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…
Must-see attractions in Western Estonia & the Islands
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Western Estonia & the Islands
This fairy-tale wooden confection, painted pale green and white, sits plumb on the waterfront, surrounded by rose gardens. Stepping into the airy spa hall…
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St Elizabeth’s Lutheran Church
Western Estonia & the Islands
Consecrated in 1750, this dignified, rust-coloured Lutheran church was named for Russian Empress Yelizaveta Petrovna, who gifted Pärnu's Lutherans 8000…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
This museum covers 11,000 years of the Pärnu region's history, from prehistoric relics, right up to a reconstruction of a Soviet-era apartment. Pride of…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Despite limited English captions, this small museum in a former Soviet border guard station is quite engrossing, providing insight into the battles fought…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Showcasing the works of Estonian-Swedish illustrator Ilon Wikland, who spent her childhood in Haapsalu and is best known for her illustrations for the…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
You can learn more about Kihnu Jõnn (the locally famous skipper who sailed all the world's oceans) and the island's unique history and culture at this…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Built by Catherine the Great in 1790, Saaremaa's oldest Orthodox church has twin steeples and an impressive dolomite and wrought-iron gate. A faint image…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
This working ostrich farm is a decent diversion for families, with opportunities to feed the birds, learn about their habits and buy feather dusters, eggs…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
This quaint museum has relics, photos, old fishing nets and a marvellous tapestry tracing the 1000-year history of Swedes in Estonia, up to their escape…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Tucked away within pine forest, Tuhkana is one of Saaremaa’s best sandy beaches, due in large part to its remoteness. To get here from Leisi, head west…
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St Catherine’s Orthodox Church
Western Estonia & the Islands
Built in 1768, this superb baroque church is named after Russian empress Catherine the Great, while also name-checking the early Christian martyr. If it's…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Local craft and artworks adorn the walls and shelves of this meticulously restored thatched longhouse in Koguva.
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Schloss Fall & Keila-Joa Castle
Western Estonia & the Islands
Flat Estonia isn't known for its waterfalls and, at 6m, this one in Meremõisa isn't all that high. It's particularly picturesque, however, partly due to…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Estonia has one of the world’s highest concentrations of documented meteor craters. At Kaali, 18km north of Kuressaare, is a 100m-wide, 22m-deep,…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
Located in an old limestone lodge that once formed part of the local manor, and making up one-quarter of the dispersed Hiiumaa Museum, this small…
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Western Estonia & the Islands
On the western edge of Käina, the early-19th-century wood-and-thatch birthplace and childhood home of Rudolf Tobias (1873–1918), Estonia’s 'first…
