Location, climate, and nature
With an area of 45 000 sq. km, Estonia is larger for example than Slovenia, Holland, Denmark or Switzerland; a little smaller, in other words, than New Hampshire and Massachusetts combined. Estonia stretches 350 km from east to west and 240 km from north to south. Sea islands form one tenth and lakes about one twentieth of Estonia's territory. Conversely, Estonia's population ranks amongst the smallest in the world: as of January 2000, an estimated 1 361 242 people live in Estonia — a density of only 30.2 people per sq. km.

Tallinn, with its medieval city centre, is Estonia's capital. Approximately a third of the nation (398 434 people) live in Tallinn and about 67% of the population reside in cities in general. The larger of these in descending order are: the university town of Tartu (101 140 inhabitants); the industrial border town of Narva (68 117); and the summer capital Parnu (45 040) — the popular vacation destination on the south-western coast, where summer air and water temperatures can reach those of the Mediterranean region. The closest major city to Tallinn is the Finnish capital Helsinki, located at a distance of 85 km on the opposite shore of the Gulf of Finland. Riga is only one day's drive away (307 km). It's also a relatively short trip to St Petersburg (395 km) and Stockholm (405 km).

As in other northern countries, seasons vary widely in Estonia. The length of the longest day in summer is over 19 hours, while the shortest winter day lasts only six hours. It is not completely dark at night from the beginning of May until the end of July. Estonia, on the coast of the Baltic Sea, is at the same latitude in Europe as central Sweden and the northern tip of Scotland. In North America, the middle latitude of Estonia passes through the Labrador peninsula and southern coast of Alaska. However, due to the influence of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf Stream, the weather in Estonia is considerably milder than the continental climate characteristic of the same latitude. The temperature in the summer months (June–September) is typically 15…18?C; in winter, –4…–5?C. Estonian weather offers many surprises. Temperatures may fluctuate by 20? C; in the early morning the th