Spithami between Coastal Trails, Nature and History

Spithami combines beach landscapes, quiet forest trails and unusual historical traces. The village is part of the Nõva Nature Reserve. Nature and local history give the destination a range of different thematic facets. Anyone looking for a holiday apartment or holiday house can consider Spithami as a search location if they want their holiday to be shaped by hikes, landscape observation and discoveries by the water.

Hiking between Forest, Beach and Water

Section 52 of the Baltic Coastal Hiking route runs through Spithami along the Dirhami – Spithami – Nõva Harbour (Rannaküla) route. The trail leads across forest paths and beaches. The surface is sandy and in places covered with gravel, rubble and stones; a short section consists of dolomite bedrock. These different trail surfaces are among the specific conditions you can take into account when planning your day.

Section 52 also crosses the small Uuejõe stream. At low water levels, it can be waded across, while a bridge is located 0.6 km from its mouth into the sea. When planning your route, it is therefore worth keeping the character of the particular trail section and the water level in mind. The Liivanõmme nature trail can be accessed from the Uuejõe campfire site in Spithami.

Nature in the Nõva Nature Reserve

The Nõva Nature Reserve includes Spithami. People may visit the area and collect berries, mushrooms and other non-timber forest products, provided that the reserve’s rules are followed. Cycling is permitted on the trails and additionally on the designated routes. In the water area of the reserve, the use of non-motorised watercraft is permitted; pedal boats, or water bicycles, are excluded from this allowance.

A distinctive landscape landmark is Cape Põõsaspea, the northwesternmost tip of mainland Estonia. The Põõsaspea rest area is located in the Nõva Nature Reserve. On the RMK Liivanõmme nature trail between Peraküla and Spithami grow old, gnarled pine trees known as Hongad. Some of these trees may be more than 300 years old.

History and Unusual Finds

Spithami’s cultural history also makes it particularly diverse. The coastal hiking trail passes a historic tar pit where tar was produced by burning pine and spruce wood. The village’s coastal Swedish period dates back to before the 1940s. During the Soviet era, Spithami was home to a border guard post and a missile base. The radar station is now a relic of the Soviet era and part of the Soviet military heritage. Its ruins preserve some infrastructure elements; an observation platform has been built at the site of the former detection equipment.

At Spithami Harbour, you can find dark, brown-black and angular breccias on a limestone cliff, originating from the area around the Neugrund meteorite crater. The impact occurred 475 million years ago, several dozen kilometres away on the seabed. Another memorial landmark is the Kozlov Memorial Stone. It commemorates the Russian officer Mikhail Kozlov, who died on the beach in 1951 during an attempted landing operation. In 2014, a monument was also erected to Estonian-born scouts who took part in the firefight on Spithami beach.

Spithami as a Location for Your Accommodation

When looking for accommodation, you can decide which of these facets is most important for your trip: the coastal hiking trail with its changing surfaces, the nature of the reserve, the Liivanõmme nature trail or the traces of the Swedish and Soviet past. Spithami rand beach is designated as publicly usable in the water register. Anyone wishing to combine nature and history can include the places mentioned in their daily itinerary without limiting the trip to just one type of experience.

For more ideas in the area, you can also include Rooslepa, Elbiku, Tuksi, Paslepa, Pürksi, Dirhami and Einbi in your further travel planning.

For the overview of the wider area: Noarootsi.