During the 13th Youth Song and Dance Festival from 30 June to 2 July, the city of Tallinn will have special buses leaving the city centre, make some public transport lines run more frequently and create designated parking areas for bicycles and scooters. Tallinn’s public transport is free for all passengers during the big celebration – from 30 June to 2 July.

“Tallinn has been making preparations for a long time so that moving around in the city would be as easy as possible for all participants and visitors during this summer’s Celebration,” said Deputy Mayor Vladimir Svet. “We have been working with the Song and Dance Celebration’s foundation, the police, different city institutions and special partners to find the best solution for transportation and traffic management during the period. The schedule for construction work in the city centre as well as the redirected public transport takes into account the participants of the Song and Dance Celebration as well as the route for the procession. We recommend participants and visitors use public transport to get to and from the location of the Celebration. In addition to making bus, trolley and tram lines run more frequently, we added new bus lines 80 and 81. We are working together with several private car park owners so that people coming to the Celebration can park their cars in the car park and get to the Celebration area using public transport. At the end of the Song Celebration, there will be 50 trams waiting for visitors on Poska Street. They will head towards the City Centre every few minutes. During the Celebration – 30 June to 2 July – public transport is free for everyone in Tallinn. This isn’t just for the participants of the Celebration but everyone visiting Tallinn.”

The Manager of the Estonian Youth Song and Dance Celebration Foundation Margus Toomla said that the grand event will bring more than 30,000 young singers and dancers to Tallinn. “The dancers will arrive in the capital on 27 June, to begin with the rehearsals at the practice fields, and singers will arrive on 30 June,” said Toomla. “So during the week, we will have thousands of young people and children moving around the city going to the practice areas, accommodations and Celebration areas. We have to take into account that many of them are not used to traffic in a major city. We ask everyone to be vigilant while driving. We also recommend that people in the city and visitors coming from further away reserve extra time for travelling because of the increased traffic volume.”

The Dance and the Song Celebrations have not organised their own parking. During the Dance Celebration, Juhkentali Street will be closed to traffic, and during the Song Celebration, several streets around the Song Festival Grounds will be closed. Also, cars cannot park on Smuuli and Pirita roads.

On 2 July, the day of the Song Celebration, visitors can park their cars for free in Lasnamäe at the outdoor car parks at Tondiraba Ice Rink, Bauhaus, Lasnamäe Prisma, Lasnamäe Centrum or Ülemiste Centre. In the City Centre, the T1 car park is open for visitors. In Haabersti, people can leave their cars at the Rocca al Mare Shopping Centre car park. Public transport between the car parks and the Song Festival Grounds is provided.

People can also come to the Song Celebration by bicycle and scooter. There are designated parking areas for them. The designated bicycle parking areas are located on Pirita Road by the Russalka Memorial and by the other entrances to the Song Festival Grounds. There’s room for several hundred bicycles, but bring your own bicycle locks. It’s prohibited to ride an electric scooter by the Song Festival Grounds as well as to park there. The closest parking areas for rental scooters are in front of the Russalka Memorial and next to the car park at Maarjamäe Castle.

The Deputy Mayor emphasises that despite the measures to reduce traffic, people have to take into account possible traffic halts. “Depending on the day and time, there will be temporary traffic restrictions in different locations,” said Svet. “These will mostly affect the areas around the Kalev Central Stadium and the Song Festival Grounds and the route for the procession. It pays to plan your routes in advance and familiarise yourself with the traffic management. Operative information about traffic congestions is always available through the Waze application.”

Exact information about traffic management during the 13th Youth Song and Dance Celebration is available on the webpage tallinn.ee/laulu-tantsupeo-liikluskorraldus.