Pärnu Beach

Pärnu has been marketing itself as Estonia's summer capital since the nineteenth century, and the beach is why. It is a wide arc of fine pale sand backed by a park of pines, with water so shallow that you can walk a long way out and still be waist-deep - which also means it warms up faster than anywhere else on the Estonian coast.

What you actually see

Sand, a lot of it, with a promenade and a line of restored wooden spa architecture behind. The mud-bath building from 1927 sits at the head of the beach, a white neoclassical block that is the town's defining image. Behind that, a park of tall pines runs back towards the old town.

The water is the Gulf of Riga: brackish, calm, brown-tinted after wind, and by Baltic standards genuinely warm in July.

When to go

• Late June to mid-August - the actual season. Warm water, full beach, everything open.
• May and September - the beach to yourself, water too cold for most people, town half asleep.
• Winter - flat, grey, and oddly beautiful if you like empty seasides. The spas stay open.

Honest expectations

The season is short and the crowd is concentrated. In July the beach and the town are busy with Estonian and Finnish holidaymakers, and accommodation prices reflect that. Outside those weeks the same place can feel closed.

Because the water is so shallow, a strong offshore wind can push it out a long way and leave you with a walk. It also means the water clouds up quickly in any chop.

Nearby

The Rannametsa-Tolkuse dunes and bog boardwalk are half an hour south. Soomaa National Park is a similar distance inland, and Lottemaa theme park is on the same road.