I moved to Estonia where summer is gloriously mild – these are the places I love

I moved to Tallinn, Estonia, 11 years ago. I’m from a small town in the US and my husband is from Santiago, Chile, but work brought us here, and both of us like it for the same reason: life is easy. Everything we need to do can be done online, it’s safer than Santiago, and we can get by without a car – which is hard to do in the US. I also love the country’s quiet beauty. About half of Estonia is forested, criss-crossed by thousands of kilometres of well-maintained hiking trails. There are empty beaches for strolling and islands of all sizes to explore. I’ve even come to love the bogs, with their bonsai-like trees. Estonia has a wealth of hiking trails, including on Aegna Island (pictured) and wild camping is permitted in many areas (Photo: Dmitri Toms/Getty/iStockphoto) After the long winter, summer in Estonia is fleeting, but glorious. Most days are a pleasant 16°C-20°C, and the sun doesn’t set until after 10pm. Estonians spend as much time outdoors as possible, swimming in lakes or the sea, picking mushrooms and berries, going to festivals and tending the garden and grilling at their summer houses in the countryside. We don’t have a summer house, but when the weather is nice, we like to get away with our children for a day or two – by train, bus or ferry. These are my favourite summer escapes from Tallinn. Aegna Island Aegna Island feels like one of Tallinn’s best-kept secrets. A 30-minute ferry from the city centre brings you to an island with sandy beaches, huge boulders and walking trails through coastal meadows and thick pine forests. The island was part of Peter the Great’s sea fortress in the early 1900s and was later used as a military camp during Estonia’s first period of independence, which lasted from 1918 to 1940. Like most of Estonia’s islands and coastal areas, Aegna was off-limits during the Soviet occupation, which, along with its long military history, means there are quite a few ruins dotted around. An old Soviet-era antenna is among the many abandoned structures reclaimed by nature on the island (Photo: Dmitri Toms/Getty/iStockphoto) Today, the whole island is a nature reserve, and it’s fascinating to see the abandoned buildings taken over by vegetation. A small kiosk at the dock sells ice cream, coffee and snacks, but it’s best to pack a picnic lunch. Haapsalu An hour and 40 minutes by bus from Tallinn, Haapsalu is a seaside town with colourful wooden houses and a lagoon-like lake, Väike Viik (Little Bay), which was once open to the sea. There’s a promenade along the coast and a walking path around the lake, while in the centre of town, you’ll find 13th-century castle ruins. Here, the bell tower can be climbed for views over the town, a former convent houses the castle’s museum, and the old moat is now a playground. The beaches are great for kids, with shallow water that warms up quickly in the summer – the town’s best-known beach, Paralepa, has some of the warmest sea water in Estonia. The coastal town of Haapsalu, with its lake and castle (Photo: Visit Estonia) If you want to extend your stay, or the weather drives you indoors, the pool and saunas at the Hestia Hotel are a great way to spend a few hours. Haapsalu has a long history as a wellness resort; in the mid-1800s, members of St Petersburg’s elite would come to the town’s spas to soak in mineral-rich mud harvested from the bay. Keila Waterfall and Laulasmaa Beach Keila Waterfall isn’t the biggest or highest in Estonia, but I think it’s the most picturesque, with a neo-gothic manor (now a boutique hotel) on one side of the river and a large park with towering oak and chestnut trees on the other. It’s an hour’s bus ride from Tallinn’s Freedom Square. Once you arrive, cross the river via the suspension bridge and follow the white-blue-white trail markers of the Baltic Coastal Hiking Route to Laulasmaa, a small village with a sandy, pine-backed beach, about nine kilometres south. Refuel in Laulasmaa at the family-run Ott & Matilda cafe, then head down to the beach for a swim. If you’re feeling adventurous, take a kiteboarding lesson or rent a paddleboard. If you’d rather relax, head for LaSpa hotel’s spa and sauna centre, where the highlights are the outdoor pool and wood-fired sauna. Sauna is as important to Estonians as it is to the Finns, and the smoke sauna traditions of southern Estonia have been inscribed on Unesco’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Laulasmaa’s sandy beach is ideal for swimming or paddling a kayak (Photo: Tauri V/500px/Getty) Viljandi The city of Viljandi played an important role in medieval Estonia as part of the Hanseatic trade route. In the 13th century, it was guarded by an impressive stone castle, whose ruins now provide the backdrop for Viljandi Folk, one of Estonia’s largest music festivals. You could visit the city as a day trip from Tallinn, as it’s only two hours by train, but it’s worth spending a night or two, especially during the summer. The castle ruins overlook Viljandi Lake, where you can swim or rent a rowboat, and kids will enjoy the playground. As you walk around, you’ll notice several giant concrete strawberries. Find out more about them at the Kondas Centre, a small but excellent museum dedicated to outsider art. The Viljandi Castle grounds now hosts a major music festival (Photo: H M Murdock Est/Getty/iStockphoto)