RMK hiking route Heltermaa-Ristna-Sarve/Ristna-Tihu (36 km)

The third section of Hiiumaa hiking route starts at Ristna visitor centre and ends at Tihu forest hut.
Some of the best known sights of Hiiumaa are located at this section: the idyllic Kaleste beach, Kõpu lighthouse, Korbi hills, etc.
This section of the route also runs mostly in unpopulated forest areas.
From Ristna visitor centre, the hiking route heads to the coast, where it runs along dune ridges and in a heath pine forest to Kaleste campsite.
Kaleste beach is one of the most beautiful sandy beaches in Hiiumaa: it is the paradise beach author Tõnu Õnnepalu wrote about in his novel “Paradise”.
From Kaleste campsite, the trail follows the Kaleste study trail and diverges from it to Hiiumaa’s most powerful coastal formations – the Korbi hills.
After passing Korbi hills, there are other hills – Järvemäed, where the trail also goes up and down the dunes.
Finally, the hiking trail crosses the road and gets to the foot of Tornimäe hill, the highest point of both Hiiumaa and the whole of western Estonia. Tornimäe hill is where Kõpu lighthouse, one of the world’s oldest still functioning lighthouses, stands.
Ascent to Tornimäe is quite steep and on rainy days, the path can be slippery and muddy.