Viru Bog Trail

Viru raba sits at the western edge of Lahemaa and is the bog most first-time visitors to Estonia actually see, because it is under an hour from Tallinn and the whole route is on boardwalk. It is a genuine raised bog, thousands of years old and several metres deep in peat, rather than a landscaped substitute.

What you actually see

• The loop - around three and a half kilometres, starting in wet forest and opening out onto the bog proper.
• The bog surface - a spongy carpet of sphagnum in rust, ochre and green, with black pools reflecting the sky.
• The pines - stunted trees far older than they look.
• The tower - an observation platform near the middle that lifts you above the pines and shows the shape of the whole bog.

When to go

Late August to September brings berries, low morning mist and the best colour, when the moss reds up and cloudberries and cranberries appear along the edges of the boardwalk. Winter puts snow on the boardwalk and freezes the pools, with very few people about. May to July is green and busy, and the mosquitoes are serious. Early morning is when photographers come, because the bog mist burns off fast.

Honest expectations

It is flat, easy and popular. On a summer weekend the car park fills and the boardwalk has a steady stream of people on it, which is not what most visitors picture when they hear the word bog.

Stay on the boards. The surface either side looks solid and is not, and the pools are deeper than they appear.

Nearby

The rest of Lahemaa National Park - the manor houses at Palmse and Sagadi, and the fishing villages of Altja and Käsmu - is directly east along the same road.