Put Estonia on your travel bucket list for 2025 and don’t forget to add the Saaremaa Island to your itinerary! Estonia’s largest island is well worth visiting.
We will help you get the most out of your visit. And if you are still not sure, we give you 10 good reasons to visit Estonia that will change your mind!
This post is a travel guide to Saaremaa Island, a place rich in history known for its spa, beaches and Eastern Vikings. We hope you will find this information helpful on your travels!
Location
In the Baltic Sea, south of the Hiiumaa Island and West of the Muhu Island which is also the entrance point to Saaremaa.
How to get to Saaremaa
To explore Estonia’s largest island, you can either arrive by bus, car, plane or bicycle. If you want to have the freedom of movement and stop wherever you like, renting a car or bringing your campervan is the best option.
Estonia is a small country so you can cover many places in a short time, if you want to. Discover Rakvere which is one of the popular day trips from Tallinn and don’t miss the hidden gems in Southern Estonia (The Karilatsi Open Air Museum was one of our favorite places to visit) or Tartu – Estonia’s second largest city. The Town Hall Square is our favorite place to be, no matter what the season.
You can also take a bus to the island and then plan day trips from Kuressaare – Saaremaa’s capital. The island is relatively compact so you could cover all the main sights in 2-3 days if you planned well.
Now it is an island so you will need to board a ferry to get there. The journey literally takes no more than 27 minutes and a single adult ticket costs about 5 Euro (around 5.50 USD). You will also need to pay extra for your vehicle (about 12 Euros/13 USD).
There are also direct flights from Tallinn to Kuressaare so if you manage to see all Tallinn’s sights and still have time to explore Estonia a bit more, keep in mind that the flight only takes 40 minutes and is reasonably priced (starting from 30 Euros/33 USD in summer). As of summer 2024, there are 2 flights per day, every day of the week.
Saaremaa by bicycle
Whether you arrive on your own bike or rent one in Kuressaare, know that this island is perfect for cycling. There are many asphalted bike paths that will bring you to sandy beaches. You can also cycle on the main road as there is barely any traffic and the roads are flat!
What to do in Saaremaa
Kuressaare – A well-known spa resort town with a quaint Old Town, episcopal castle, kid-friendly beach and plenty of restaurants and cafes to taste the local cuisine. All the points of interest are within walking distance, but you can also rent a bike or electric scooter if needed.
Kaali Meteorite Crater – A 50-minute drive southwest from the Kuivatsu ferry port or a 20-minute drive northeast from Kuressaare will bring you to a site where thousands of years ago a meteorite fell creating several holes in the earth. The largest crater is 110 meters (360 feet) wide and 22 meters (72 feet) deep and is easily accessible by a short walk from a nearby parking area. It is free of charge!
Note: There is also a Museum of Meteoritics and Limestone right next to the car park. It has pieces of the meteorite on display. To enter you pay a small fee. I cannot remember exactly but it was less than 2 Euros (2.20 USD).
Sõrve Lighthouse – This originally a wooden lighthouse that was shortly replaced with stone and had to be completely rebuilt after World War II. Today, this concrete structure is 52 meters (170 feet) high with a viewing platform at 45 meters. To get there you will need to climb almost 250 steps but on a clear day, you can see Latvia (Estonia’s neighbor) so it might be worth it!
Angla Windmills – A group of well-preserved windmills in the northern part of the island is just 20 minutes away from the Meteorite Crater site. For the price of 8 Euros (adult), you can roam the grounds, climb up to the windmills to see what they looked like inside, or visit a large collection of old tools and every-day-use items. When traveling Saaremaa with kids, this is a nice spot to be. Wooden cars, live animals, small pond and picnic areas make this place very inviting.
Tip: Have a meal in the Angla restaurant and enjoy some traditional dishes! We highly recommend this place.
Panga Cliff – Saaremaa’s highest cliff, located on the west shore of the island rises up to 21 meters (69 feet) from the sea and stretches along 3 kilometers (1.9 miles). This place was turned into a 3-kilometer (1.9 mile) hiking trail where you can see ruins of military installations and trenches from the Soviet Union era.
The Ö/Õ statue – The people living on the Saaremaa Island are easily recognizable by the mainland Estonians for their dialect. They don’t pronounce the letter “õ” which is a standard vowel in the Estonian alphabet. Instead, they use “ö”. The 5-meter (16-feet) high statue marks this speech “difference” shortly after you cross the bridge from Muhu Island.
These are without a doubt the top attractions on the island!
Tips for Saaremaa
- There are refreshments sold on the ferry so you can grab coffee, juice or some light meals if you want to. The ride is very fast, you board, get to the main deck with seats and refreshments and before you know it, they call you back to board your vehicle.
- Lux Express Bus will bring you from Tallinn to Kuressaare town on the island of Saaremaa. Their website is in English and is easy to navigate. The bus tickets can cost from 10 to 20 Euros (11-22 USD as of July 2024), depending on the day. The journey takes 4 hours and includes a ferry ticket as well. All the buses are air-conditioned with a toilet and free Wi-Fi on board.
- Go Bus and Estonian Lines are other bus companies that run between Saaremaa and main Estonian cities like Tallinn, Pärnu or Viljandi.
- If you are traveling to Saaremaa from Riga, you will need to change a bus in Parnu, Estonia’s summer capital.
- The Tourist Information Centre is open from Monday to Saturday in Summer and Monday to Friday off season. You can easily find it on the main square right opposite the water fountains, in the Town Hall Building. The opening hours vary but it is usually open from 9 in the morning and closes 5 in the afternoon.
Places to eat
Angla Windmill Park Restaurant, Angla – offers traditional food of good quality. Soups are hearty and large portions, very tasty. Seating is inside as well as outside. Plenty of parking spaces outside.
Saaremaa Veski Restaurant, Kuressaare – This unique establishment is in an old windmill and offers a good variety of local dishes. You can try wild game, smoked fish or various beers made with local berries. Seating is possible inside as well as outside.
Ku-Kuu Restaurant – Located in Kuressaare Kuursaal, it is a beautifully decorated food place right next to the castle offering local flavors with a focus on fish. There is always a Fish of the Day menu as well as a regular menu with duck, lamb, salmon just to name a few
What we think
We liked our short 3-day trip to Saaremaa and if we could, we would have extended our stay. Kuressaare is a nice little town with a spa history so if you can, book yourself a day in the spa.
We also enjoyed the half-day trip to Sorve Lighthouse. I personally found the entrance fee of 7 Euros (adult) quite steep for what it was, but you don’t have to climb up there. It is a lot of steps to climb just to see the views.
You can walk or relax on the beach instead or just have a coffee in the little coffee shop. Part of the entrance ticket is also an exhibition on 2 floors about lighthouses in Estonia, shipwrecks and other maritime things.
As for the Kuressaare castle – we liked the outside space a lot. Plenty of opportunities for beautiful photos. The inside was not that impressive, and it was quite confusing at first.
You need to start in the souvenir shop which we did not understand at the beginning, but a member of staff explained to us where to go. If it was not for him, we would have missed half of it.
There is a small kids’ playground outside so if you are coming with kids, this will keep them occupied for a while.
Angla Windmills is a great place to visit but again it costs 8 Euro per person so it can get quite expensive when traveling with a large family.
There is also a restaurant on site which you can enter without having to pay for the entrance and its basement and upper floor have amazing collections of old items of everyday use as well as tools…
If you pay the entrance fee, you can climb up to see the inside of the windmills or just sit next to the small pond there. It is the perfect place to visit with kids as they also have some small live animals there.
When planning a trip to Baltic countries, Estonia’s capital city is often the main stop on travelers’ itineraries to Estonia. For that reason, I am including some more useful resources for you worth checking out:
