From dark winter days to white summer nights. Wild forests, open bogs & silence. Your hikers basecamp in Estonia – in every season. Endless ways to explore. A basecamp born from a hiker's dream

Just 50 minutes from Tallinn by train or car, North Kõrvemaa is one of Estonia's most rewarding regions for hiking and outdoor adventures. Discover wild forests, open bogs, hidden lakes and peaceful trails in every season.

At Uuejärve Matkapesa, a historic Estonian farmstead surrounded by protected nature, you can enjoy a guided day hike or make it your basecamp for a longer hiking holiday in Estonia. Explore a different trail each day and return to the warmth of a farmhouse, a wood-fired sauna or a peaceful campfire beneath the trees.

Stay longer. Hike further. Feel at home.

Uuejärve lies within the vast Kõrvemaa protected landscape, where forests, bogs, lakes and rolling glacial terrain create an unusually diverse playground for year-round adventures.

Here, you are surrounded by:

• Protected forests rich in biodiversity
• A network of hiking, cycling and cross-country ski trails
• Over 10 different bog systems within reach
• Rare wildlife: owls, capercaillies and eagles
• Wild forest food: berries, mushrooms and edible plants

The nearest neighbours are around 2 km away, offering a rare sense of privacy and tranquillity. Yet, just 1 km from Uuejärve, you'll find the well-known Kõrvemaa Hiking and Ski Centre, with its extensive network of outdoor trails and a café open year-round.

It's the best of both worlds – the peace and freedom of a secluded forest hideaway, with outdoor facilities and a welcoming café close by.

Aegviidu, known as Estonia's Hiking Capital, is only 8 km away by trail.

Arrive from Tallinn by train, step off in Aegviidu, put on your backpack and hike through the forest to Uuejärve. Once here, there are enough routes and landscapes nearby for at least five completely different days of outdoor adventures without changing accommodation.

Every season changes Kõrvemaa – and every season gives you a new reason to return.

Spring brings birdsong, awakening forests and the first wild plants. Summer means white nights, long hiking days, SUP adventures and swimming in hidden lakes and bog pools. Autumn fills the forests with berries, mushrooms, mist and colour.

And then comes winter. Some of North Estonia's best cross-country ski trails start in Aegviidu and lead through the forests towards Uuejärve. Explore the snowy landscape on skis, snowshoes or kicksleds before returning to the warmth of the sauna and a fire.

Since 2023, the sled dogs of Small Lapland have also called the Uuejärve farm grounds home. Siberian Huskies and Alaskan Malamutes add their own touch of the far north – especially when snow covers the forest and Uuejärve begins to feel a little like Lapland.

Different season. Different trail. Same basecamp.

Uuejärve Matkapesa is not just another turistical place, it is also the home of nature guide, hiker and adventurer Marilin Pehka.

For Marilin, one of the special parts of travelling in the mountains has always been the basecamp life – a simple and welcoming place in the wilderness where you start your adventure in the morning and return at the end of the day.

She has experienced that feeling while hiking and mountaineering around Kilimanjaro, Mount Ararat, Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa, M'Goun and Toubkal, Kazbek and Halti.

Estonia has no mountains, but North Kõrvemaa has something that speaks to a mountain hiker's soul.

Here, ancient glacial landscapes rise and fall between forests, lakes and bogs, reaching around 140 metres above sea level. Uuejärve farmhouse itself sits at approximately 84 metres.

Marilin was also one of the initiators behind Aegviidu becoming Estonia's Hiking Capital, and today the surrounding area has 66 marked local summits waiting to be discovered.

Living among all this nature eventually led to a simple idea: Why not create the feeling of a hikers' basecamp right here at Uuejärve? A place where you can arrive with a backpack, stay for several days and have the freedom to explore – with a professional local nature guide nearby whenever you need advice, equipment, a transfer or a guided adventure.

Your Adventure. Your Way.

Some days you may simply put on your hiking boots and disappear into the forest. On others, join Marilin for a bogshoe adventure, go foraging, swim in a bog lake, explore quiet waters by SUP or canoe, or take a bicycle and discover more of Kõrvemaa.

And sometimes the best plan is to go nowhere at all. Stay at the farm. Heat the sauna. Light a fire. Cook outside. Listen to the forest and enjoy having nowhere else you need to be.

Stay in the farmhouse or choose a simpler night closer to nature at the forest camp. Local route advice, professional guiding, equipment rental and transfers can all be added when needed.

Hikers basecamp Estonia, for travellers who prefer trails over crowds. A home between Estonia's trails – surrounded by wild nature, supported by local knowledge and created for people who genuinely love being outdoors.