On the western edge of town, beyond the train station, this shady park has a popular beachfront which, despite being a bit swampy, attracts plenty of sunseekers. There's a 3km and a 5km walking path through the forest, and in summer there's a cafe and a kiosk that rents rowboats. To get to the beach, follow the signs towards Fra Mare Thalasso Spa and keep going.
Paralepa Forest Park
Western Estonia & the Islands
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
28.58 MILES
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…
14.83 MILES
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…
0.85 MILES
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…
28.68 MILES
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…
8.5 MILES
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…
29.73 MILES
The great hulking shell of this burnt-out, 14th-century Cistercian monastery practically insists on exploration. Stairs lead up into the ruins, where you…
25.09 MILES
There's no electricity supply to this pretty, whitewashed, thatch-roofed, Lutheran chapel (1801) at the eastern end of Kassari island, meaning that…
27.85 MILES
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…
Nearby Western Estonia & the Islands attractions
1. Railway & Communication Museum
0.64 MILES
Haapsalu’s attractive former train station, with its wooden-lace ornamentation and grand colonnade, opened in 1907 to transport the Russian nobility to…
0.85 MILES
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…
0.88 MILES
Erected to commemorate the visits of Tchaikovsky to Haapsalu, this stone bench is inscribed with the first few notes of his VI Symphony. There's also an…
0.9 MILES
Nineteenth-century Russian toffs, like their counterparts in Victorian England and Paris’ belle époque, liked nothing more than a good see-and-be-seen…
0.92 MILES
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…
0.97 MILES
Built in 1775, Haapsalu's former town hall now houses a charming little museum with displays on the history of the resort town, regional history, a re…
0.97 MILES
Showcasing the works of Estonian-Swedish illustrator Ilon Wikland, who spent her childhood in Haapsalu and is best known for her illustrations for the…
8. Museum of the Estonian Swedes
0.99 MILES
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…