Toila-Oru Park

The park at Toila was laid out from 1897 around a palace built for the St Petersburg merchant Grigori Yeliseyev on the klint above the sea, and after 1935 it became the summer residence of the Estonian president. The palace was destroyed in 1944 and never rebuilt, but the park survived: terraces, stairways, stone balustrades, a rose garden, avenues and paths descending the escarpment through the trees to the shore of the Gulf of Finland, with the foundations and the terrace of the vanished house still legible at the top. Springs and small streams cross the slope. It is one of the more elaborate historic parks in the country and free to enter.

What you actually see

• The palace terrace - the platform and foundations where the house stood.
• The stairways - the stone flights descending the escarpment.
• The rose garden - the formal planting on the upper level.
• The shore - the beach at the foot of the park.

When to go

May to September for the planting and the walk down to the shore; the park is open year round but the descent is icy in winter. Roses flower in July. Autumn colours the escarpment.

Honest expectations

The palace itself is gone and only the terrace survives, which surprises visitors expecting a building. The descent to the shore is steep with many steps. Interpretation is limited. Facilities are in Toila village.

Nearby

Ontika klint and Valaste waterfall lie west; Narva is east.