Whether the Baltic Coastal Hiking route is ready or not? This is a question we – creators of the route – receive almost every day. And today we are happy to announce that the Baltic Coastal Hiking route web page– coastalhiking.eu – is ready for English, Estonian and Latvian speaking hikers. Therefore there should not be any doubts about your early autumn hiking destination.
As already known Baltic Coastal Hiking route is a long distance (1200 km) hiking trail that starts from the Lithuanian – Latvian border and continues up to the capital of Estonia – Tallinn. For the convenience of travelers the route has been divided into 8 parts – 4 parts in Latvia – The great sea (The West coast of Latvia on the Baltic Sea), The little sea (The West coast of the Gulf of Riga),Jūrmala and Rīga (The most popular resort city and the capital of Latvia), the Vidzeme coast (The East coast of the Gulf of Riga) and 4 parts in Estonia: Pärnu town and fishing villages(The littoral of Pärnu Bay), Matsalu national park and the west Estonian islands (Matsalu Bay, Saaremaa, Muhu, Hiiumaa and Vormsi islands), Haapsalu and villages of Coastal Swedes (Haapsalu Bay and the Noarootsi Peninsula, Osmussaar island) and Cliffs and waterfalls of Northwestern Estonia (The littoral of the Gulf of Finland). Additionally, for more effective planning of one’s hike, the route has been divided into 60 one day hiking routes – 30 days in Latvia and 30 in Estonia. The length of single day hikes starts from 11 km (Kabli – Häädemeste, EST) and goes up to 26 km (Häädemeeste – Uulu, EST).
In the description of every day you will find such information as the starting and end point, length, approximate time required for completing the particular route, most populated areas along the way, difficulty level (easy, medium or hard), natural or man-made obstacles as well as suggestions about how to overcome them, dangerous places and alternatives – roads and trails that can be taken in case of bad weather. In the Worth seeing section one can find short descriptions and GPS coordinates for the most interesting sightseeing objects, while in the Services section – information on accommodations, catering sites, grocery stores, public transportation, resting areas and possibilities to access tourism information. The route GPX can be downloaded in the Map section.
It is important to emphasize that each one-day route can be done both as an independent one-day hike as well as by combining several day hikes together, one can undertake a longer hike. Baltic Coastal hiking route can be started in any physically accessible place and continued in one direction or the other (there are white – blue – white markers in both directions). Starting and finishing points for the day should only be seen as a suggestion from creators of the route, who take into account the possibility to physically reach the route as well as receive services that might be needed for hikers.
All the information mentioned before can be found on coastalhiking.eu by choosing Costal Hiking -> Itenerary in the menu of the web page.
Information on the route in Russian and German languages is in progress – stay tuned!
Last but not least – thanks to our project partners in Latvia and Estonia the majority of the route has been already marked in the nature with white-blue-white paint trail blazes and stickers with route logo. Work on information signs and stands as well as resting areas for hikers is still in progress.
For more information:
Aiga Petkēvica, Project Manager
aiga.petkevica@kurzemesregions.lv
Aija Neilande, Project Regional Coordinator
aija.neilande@kurzemesregions.lv
The Baltic Coastal Hiking route is being developed within the Estonia – Latvia Programme from European Regional Development Fund project “Hiking route along the Baltic Sea Coastline in Latvia and Estonia”.
This article reflects the views of the author. The managing authority of the programme is not liable for how this information may be used.
