Tallinn
This sprawling ethnographic and architectural complex comprises 80 historic Estonian buildings, plucked from across the country and resurrected in…
Must-see attractions in Estonia
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Majestic Kuressaare Castle stands facing the sea at the southern end of the town, on an artificial island defended by stone-faced earth bastions and…
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Estonia
Begun by the Danes at the end of the 13th century and strengthened by successive owners including Germans, Swedes and Russians, this castle, along with…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Koguva is an exceptionally well preserved, traditional Muhu village, now protected as an open-air museum. One ticket allows you to wander through an old…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Pärnu’s long, broad, sandy beach – sprinkled with volleyball courts, pop-up bars, cafes and changing cubicles – is the city’s main draw in summer. A…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Pärnu's former Communist Party headquarters now houses one of Estonia's edgiest cultural spaces, established in 1992 as the country's first museum of…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
A twitcher’s paradise, Matsalu is a prime migration and breeding ground for the Baltic and Europe generally: some 282 bird species have been counted here…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Haapsalu’s crumbling heart is its bishop’s castle, which was western Estonia’s centre of command from the 13th to the 16th centuries but now stands in…
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Lahemaa National Park
Fully restored Palmse Manor is the showpiece historic building of Lahemaa National Park, housing the visitor centre in its former stables. The pretty…
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Tallinn
Boasting a broad collection of rare goat and sheep species, plus around 350 other varieties of feathered, furry and four-legged friends (including lions,…
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Lahemaa National Park
Known as the 'Captains’ Village', from 1884 to 1931 tiny Käsmu was home to a marine school that churned out ship captains. At one stage it was said that…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Southern Kassari narrows to a promontory with some unusual vegetation and ends in the thin, 3km spit of land known as Sääre Tirp. An end-of-the-world kind…
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Estonia
Oru Park was built around a grand palace in 1899 by Grigory Yeliseyev, at the time one of Russia's richest merchants. In 1935 it became the summer palace…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Much of the beautiful and rarely visited western coast of the Tagamõisa Peninsula is protected as part of Vilsandi National Park, including the Harilaid…
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Estonia
Narva Museum occupies the Hermann Tower and east wing of the castle. Climb the tower's 51m to a wooden viewing gallery, checking out the exhibits on each…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
In a pretty setting southeast of Kihelkonna, this early-18th-century farm has been preserved in its entirety, complete with thatched-roof wooden…
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Lahemaa National Park
Housed in a 19th-century forestry office, with displays on Lahemaa's flora and fauna, outdoor exhibits including a plant trail, hay barn and ice-cellar…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
The 3km-long peninsula south of Rumpo, plus the 30 islets in Hullo Bay, are protected as the Vormsi Landscape Reserve. It's a haven for rare lichens and…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Kuressaare's jauntiest statue, created in 2002, features Saaremaa's legendary gigantic hero, Suur (meaning 'the great') Töll and his wife, Piret, carrying…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
The great hulking shell of this burnt-out, 14th-century Cistercian monastery practically insists on exploration. Stairs lead up into the ruins, where you…
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Estonia
Built between 1885 and 1895, the five green onion-domed towers of Pühtitsa Convent, crowning Kuremäe (Crane Mountain), are visible for miles. Murals by…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Occupying the keep of Kuressaare Castle since the late 19th century, this museum is devoted to Saaremaa’s nature and history. A large part of the fun is…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Dating from 1874, this 43m lighthouse watches over Tahkuna Peninsula’s northwest tip. Beyond the lighthouse stands an eerie memorial to the victims of the…
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Estonia
Originally a Danish stronghold of the 13th century, Rakvere’s star attraction is a hulking, atmospheric semi-ruin that now aims to transport visitors back…
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Lahemaa National Park
The photogenically tumbledown, neoclassical manor house at Kolga dates from 1642, but was largely rebuilt between 1768 and 1820 by the wealthy Stenbock…
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Lahemaa National Park
It's extraordinary that an obscure, remote village near the top of the Pärispea peninsula should be home to one of the country's best galleries, yet…
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Lahemaa National Park
Completed in 1753, this pretty pink-and-white baroque mansion is surrounded by glorious gardens (which are free to visit), encompassing a lake, numerous…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Pöide, 3km south of the main highway, was the Saaremaa headquarters of the German Knights of the Sword and this fortress-church, built in the 13th and…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Founded in 1957, this reserve covers an area of 26 sq km, with a 26m observation tower at Saaremaa’s highest point, Raunamägi (a vertigo-inducing 54m)…
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Lahemaa National Park
First mentioned in 1465, this fishing village has many restored or reconstructed traditional buildings, including fishing sheds on the rocky point and an…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Charge up those camera batteries: this is the site of the largest and most photogenic grouping of wooden windmills on the islands. By the early 16th…
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St Catherine's Lutheran Church, Karja
Western Estonia & the Islands
The pagan and Christian meet in this fortress-like 14th-century church. Outside there’s an interesting panel about pre-Christian symbols with particular…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
There's no electricity supply to this pretty, whitewashed, thatch-roofed, Lutheran chapel (1801) at the eastern end of Kassari island, meaning that…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
With its pyramid-like base and stout square tower, the inland Kõpu lighthouse is the best-known landmark on Hiiumaa, and supposedly the third oldest in…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Kihelkonna's tall, austere, early-German church dates from before 1280. It’s dark and gloomy inside, partly due to the wooden supports holding up the roof…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Built in the 1830s, this handsome, 60m-long timber house once lodged the directors of the Hiiu-Kärdla textile factory, burnt out in WWII. It's now perhaps…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Hidden away in the forest at Malvaste, 2km north of the Kärdla–Kõrgessaare road, this farm complex, founded by Swedes deported in 1781, is preserved as…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Broad, shallow, reedy Haapsalu Bay is a key habitat for migrating waterfowl in Estonia, and is listed as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance…
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Estonia
Thought to have been a sacred site to pre-Christian Estonians, this 23-hectare expanse of mature oak and lime forest is a wonderful place for a leafy…
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Estonia
Dating from around 1430, although it’s been damaged and repaired several times since, this lovely, whitewashed Lutheran church has a 62m steeple (a 19th…
