Võsu is a small beach village on the north coast of Estonia, inside Lahemaa National Park. It has been a summer resort since the 19th century, and remains one of the most popular seaside spots in the country — Estonians from Tallinn drive out for weekends, but it never feels crowded.
The beach stretches for about three kilometres, backed by a belt of pine-covered dunes. The water is shallow and calm enough for children, and the wide sand is good for beach volleyball. Behind the village, Lahemaa's forests and bogs are crisscrossed with walking trails — the Oandu forest trail connects the old-growth spruce woods to the beach, while the Viru bog boardwalk leads across one of Estonia's most beautiful peatlands about 20 kilometres west.
The nearby Palmse Manor, a restored 18th-century neoclassical estate, serves as the national park's visitor centre and is worth a half-day of anyone's time. The village itself is tiny: a few guesthouses, a shop, and a summer cafe or two. That is precisely the appeal.