Read Visit Estonia’s recent interview with Neil here.
For over 20 years, the Bradt Guide to Estonia has been the indispensable companion for expats living in the country as well as for tourists on shorter visits. The 8th edition, published in September 2021, has expanded in line with all the new attractions across the country that now have to be included. In the North-East, there is the restored castle in Narva together with its reopened bastions looking sternly across the border to Russia. Hiiumaa now boasts the Wind Tower, which has been chosen for the cover of the book. Many smaller attractions have caught the author’s eye, such as the Weighing-Machine Museum in Mustvee or the swing that takes visitors in and out of Latvia. How different Estonia now is from 2014, when the last edition appeared. The Bradt Guide has always moved on at the pace set by Estonia so readers are assured of up-to-date information from throughout the country and its islands.
Neil Taylor was from 1975 to 2005 Director of Regent Holidays, a British tour company that has specialised in travel to the Baltic nations since they regained their independence in 1991. Now he writes and broadcasts on travel trade topics and is active in the British Guild of Travel Writers. In 2000 Neil was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the BGTW, in 2011 he was awarded the President of Estonia’s medal for services to tourism and in 2021 he received an MBE for his outstanding contribution to the UK’s bilateral relationship with Estonia.
Juhan-Markus Laats grew up in Soviet Estonia, before moving to Cambridge and then back to newly independent Estonia. He studied political science at the University of Tartu before spending four years on the English-language news desk at Estonian radio. Since then, he has founded one of the largest
apartment rental companies in the Baltics and created an innovative learning tool that is now used in schools
all over Estonia. He lives a stone’s throw away from Toompea Castle, the seat of the Estonian Parliament.