Kiviõli Adventure Centre

The ash hills of Kiviõli are the waste from decades of oil shale processing, and the larger of them stands over a hundred metres above flat country - the highest artificial elevation in Estonia, and taller than any natural hill in the northern half of the country. Rather than fence it off, the town turned it into a sports centre.

What you actually see

A steep grey-green hill with lifts running up it, ski and snowboard slopes in winter, and downhill mountain-bike tracks, tubing lanes and a summer toboggan run the rest of the year. From the top you get a wide view over the industrial landscape, the forests and, on a clear day, the sea.

The scale of the drop is genuinely unusual for Estonia - most of the country's ski slopes are a fraction of it.

When to go

• December to March - the ski season, with artificial snow supporting it when the weather does not.
• June to September - bike park, tubing and the summer track.
• Avoid thaws and heavy rain, when the slopes close.

Honest expectations

It is a spoil heap, and it looks like one. The setting is post-industrial rather than scenic, and visitors expecting an alpine resort will be brought up short.

The drop is respectable for Estonia but short by any international standard - a run lasts under a minute.

Nearby

The Kohtla mining museum is twenty minutes east. Alutaguse National Park and Lake Peipus are to the south.