Hiiumaa

Hiiumaa is about a thousand square kilometres of pine forest, juniper heath and low coast, with roughly nine thousand people on it. It has always been the smaller, stranger sibling to Saaremaa, and islanders lean into that - there is a well-developed local humour about Hiiumaa slowness that visitors are expected to notice.

What you actually see

Flat forest roads under tall pines, sudden clearings of juniper, and a coastline that alternates between stony shore and long shallow sand. The island's three lighthouses are the defining structures: Kõpu on its inland hill, Ristna painted red on the western point, and Tahkuna on the northern tip.

Kassari, joined to the main island by causeways, is the softest part - meadows, a chapel with a thatched roof, and the long gravel spit at Sääretirp running out into the sea.

When to go

• June to August - everything open, warm enough to swim off the sand beaches, long light.
• September - the best month if you want the island without the traffic.
• Winter - very quiet, ferries can be disrupted by ice, and much of the visitor infrastructure closes.

Honest expectations

Distances are small but travel is slow, and the ferry schedule shapes the whole trip - in high season vehicle places book out well ahead. Without a car or a bike you will see very little of the island.

There are no dramatic viewpoints. Hiiumaa's appeal is atmosphere and emptiness, and if you need a sight every hour it will feel like a lot of driving through pine trees.

Nearby

Vormsi and Saaremaa are both reachable by their own ferries. Haapsalu, on the mainland side of the crossing, makes an easy stop either end of the trip.