Saaremaa · Backpacking

Without a car this is one of the cheapest places in Estonia — village-shop food, free beaches, and modest entry prices: Kuressaare Castle is €9–13 and Mihkli Farm Museum starts at €6. With a car, the ferry and the fuel for long empty roads outweigh everything else you spend.

Everything reaches Saaremaa through the Virtsu–Kuivastu crossing to Muhu and then the causeway. Foot passengers and cyclists simply turn up; cars should be booked, especially on summer weekends. The regional tourist office lists the ticket sellers and timetables.

The island is flat and the roads are quiet; the obstacle is distance, not gradient. A bike is far cheaper than a hire car and covers the Kuressaare–Nasva–Mändjala coast comfortably in a morning, while the peninsulas are full-day rides into wind that rarely lets up.

RMK, the state forest manager, maintains marked campfire sites, huts and camping areas across Estonia including Saaremaa, with locations, booking and rules published on its site. Between those and the commercial campsites on the Mändjala coast, sleeping outdoors is the cheapest way to do the island.

Saaremaa is a summer destination: in July everything is open and full, and from late autumn a large share of the accommodation, restaurants and attractions simply closes. Shoulder season is much cheaper, but check that the specific thing you came for is still running.