaudible.
Tallinn is connected to Helsinki and other cities by boat. While Cluj is on a river, travel outside the city is much slower.
Both cities have small airports, and somewhat reliable bus transportation. Buses do not tend to run in the middle of the night, and to get to many destinations you will have to get a connecting flight. Therefore, we didn’t see any direct flights between Cluj and Tallinn.
While Tallinn’s airport is noticeably smaller, it does claim to be the coziest in Europe. Despite its small size, there are plenty of things to do when you wait for a flight, including checking your reflexes, playing ping pong, or sleeping in chairs that are almost hammock like. Cluj’s airport is less comfortable (well, we haven’t tried the executive section yet.)
Some of the major differences? I see more car accidents in Cluj. I am more likely to hear a siren here in Cluj. And there are more beggars in Cluj. I didn’t notice a single beggar in Tallinn.
However, Tallinn, like Cluj, also has its share of casinos and other buildings you might wish to avoid walking past. The restaurants in Tallinn are more expensive, but the wages are not necessarily higher.
Both cities have multiple universities and plenty of students.
Both cities have picturesque old towns, where tourists can find interesting stories about their pasts.
Both cities get very cold, but Tallinn cold is where you have a pile of snow higher than most humans. Tallinn roads can be extremely slippery in winter, and winter is an off-season for tourism. Cluj is too hot in summer.
Food, theatre, museums and a few other things are noticeably cheaper in Cluj. However, museums are noticeably larger and more intricate in Tallinn.
Higher food prices in Tallinn could be because Estonia uses the Euro, where Cluj Euros are used only for prices of things like rent, legal services, and accounting. Where both countries use euros, the prices are closer.
Tallinn uses Estonian and Russian. Russian word for yes sounds like the Romanian word, but other than that, it is hard to get by in Romanian with the Russian population (however, if you listen closely, you will eventually hear Romanians in Tallinn.) While Estonian is supposed to be related to Hungarian, the similarities are not close enough to pick up a language without study. (Although a basic knowledge of Hungarian grammar will help you understand Estonian grammar.)
Although it seems easier to find vegan ingredients and baked goods in the supermarkets in Cluj (they are labelled “produse de post”), it seems easier to find vegan options in the restaurants in Tallinn.
If you are not a vegan, you will find more choices of pizza in Cluj, and more hamburgers in Tallinn.
Which city would you rather go to? Both are in Schengen zone now, so you can visit both, and get your own opinion.