Virtual Visit: Tallinn, Estonia

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On the shores of the Baltic Sea, equidistant from Stockholm and St. Petersburg, Tallinn came of age in step with modern technology. Estonia gained independence from Soviet rule in 1991, the same period as the earliest days of the internet, and the country’s young leaders embraced technology as both an economic and democratic source of liberation. First-graders are now taught to code, and internet access is considered a human right. When the Baltic tech hub began offering digital nomad visas, Tallinn, with a local population just under half a million, quickly became ranked as one of the best cities in the world for remote workers to set up shop.

Estonia’s power grid and government uses blockchain technology, with roughly 99 percent of services digitized. Keep an eye out for self-driving cars, which are legal here.

The birthplace of Skype, Estonia has the cheapest internet in the world, with free Wi-Fi available in nearly all public spaces, including beaches and forests. But residents still have a close relationship with nature, and often unplug entirely on weekends and holidays.

Wired magazine named Estonia “the world’s most digitally advanced society.”