Eesti Kaevandusmuuseum in Sillamäe

Piece of history. You are going underground to a real tunnels. Short, but very remembering trip with diggers train. Different machines from old era. It is inspiring to read about how people worked, and what was done. Little scary, when these machines are turned on with a loud sound, and though old and rusty they are working after all years!

Great atraction for all !!!

Interesting exhibitions, can easily spend 2 hours here. Ticket 20EUR

What an amazing museum and definitely worth a visit. The tour takes you into the mine, you learn all about the history and how shale oil is mined. You also get to see all the equipment actually tested in front of you and ride the mine cart.

Best food in the area.Good and fast service. Everyone is so nice and polite.

You do not need to be into mining to enjoy the museum, the exhibition takes you back in history, is very informative and should you opt for the underground tour also (you should definitely, it is an experienceyou get a quite good idea of the atmosphere working underground. The machinery on display is also worth checking out. And in the administrative house there are exhibition rooms that give you an intimate look into the life of a miner in 1960-s and 1970-s both on and off duty. In addition to the administrative and engineering side of running a mining complex. The nature around the museum is relaxing and the artificial hills make you somewhat understand the scope of underground mining. If you want to experience the whole museum you should you should reserve about 2-3 hours and at least 4 if you want to be extra thorough.

20 euros to enter might sound steep, but this was the best mine tour I had so far and Ive been on plenty. Estonia is the biggest miner if shale so you cant do better than this and the guide starts up the mining equipment, thats very cool and unique. The audio guide is a bit of a mess, dont wait until you get to the points, just listen to the commentary INA sequence while you walk along.

Great underground mine experience. You can try for 30 minutes the daily life of a miner

Probably on of the most interesting places to visit in Estonia and yet often misheard of.This shale oil mine was closed in 2001 and is now open to tourists. You can 8 meters below ground with a former miner who will even restart some machines to show you how extraction works. Worth a visit. On the way to the mine from Tallinn you can stop by Kivioli and admire the view from the slagheap.

Ive visited this place with every travel project so far. Super interesting and important place for Estonias history as well as todays economy. Also the guide speaks very cute English.

Nice little tour showing how coal mines worked in the past. You get to walk around with a guide who explains different aspects of the work done underground.

Like a trip into past... some 50 years or so. Administrative building with its authentic living quarters installation - that was cool! Third floor bar was like cherry on top of the cake :Respect.

Very interesting excusion underground crumpled up in an old train underground. Visiting the mine followed by ezplanation of guide. Highly recommend.

So great, exceeded expectations. We were with group and got real experiences.

The place where the fuel for Estonian electricity comes. Oil shale mining history.

Super cool museum. There is a tour down in the mining shafts with a great guide who once was working as a miner. Recommending 💯

I had a very good time here. The things in the tour were intresting and the tour guide was good too. The tour lasted about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Smaller than expected exhibition, but definitely worth to visit and understand the history of oil shale in Estonia. Taking the mining tour was very impressive, thinking of the people who used to work in this hard conditions.

Great museum. Especially the guided tour underground. The exhibition in the enrichment building needs renovation. There are broken or stolen items. Also sad that the visitors vandalize the machines, which stand outside.

Very interesting.

It s really interesting place to visit!

One of the most unique museums in Estonia! Definitely worth visiting.

Interesting tours ! You will get to know a lot abaut mining.

The highlight of our trip that we didnt even know we should visit! Please visit it if you are interested in industrial heritage. Super interesting!

Nice place. You get to ride with miners train. Guide shows how some of the mining equipment works.

A unique underground experience and a recently renovated interactive exhibition. Perfect for families and corporate events. The cafeteria part could use more variety though.

Wanted more walking in underground mine and less talking. Excursion takes about 1 hour. Family price - 45 EUR.

Truly remarkable experience and impressive mining museum. You can visit underground tunnels and see all the soviet machinery. Most of it is in good condition, and the tour guide was a top-notch guy. They provide you with a warm jacket and helmets; I warmly recommend to wear it because it gets chilly and damp down there. They also have a beautiful restaurant area. Additionally, you can rent a 4x4 with a driver and explore the mining slopes and hills like a boss.

A museum I wanted to visit for years. You can order underground excursion in group more than 10 person or join other group if there are any.

A glimpse into the world of mining in Eastern Estonia. I highly recommend to take the underground guided tour. And dont forget your warm clothes, the deeper you go under the ground the colder and damper it gets.Meeldejääv elamus :)

Unforgettable and great travel in geology and history

Very interesting place and very fun tour. Learned more about oil shale and mining history in Estonia.

Unfortunatly no tours in english, but a very good audio guide. But even if I didnt understand the Estonian guide he seems to do a great and very authentic job.

Amazing if you take the underground guided tour!!!

Underground guided tour was great. The quide speaks at least estonian, russian and finnish. Audio guides are available as well. The guide demonstraded mining tools and machines during the tour.

Great place if you want to get an insight on how minimg was done. The tour to go down to the mines was 17€, the tour takes around an hour. Its cold down there, but they will give you a warm jacket. Youll see old machines, get to see and hear them work and get an insight on how it all worked. The tour guides have usually worked in mines as well, therefore its interesting to hear their stories how it all actually was.

Good place to learn about minig in estonia and also cool place to be in hot sommer timed

Really cool and interactive museum. Very interesting exhibition.

This museum is well worth the long drive from Tallinn.The top attraction - underground mining tour usually guided by retired miner.

This place I recommend to visit obligatory. Incredible museum no alternative for real travellers and stalkers. Here is available real shale mine with all working equipment inside. In outside you can see gigantic machines and parts of them. Here is unique chance to walk around of mind exavations. Inhale the air feel atmospere it can tell you a lot...Phone to administrator before your visit and negotiate about excursion to mine. It is not always open.

Went for an alpinism training, had excellent two days outdoors. Hills and terrain nearby offer very good hiking opportunities and nice views over tens of kilometres. The mining museum itself is also very interesting both outdoors and under ground.

An actual mine. It was awesome - the introduction, the clothing (yes- they give you special coats and safety helmets), the decent into the mine past the insane amount of machinery and the underground electric train ride to the other side of the mine. The old soviet machinery that has been down there for decades still works and they turn it on. Keep in mind - its wet there, so kaloshes are recommended. All-in-all a great adventure back in time, whete men were not scared of work and did not post pictures on instagram.

Very interesting museum with a lot authentic attractions and material. Good audio guide with plenty languaes including estonian, latvian, lithuanian, russian and english. If you would like to understand how miners worked in a previous century defenetily go there.

Highly recommended. Call them to book a tour before going there.

A must visit museum! Tour guide was a guy who worked there for 40 years. He has lots of different stories to tell if you ask him. In the beginning youll be shown a short video to better understand shale oil industry. After that the real fun begins. You will descent into the mine and watch various equipment in operation. The guide will explain how equipment and mining process changed throughout the time.

Worth visiting on a rainy day. Plan some 3 hours. Tour is 1.5 hours (check schedule in advance): movie about the mine with commentaries by former employee, then underground visit (includes short train ride, demo of some mining machines). Inside building expo about mining, energy usages, refining of shale. Outside - bulldozers, BELaz dump truck, underground train.

Very educational if you want to learn more about shale oil production.

Very interesting place with old mining equipment demonstration and activating them. If group at least 10 persons then tickets for entrance and no fee for guide. Must see place!

As a tourist, this place wasnt terribly interesting. Just about every plaque had English translations and other ones. The issue for me came when my group went on tour in the mines and it was only in Estonian. While my Estonian is good, I of course had trouble understanding every detail in the underground but I was still entertained to know that this was how people used to mine.

A very interesting place to visit and leanr about how Estonia produces electricity