RMK Oandu–Aegviidu–Ikla hiking route

The route starts at the RMK Oandu visitor centre and runs 370 kilometres from the north of Estonia to the south: out of Lahemaa National Park, through the Kõrvemaa Landscape Reserve and Soomaa National Park — one of Europe’s largest bog landscapes — then through the forests of Pärnu County to the fishing villages of the south-west coast and the sandy beaches of the Gulf of Riga, ending at Ikla on the Latvian border.

Few walk it in one go. Most take it in sections, and the first section — Oandu–Võsu, 9.5 km — starts here. Oanduaia is the natural place to begin day one: the houses are a walk from the visitor centre, the sauna can be lit for the evening you come back, and breakfast is there before you set out.

A note on the numbers: this is not Estonia’s longest trail. The longest is the Peraküla–Aegviidu–Ähijärve route at 820 km, which does not pass Oandu. The branch that starts here is the 370-kilometre one.