Braavo Spa Hotel

The Bravvo Hotel is a little odd, but it’s clean, and I chose it specifically for the Baltic spa. It delivered! The spa is a cavernous, gleaming white-tiled space with water coming from all sorts of spouts and jets for different kinds of massage. There are several pools, three types of saunas, banana lounges and a full bar. You’ll also see a striking range of unselfconscious bodies. It has every possible temperature and version of H2O except actual ice. Tallinn at its finest!

Braavo was our choice for its location: the old town’s main square is just five minutes away, the airport is a 15 minute drive and the railway station a 15 minute walk. The hotel is clean, with very spacious rooms that look like they’ve been refurbished recently. Breakfast was good, with a nice range of bread, cereals, fruit and vegetables. The hotel is part of a larger spa and sports centre. We didn’t use the spa or pools, but they seemed good quality, and local people use them too, which I don’t mind. From the outside, arriving through a busy parking lot, it doesn’t feel very welcoming. Still, don’t let earlier negative reviews put you off. I’d recommend it for good quality at a good price.

The spa is the best part. It’s busy with older people and some funny water aerobics classes, but there are about 10 pools, so the kids can turn it into a treasure hunt and quickly join in the fun. The hotel sits right at the edge of the old town. It’s a basic, no-frills place, but the value is amazing for what we paid, especially travelling with a kid. The room was big and renovated, had air conditioning and was cleaned daily. Nobody promises a cozy romantic getaway here, but you get what you pay for. If we want a good-value stay with a pool and breakfast included, we’d definitely come back.

We booked a more expensive room, which was bigger and had an extra bed. The spa and gym were included in the price. There’s a large gym where it’s easy to get a workout in. The spa is amazing, with a swimming pool, two kids’ pools, a regular pool, two indoor jacuzzis and an outdoor one. There’s a +90°C sauna, an infrared sauna, a Finnish sauna at +100°C, a men’s sauna near the locker-room shower at 105°C, a salt sauna, a steam sauna, a Jooga sauna/sanarium, a Japanese sauna with a 40°C hot pool, and a cold pool at +16. There’s also a lounge for cooling down, and you can order food and drinks, including alcohol. For non-guests, spa access costs 12 Eur for 2 hours or 14 Eur for the whole day. Breakfast was really good, with bacon, eggs, toast, coffee and tea, and different juices.