Rummu quarry — Attraction in Lääne-Harju vald

This was a pleasant surprise. I had never been to a quarry beach before. Photos don’t quite do this place justice. They can’t show the chill and fun vibe of this place.

PARKING There are two lots. One that you come across when you first enter the street towards the beach and one much closer to the beach, past the stand that you pay your entrance fee.

THE CROWD We visited on our first Jaänipaev here in Estonia. I wasn’t sure what to expect crowd wise, but there turned out to be the perfect amount of people. Not sure if it was the lack of foreign tourists due to the COVID 19 restrictions, or maybe most Estonians celebrate elsewhere, but it was fantastic. Everyone had plenty of space while providing the great energy of people enjoying a beautiful summer and plenty of people watching.

THE BEACH The beach UAB beautiful and kept impressively clean. The only surprise for me was that the beach itself was not sand like I had imagined from looking at the photos, but a slightly rough hard surface made from compacted rocks. The surface continues from the land into the water. I highly recommend bringing some sort of cushioning if you plan to sit or lie on the beach for an extended amount of time. The upside is you don’t leave with sand in everything, though a lot of stuff will be coated in fine dust.

There are trails off the beach up through the quarry rock that you can take for better views of the quarry and prison remnants. I recommend some sort of shoe that you can walk in, my flip flops did not quite cut it.

THE BAR The bar is super cute. I can’t remember what the selection was like as I only had a nice pear cider. It has a nice patio with tables under umbrellas and beach bean bag seating if you need to escape into some shade. It also plays chill music at the perfect volume over the beach to complete the perfect summer beach day vibe.

THE RESTROOMS The restrooms are quite clean, no complaints.

RUMMU ADVENTURE CENTER This place has a lot of different rentals and I definitely plan to try some out the next...

Very strange tourist attraction next to Rummu Quarry (which i think is the main reason to visit Rummu area). An old prison that is out of use and been abandoned for around ten years.

First notice... we didn't get the area map, and because of that, it was really difficult to navigate at the beginning. After we found the map on a random wall, deep in the area, it was easier to start to explore the prison.

Second notice... nothing has been done here after the prison was abandoned. No repairing, no cleaning, nothing. It is a way it was on a day everyone left the place. Even some old computers are on the desks. Totally unbelievable. You can see signs that warn you about the danger of collapse. Still, you can basically visit every place, room, floor, everything, everywhere. We were amazed about these safety arrangements. But again still, we visited almost every dark hole inside the buildings. Grazy. You bet.

The most interesting sights were at the end of the round. Especially last building with spot nro 17. Make sure you go all the way to the back of the building. And if you dare and if it's still possible, take out your phone flashlight and visit dark solitary confinements at the basement. They are creepy. But worth visit. But beware of the middle of the corridor, because its not really stable 😅!

Anyway, strange attraction, that is worth...

An example of how commercial interests can ruin a place that was once pretty and exciting to visit.

The place itself might be interesting indeed - a pretty blueish lake, a tall cliff overlooking the place and a few empty abandoned soviet brick buildings could give a picturesque view that resembles an ‘abandoned beauty in nature’ kind of vibe, but even this mere resemblance is ruined by the rubberoid water-slide-playing-ground thing in the water.

Thus, even if your mere expectation is to get cool-looking Insta pics from this place - you’ll be disappointed. In reality, you come in, spend 10-15 minutes walking around the beach and a few surrounding abandoned areas and that’s and pay a fee of dozen euros for this, if you come a family or a company.

Surely, I could understand if the owner charged 2 or 3 euro for a walk-around (to take care of are maintenance, taking out trash, etc.), but price of €7 per person is ridiculous. Moreover, it should be free when it’s not the season time or when beach entertainment activities are closed.

We came from Tallinn to the see the place and all the five of us were absolutely...