Narva-Jõesuu

In the late nineteenth century Narva-Jõesuu was the beach where St Petersburg spent its summers - a resort of wooden villas and pines at the point where the Narva river meets the sea. The villas have mostly gone, but the beach that drew them is unchanged: one of the longest and finest stretches of sand in the country, and far less visited than Pärnu.

What you actually see

• The beach - very wide and very long, of pale fine sand.
• The pine belt - a continuous band of tall pines backing the whole shore.
• The river mouth - a stone mole at the eastern end with a lighthouse above it, and the far bank in Russia.
• The spa hotels - a handful of them carrying on the resort tradition in concrete rather than timber.

When to go

July and August have the sea at its warmest and the resort as lively as it gets. May, June and September give the beach to yourself under full pines, often empty for kilometres at a stretch. After autumn storms the sea throws amber onto this coast, and locals walk the tideline once the wind drops.

Honest expectations

It is a long way east - three hours plus from Tallinn - and the town itself is modest, a mix of spa blocks and quiet streets. The beach is the reason to come, and it is a genuinely good one.

The border runs down the river. The mole and river mouth are normal places to walk, but boats and drones are a different matter here.

Nearby

Narva and its castle are twenty minutes upstream. The Narva Blue Lakes and the Alutaguse forests are within half an hour west.