What to do and see in Hiiu County, Hiiu County: The Best Nature & Parks

This trail forms part of Tihu landscape reserve and winds along the banks of the prettiest river on the island of Hiiumaa and the tops of its valley, which are as much as six metres high in places. It doesn't take a long time to get from one end of the trail to the other, but it is quite up-and-down, providing physical exercise as well as an interesting learning experience. The trail is 1 km long and fully marked. It does not cross through areas of water.

Behind the Hiiumaa Museum Long House there is a 3.3 hectare Beach Park. Once the location of a Swedish graveyard until Kardla baron Robert Eginhard von Ungern-Sternberg had a free-form park established instead. For a long time it was called the Baron’s garden. In the western side of the park on a small hill there is a cast iron cross, commemorating the Swedish graveyard. The main trees in the park are domestic. Foreign tree species include larches, white pine and several fir species. The most interesting tree – red beech tree – grows in the south-west side of the park. Altogether 34 species of trees and bushes have been counted in the park.

In 1871 and 1879, Russian geologist Gregor Helmersen was the first to describe and characterize the Heilu rocks. His name is also connected to rocks elsewhere in Estonia. He described the Helmersen Rock Field as the best group of boulders originating from Finland that he had seen in the Baltic countries. There are over 80 rocks on the 0.5-hectare-size plot, which been carried here by the glacial ice.

Hidden in the forest bioherm reef is up to 10 m high and 400 m long. More than 100 years old pine forest and several rare species of plants grow on the cliff.

The City Park takes up 5.2 ha. The first part of the park was established in the 1860s after the church was finished in a place called Kirikupollu (Church field). A more thorough tree planting took place in the beginning of the 20th century. The youngest part of the park was planted in the 1970s. Kardla song festival grounds are located in the City Park. The first song festival in Hiiumaa took place in 1867 in Leigri village in the yard of Murru pub. There is evidence of a children’s party in Lepakopil in Kardla already from 1874. In 1926 the first national song festival was held in Kardla. This was conducted by Tuudur Vettik, a composer, choral conductor and music teacher who later became one of the leaders of the Estonian national song festivals.

Luidja alder forest may seem like an average black alder forest to everyday passers-by as you can find these trees elsewhere in Hiiumaa marshes and stream banks. But in fact this is an area which has more than a hundred year history in experimenting with fixating unique dunes. The alder forest was first established due to the need to protect the beach road of Luidja and the nearby fields and meadows from blowing sands. The alder forest was established by Karl Friedrich Vilhelm Ahrens (1855-1938) who was born in Germany in Meclenburg-Schwerin. He studied forestry in Rostock and Greifsvald. Ahrens established the alder forest in order to fixate the sand dunes in 1901-1903.