The south side
of Estonia

Largely undiscovered. Entirely worth it.

The Cultural Heart of a Digital Nation

Estonia is digital. South Estonia is soulful. Here, modern life hums alongside a remarkable heritage in one of Europe’s most sparsely populated regions. Forests, lakes, and centuries-old traditions endure, yet fast internet and modern infrastructure reach almost everywhere.

In a surprisingly compact region, Estonians, Setos, Võros and Old Believers live side by side, each with their own songs and sacred rituals. These are not museum pieces. They are living, breathing ways of life.

South Estonia is easy to reach. Tallinn and Riga airports are just under three hours away, while Tartu Airport offers direct connections with Helsinki.

Weather and seasons

How to get here

Sustainability

How many cultures can one region have?

Scoop

Why do we sit in a smokey sauna?

It is not a spa.

A wood-fired room, a pile of hot stones, birch branches – and centuries of tradition. The smoke sauna is Estonia’s oldest tradition and South Estonia is where it’s most alive. UNESCO listed it. Locals just call it Sunday.

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Get inspired

Top 20 Sights You Shouldn’t Miss

South Estonia’s sights range from medieval fortresses and charming old towns to vast bogs, forests, and landscapes.

Best Events to Attend in 2026

In 2026, South Estonia takes centre stage with world-class sporting events, major festivals, concerts, and food celebrations.

Most Beautiful Manors and Castles

Hidden among the rolling hills and forests of South Estonia are fairytale-like castles just waiting to be explored.

South Estonia has layers

The further you look, the more you find. Four distinct cultures, each with centuries of their own history, food, language and traditions.

Tartu

It is the kind of city that grows on you fast. A university town since 1632, with a river through the middle, Michelin restaurants around the corner and one in five people on their way to or from a lecture. The old town is small enough to walk across in twenty minutes but interesting enough to fill several days – bookshops, cafés, a botanical garden, museums that take their subject seriously.

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Old Believers

The Old Believers are a Russian Orthodox community who fled religious persecution in the 17th century and ended up on the western shore of Lake Peipsi – where their descendants have remained ever since. Same faith, same traditions, same samovar on the table. Three and a half centuries and counting.

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Seto

The Seto are a distinct people whose villages straddle the Estonia-Russia border — a line drawn in 1920 that divided their land but not their culture. They still sing in the UNESCO-listed leelo tradition, still make silver jewellery by hand, still produce a cheese protected by EU geographical indication. Still entirely themselves.

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Võro

South Estonia’s southernmost people have spent centuries doing things their own way – their own language, their own sauna tradition, their own word for the unhurried pace of life here: aigu om. There is time. UNESCO agreed about the smoke sauna.

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Made for remote work

The only country specifically designed for remote working

Those in our furthest corners of the country are now very well brought together: the parties offering teleworking opportunities in Põlva, Võru and Valgamaa are brought together by Kupland. Whether it’s a shared office, a cosy café or a farmhouse in the countryside, you’re sure to find the right place for you or your team to focus on what matters.

Kupland