In South Estonia, next to Otepää, Kääriku Sports Center is a paradise for water lovers, in addition to being a sports center. In summer, along with excellent sports opportunities and hiking trails of various lengths, there is a beach and an outdoor pool with a diving tower. Kääriku also has five saunas open all year-round!On the shore of Lake Kääriku, there is the legendary Kekkonen Sauna with wood heating and the Green Sauna with a lake view near the athletics stadium. The latter has two separate washing and changing rooms and can accommodate up to 40 sauna enthusiasts. Drinks and snacks can be ordered from us, as well. Next to the Kääriku hotel complex is the Sports Hall sauna with an electric heater, and the sports hall also has a Recovery Center. The Recovery Center has a relaxation room for 10 people, where you can enjoy the benefits of a steam sauna and an infrared sauna, or cool off in two different ice baths. Leisure, sports, and sauna in one place – book your experience at Kääriku today!
Mäeotsa Holiday Farm is a private and beautiful holiday house located away from the city noise, between the fields of Kõduküla.Guests will have at their disposal the manor, stable house, Finnish sauna house, smoke sauna and summer houses. There is also a playground, swings, and a trampoline. You can also rent our sauna and bathing barrel.Koogi Reservoir is located at 2 km and Lake Saadjärv at 5 km from the holiday farm. Both of them feature nicely arranged beaches with breathtaking landscapes. In addition, the Ice Age Centre, Elistvere Animal Park, and Vudila Playland are close by.
Tamme Outcrop hiking track is located on the eastern shore of Lake Võrtsjärv between the villages of Tamme and Neemisküla in Elva municipality. The area is rich in Devon sandstone outcrops from the Aruküla layer. Tamme Outcrop, which is located on the track, is an area where placoderms have been found and where valuable paleontological material has been collected since the second half of the 19th century.Ten information boards have been set up along the hiking track, which is almost 2 km long. They provide interesting information about the local natural environment. If you walk 1 km north on the track, you can turn back and hike back along a field or on a forest trail on the outcrop.
Ahja Manor dates back to the Middle Ages (from 1553). The two-storey main building of the baroque Ahja Manor with a half-hipped roof, completed in the late 1740s, was one of the most luxurious in Southern Estonia at that time. In the years 1929–1997, a school operated in the manor house.In 2007, there was a fire in the building and only the walls remained. Several smaller buildings have been preserved from the manor, although most of them have been rebuilt. There is also a beautiful park with a pond which is under nature and heritage protection.The manor with the park is known to many thanks to the book Little Illimar based on the childhood memories of the folk writer Friedebert Tuglas from Ahja.
Tartu Kaubamaja with its 50+ shops, established in 2005, is the leading fashion and beauty centre in South Estonia. The department store is located in the city centre of Tartu, next to the main junction of the city and the pedestrian street running towards Town Hall Square, and is easily accessible by car or on foot. Tartu Kaubamaja carries a large range of leading global fashion and beauty brands, and accommodates eateries offering excellent meals, providers of everyday services, and a grocery store with an exclusive selection.
Kiidjärve Water Mill was built in 1914 and it used to be one of the largest and most powerful mills in Estonia. The saw mill on the other side of the Ahja River, which was destroyed in a fire in 1962, formed a complex with the flour mill.The mill was a part of the historic Kiidjärve Manor, historically written as Kiddijerw. The mill operated until 1979. From 1987 to 1988, a new dam was built for the mill, and the mill was restarted in 1991. The mill was once again halted in the middle of the 1990s.Good to know: The mill is in private ownership and can be viewed from the outside only.
The Pesa Hotel have a cozy mini-SPA Sõstar. Both hotel guests and other guests can relax here. We also welcome groups. The spa can accommodate up to 12 people at a time. Visits last for two hours. The mini-SPA has a steam room, a stream-aroma sauna, a hot tub, an ice machine, and a circular shower. After going to the sauna, we recommend going to the light therapy room and enjoy blackcurrant tea while relaxing under the Bioptron lamps. You can order drinks and snacks to the mini-SPA. If you want to have a proper meal, restaurant PESA will help you out – its menu is an experience for people on their holidays or on business trips. Pamper your body and mind!
A sculpture created in Tartu's Old Town in 1999 depicts a fun speculation about the history of literature. Sitting on a bench are contemporaries and namesakes, or the two Wildes: Irish-born writer Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) and Estonian writer Eduard Vilde (1865-1933). Sculptor Tiiu Kirsipuu, who modeled the figures of the writers based on photographs, has noted that when creating the twin figures, she had in mind the year 1890, when the two Wildes could have really met each other and had a few witty words. The sculpture symbolizes friendship and intercultural dialogue. The sculpture of the two writers is located in front of the former Mattiesen printing house, one of Tartu's architectural monuments, which now houses the wine and art restaurant Vilde ja Vine. The statue is a beloved landmark among both locals and visitors. Sitting on the bench next to the writers allows you to take nice pictures as a souvenir of your visit to Tartu. In 2004, a copy of the sculpture was also donated to the city of Galway in Ireland, where the paternal family of literary classic Oscar Wilde came from.