On my recent trip to Estonia, I wanted to see a bit more beyond the capital Tallinn, so my friend and I rented a car to drive around the countryside.

The most fun place we stumbled upon was the Museum of Soviet Vehicles. This vehicle graveyard is filled with hundreds of cars from Soviet times, trams, buses, ambulances, diggers and strange vehicles with caterpillars that seemed straight out of an episode of Thunderbirds.

You enter through a gate, triggering alarm lights on an old Soviet-era police car parked next to it. This is merely to draw your attention to the donation box on its hood. After leaving a couple of Euros, the lights go off and you’re free to explore the exhibition by yourself.

I thought the state of decay of the vehicles made it more interesting to visit than just a shiny car museum. I was reminded a bit of video game worlds like Fallout where rusty vehicles are often scattered throughout the landscape. It was fun climbing into the vehicles to look at their beautiful dashboards and white-on-black instruments.

Above: an amphibious vehicle

You can find the Museum of Soviet Vehicles in the small town of Järva-Jaani, about 1,5 hours outside of Tallinn.


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