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
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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)…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
