One of Estonia's most accessible and beautiful bogs, the Viru Bog lies about 20 kilometres west of Võsu inside Lahemaa National Park. A 3.5-kilometre boardwalk trail leads across the bog surface, past pools of black water, cotton grass, sundew, and stunted pine trees that look ancient but may be only a century old. An 11-metre observation tower in the middle of the trail gives a striking view across the flat, treeless bog landscape — one of the more otherworldly sights in the Baltic states.
The bog formed after the last ice age as a shallow lake gradually filled with peat over thousands of years. The water table sits just below the surface and the spongy ground bounces slightly underfoot. The boardwalk makes the trail accessible to almost anyone, including wheelchairs and pushchairs as far as the tower platform. Early morning in summer brings mist that rises from the pools, and autumn turns the sphagnum moss red and gold. The car park on the Tallinn-Narva road is about 22 kilometres from Võsu.