Keila Waterfall
A broad six-metre fall inside a manor park half an hour from Tallinn, with suspension bridges over the gorge and a small hydro station still on the bank.
Keila-Joa is the easiest serious waterfall to reach from Tallinn, and the one most likely to surprise people who assumed Estonia had nothing of the sort. The Keila river drops about six metres over a limestone step some sixty metres wide, in a wooded gorge that was landscaped into a manor park in the nineteenth century.
What you actually see
A wide, evenly spread curtain of dark water over a straight ledge, with the river running out through a shallow gorge below. Two suspension footbridges cross the water downstream, which is where most of the photographs are taken from, and paths run along both banks under old trees.
A small hydroelectric station sits beside the fall and still operates. The manor house above the park - a white neo-Gothic block from the 1830s - has been restored and gives the whole site an oddly formal frame for a piece of wild river.
When to go
- April - meltwater and the strongest flow.
- September to October - the park turns, and the contrast of dark water against the trees is the best of the year.
- Winter - partial ice on the ledge, and quiet.
- Midsummer - lowest water; still worth the walk for the park rather than the fall.
Honest expectations
Six metres is not tall. The appeal here is the width and the setting, not the drop - this is a river feature you walk around for an hour, not a landmark you travel for. It is also close enough to Tallinn to be busy on warm weekends.
The paths on the far bank are rooty and can be slick after rain, and the steps down from the manor terrace ice up badly in winter.
Nearby
The coast at Lohusalu and the Pakri peninsula cliffs are both a short drive west. Tallinn is under forty minutes back east.
Opening times, ticket prices and seasonal closures change - check the official source before you go: official site.