Discover Pärnu

Why visit Pärnu

Pärnu is Estonia's summer capital — a Baltic coastal city that genuinely shifts identity each year between a quiet, somewhat sleepy provincial port (October to April) and a sun-soaked beach resort overrun with Estonians, Finns, and Latvians (June to August). The wide, sandy Pärnu Beach, 2km long with shallow water that warms to a remarkable 22–24°C in high summer, is the heart of it, and the elegant Beach Promenade behind it is lined with the wooden 19th-century villas and the Beach Salon built when the city was a fashionable spa destination for Tsarist Russian society. The historic Mud Baths building (1927) still functions as a working spa. The compact, walkable Old Town is anchored by Rüütli Street — the main pedestrian artery — the 17th-century Tallinn Gate (the only surviving medieval gateway), and the red 13th-century Red Tower. Catch one of the international concerts at Pärnu Concert Hall (one of the country's most architecturally distinctive modern venues) and don't miss a meal at a beachside terrace at sunset on a long July evening, when the sun barely sets at all.