Saaremaa Island Kuressaare, Estonia
Estonia
5
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Silversea Cruises (2 Cruises)
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on size. Larger ships use the deep-water quay in Küdema Bay on the north coast; smaller vessels anchor off Kuressaare, the island capital, and land passengers by tender.
Yes, it means crossing the island, which is done by coach. From one coast to the other is barely an hour's drive: the whole island fits into a day ashore, provided you choose what matters to you.
The bishops' fortress, at the water's edge at the southern end of the small capital: pale grey dolomite walls among moats and earthen bastions. Founded in the 13th century and rebuilt in the 14th, it is considered the best-preserved medieval castle in the Baltic states.
The Saaremaa museum, which unfolds the island's turbulent history from the Germanic bishops to the occupations of the twentieth century. From the rampart walk, the view reaches the sea and the town's roofs.
A perfectly round lake at the bottom of a wooded crater about twenty kilometres from Kuressaare, dug by a meteorite strike thousands of years ago. It is described as one of the first impact craters formally identified in Europe.
Half an hour is enough to walk round the crater. A small museum on site explains the rain of fire that marked the island, and the legends around it — some see it as the tomb of the sun of the ancients.
Five wooden windmills lined up on a hill along the road across the island. They are the last survivors of a landscape that once held hundreds.
Yes, the Panga cliff in the north, dropping some twenty metres into the sea: the highest limestone face in western Estonia. Ships berthed at Küdema are very close to it.
The island's black bread, dense and faintly sweet, and a local craft beer. For crafts: wool and carved juniper. The currency is the euro.
Not much, and it makes no apology. Junipers, dry-stone walls and near-empty roads: the island cultivates a rural calm. You come for the quiet, a castle and a crater, not for bustle.
