Dotted with tiny villages and beaches, the coastline between Pärnu and the Latvian border was a popular resort area during Soviet times and is still a perfect place to find solitude and to see small-town Estonian life first-hand. The easiest way to travel the coast road is by car, but any of the seven daily Ikla-bound buses will get you there too. For a information about the area, contact the Lepanina Hotel, tel. +372 446 50 24. Also loads of ideas for what to see and do in the coastal area can be found on Romantic Coastline website www.rannatee.ee, including nature walks, canoe tours and even a retro bus tour.

Häädemeeste A teeming population of 900 and an inexplicably-high number of food shops makes Häädemeeste the biggest town on the coast. Its main feature is the photogenic, stone St. Michael’s Church, which, when built in 1874 under the supervision of architect Matthias von Holst, became the focal point of the area’s Lutheran congregation. The Orthodox Church dating back to 1872 is worth a photo as well. Häädemeeste also sports a café and a tiny museum displaying a small collection of national costumes and an exhibit on local history. The museum is open only by arrangement, tel. +372 505 16 58.

Kabli Stretched along 2km of coast road, Kabli lacks any real centre, but makes up for it with its sandy beaches. The north end of the town is home to a bird-watching tower, the Kabli Linnujaam, where twitchers flock each autumn to see watch rare species migrate. Another kilometre past the café is the Kapten Reeder Jakob Marksoni House Museum, a house that has remained miraculously unchanged since Captain Markson had it built in 1889.