Narva-Jõesuu

Narva-Jõesuu is a town in eastern Estonia at the Gulf of Finland, 15 km north from Narva.

Understand

The beach

At the beginning of the 19th century the town with its villas and spas became a popular summer holiday destination for wealthy visitors from St Petersburg. During World War II, many buildings were destroyed and the significance of Narva-Jõesuu as a resort town decreased. After the war, during the Soviet era, Narva-Jõesuu was mainly a resort town for middle-class. But after the Soviet Union, tourism decreased again. Hence, some of the resorts are now abandoned. Nevertheless, some spas are still in business.

Get in

By bus

From Narva it takes about 20 min with the bus for about €1.

In general, bus schedules are available online – read more under Estonia#Get around.

Get around

The centre of the town can be explored on foot. For stretches of the beach further southwest, you might want to take a car or bus.

See

• 1 Narva-Jõesuu Ethnographic Museum (Narva-Jõesuu Koduloomuuseum), Nurme 38, ☏ +3723577312. 10:00-18:00. Exhibitions about the local history, day-to-day life, culture, education, nature etc. 
• Cultural kettle. 

Do

• Narva-Jõesuu is a well known spa holiday destination. Numerous holiday centres and spa hotels are open to visitors.
  • 1 Meresuu SPA, Aia 48a, ☏ +372 357 9600. In the sauna and pool area, you can enjoy the heat in nine different saunas as well as several hot tubs, massages and swimming pools. There are pools inside and out. Sauna rituals are provided by sauna masters. (updated Oct 2021)
• Narva-Jõesuu offers its visitors the longest coastal beach in Estonia. Even during hot summer days, when the beach is heavily crowded, you can always find yourself a decent place to relax with absolutely no one around, if you walk down the shore a little.

Eat

• 1 Kohvik Lemmik, Vabaduse 25, ☏ +372 3577307, +372 5577351, lemmikvk@mail.ru. 

Sleep

Budget

• 1 Hostel Mereranna, Aia 17, ☏ +372 3572827, mereranna@narvahotel.ee. Located 200 meters from the Baltic sea. €34/40/60 single/double/triple. 

Go next

• Narva – Estonia's eastern-most and third largest city, on the Narva River, which is the border with Russia. Famous for the Hermann castle, right opposite of the Ivangorod's castle, and the Kreenholm factories. Even though it might seem grey and dull.
• Sillamäe – A beautiful coastal town in the east and formerly closed city with the best ensemble of Stalinist architecture in the entire Baltics. Built after the war with an uranium processing plant, successfully redesigned after Estonia's independence.
• Toila – A small coastal and historic resort town, also west-wards.
• Püssi – A poor but now recovering town with an interesting artificial mountain made of ash from its oil shale power plant, which has been depositing ash in the location since the 1930s. Nowadays, the mountain is used for motocross.
• Kuremäe – Contains the famous Pukhitsa convent/nunnery, the only Orthodox monastery in the whole of Estonia.