The article discusses the renewed importance of air-raid shelters or sheltering sites in contemporary times, acknowledging insights from the conflict in Ukraine and the historical neglect of shelter maintenance since the Cold War. In later years, a knowledge gap on understanding the role of air-raid shelters has developed among younger generations, and a full war in Europe requiring air-raid shelters was almost unthinkable for many, especially in Western Europe. Background history and today’s practices concerning air-raid shelters in Estonia and Norway is explored, and experiments are performed to develop training for handling potential air-raid situations. To examine perceptions on need to seek shelter during air raid attacks and the perceived preparations needed for staying in such shelters, two workshops were conducted in Estonia and in Germany, each with 12 participants. The participants were introduced to the topic of air-raid shelters through fact-based presentations about air-raid shelters in Norway and Estonia, and assigned two tasks, to use the internet to find information about public air-raid shelters in their country and assess the quality of the information, and to identify and go to the closest safe place to seek shelter from the workshop site, while discussing essential items to bring. Furthermore, the distinction between shelter, bunker and sheltering site and their requirements is discussed. Finally, it is noted that the participants seemed to rely to a large degree on IT infrastructure and mobile communications, which may be unavailable in basements and shelters, or disrupted.