Good evening!
As you maybe noticed on Instagram, I recently came back home from my trip to Pärnu, Estonia.
It was a wonderful trip, I actually felt sad to leave it so soon. Pärnu was so much more than I thought. I could write a whole post just about how lovely the city was, but I will keep it ”short” and share some tips and advice for any of you that would be interested to travel to Pärnu.
The hotel
I stayed in a beautiful hotel named Tervise Paradiis Spaa-hotell veekeskus just by the beach. It had a huge waterpark in the hotel, free to use for hotelguests. Most of the rooms had a wonderful view to the beach, from the balcony.
I thought it would be very full and a lot of families because it was a weekend, late summer and a family-friendly hotel but I was wrong. It was really private, silent without noises from the neighbors.
The hotels breakfast buffee was perfect. It got everything I could wish for. I enjoyed my breakfast outside and looked at the beautiful beach view.
The gym
After the breakfast (or before)
I went to the hotel gym, this was also a really positive experience. I thought it would be small, like I am used to. It was so big, full of space and great equipment. I fell inlove.
Beach
The beach was perfect, they offered a lot of different activities, like surfing lessons, waterskis..
Or just walking on the ”Rannaniidu Matkarada” a walking trail by the beach.
The Hedon spa & hotel
On Friday I went to the Hedon hotel for a spa experience. The Hedon hotel was a quite popular hotel with a lot of people. I went to the spa for a treatment, I had no idea what the ”Silent Spa” treatment was that I had booked. Later I was so chocked, full of new energy and positive vibes.. The treatment lasted for 2-3 hours on own time.
I loved the saltwater pool. It was 33 degrees Celcius and you could feel the salt on your skin, it made you float on the water what I always had trouble with, helped my body and sore muscles to really relax.
The saunas were different. I am used to the Finnish sauna, but my favorite was the ”caldarium” aroma steam sauna. Every sauna gave a different feeling and calming, detoxing effect to the body and mind. It was really healing.
Every guest got their own towel, bathrobe and gift that you could use during the spa time or take home with you.
It was really quiet, with lovely meditation music in the background. They had a little bar but also offered free tea for a little break every now and then.
I also visited the Grill restaurant ”Akord” in the evening.
I usually always order meat, a great steak. Specially from a grill restaurant, this time I felt for fish, but I was really unsure of the choice because 99% of the time I usually been dissatisfied with the fish.
This time not. It was so delicious, actually one of the best fishes I tasted, even better than my dad’s smoked salmon from Norway, and believe me, it is good..
I ordered the Whole baked dorado and oysters for starter with red wine, maybe the most of you do not think red wine fits with fish, but for me It did. I was really pleased and left the restaurant happy even if it was really busy full booked that day.
Restaurants
Pärnu is full of great restaurants and sweet cafés. I really liked the old town with the cute vintage cafeterias.
The two other evenings I visited restaurant Pastoraat and Ammende Villa.
Pastoraat was a sweet little café located in Rosen Planter. The dishes were not too expensive and it all looked really healthy.
I loved their mussels for a starter. They also offer really delicious breakfast.
My last evening in Pärnu I had a reservation in the Ammende. I used my Gps to get to the place. I had heard it was beautiful, but OMG, I could not have imagined anything like that. The place was incredible. Big, completely incomparable and admirable. To make it even more beautiful and in the sense of royalty, a wedding was arranged at exactly the same time.
Little sweet bridesmaids played on the garden and all the guests were so finely dressed. I was a little ashamed of my everyday outfit when I had walked a bit in the rain to the beautiful place. I stepped in and the friendly service started immediately, they bowed, took my jacket, showed me the place and chose me a big table where I would enjoy my meal later.
The food was also beautiful. Nearly so I did not want to touch it, haha! But I was hungry, and happy I tasted it, the food was delicious! So much different tastes and combinations. The serving was also great. I loved both my starter and the main course, and to make it even more perfect it ended with some sweet chocolate, almond and cherry bites.
One of my best experiences in a restaurant for sure!
Pärnu is divided into two different parts: the city center and a fairly large area dominated by the beach. In the center is a small old town near Rüütli Street, with buildings from different eras, and also a new part of the center.
There are not many attractions in Pärnu, but Estonia’s longest sandy beach and the large and varied park area in front of it make up for the lack of attractions. In addition to them, the center has a few museums, a church and an interesting building.
It was really good signed on the roads if you got lost. But it is hard to get lost in Pärnu, it is a really small city and everything is nearly in walking distance.
On Friday and Saturday I also went to a festival, Augustiunetus. I loved the music, the people and the atmosphere. Everyone was so filled with joy. Music is something that always been pretty important for me.
I really enjoyed my time in Pärnu and I will definitely visit again. Hope you got some inspiration to travel there also, right now in this situation It was obligatory to have the convid-19 certificate to get to the most of the places, specially to the festival and cruise ship.