Extending over a deeply indented stretch of coastline, the Lahemaa National Park (Lahemaa rahvuspark) embraces 725 square kilometres of the most varied and beautiful terrain in the country. Its most distinctive features are the four evenly spaced peninsulas sticking out into the Baltic Sea, each fringed with custard-coloured beaches, tawny reed beds and mossy forests. Around 5–10km inland is a limestone plateau covered with juniper heath, peat bog, forests of alder, ash and elm and patches of potato and rye-growing farmland.

Lahemaa National Park covers a large area and you are best advised to aim for a specific part of the park - or devote 4-7 days to exploring the whole lot.

North Estonian Glint

Dividing the plain from the plateau is the North Estonian Glint, a limestone escarpment that runs from east to west through the middle of the park – although it’s so smothered by soil and vegetation that it looks more like a gentle slope than a cliff and in some parts of the park is hardly visible at all. A more conspicuous geological phenomenon is the profusion of so-called erratic boulders, isolated lumps of rock strewn all over this part of Estonia by retreating glaciers some 12,000 years ago.

Park history