Ontika Klint

The Baltic Klint runs for well over a thousand kilometres from Sweden to Russia, and Ontika is where it reaches its highest point in Estonia at around fifty-six metres. It is the single largest landform in a country that has almost none, and it defines the whole north coast.

What you actually see

A long wooded escarpment with the sea below and, at the marked viewpoints, a clear drop down a face of pale banded limestone. The layers are Ordovician and Cambrian, stacked horizontally and legible from a distance - the cliff is a geology lesson as much as a view.

At the bottom is a narrow boulder shore, reachable by steps at a few points. Valaste waterfall drops over the klint at the western end of this stretch.

When to go

• Autumn - storms on the sea below the cliff, and colour in the escarpment forest.
• Winter - ice on the face and the shore, and the layering at its clearest without leaves.
• Summer - green and pleasant, but the cliff is largely hidden by foliage from above.

Honest expectations

The klint is mostly wooded, so for long stretches you cannot see the drop at all - the marked viewpoints are the only reliable places to get the view, and there are only a handful of them.

The edge is actively eroding and unfenced in places. Sections of stairs down to the shore have been closed after collapses; check what is currently open rather than relying on an old map.

Nearby

Valaste waterfall is at the western end. Toila-Oru park and the mining museum at Kohtla-Nõmme are both within half an hour.