Kihnu Island
Kihnu
A small island in the Gulf of Riga where women wear colourful striped skirts and ride sidecar motorcycles. Its cultural space is listed as UNESCO intangible cultural heritage.
Kihnu Island covers about 17 square kilometres, and its roughly 500 residents keep unique traditions. Women wear hand-woven long skirts with red stripes in daily life and sing ancient runic songs, while the men mostly go out fishing. The Kihnu Cultural Space was inscribed on UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2003. Visitors can rent bicycles or ride a sidecar motorcycle driven by a local around the island, and visit the Kihnu Museum, the Orthodox church, the lighthouse and handicraft shops. It takes about 40 minutes to drive from Pärnu to Munalaiu Harbour, then about an hour by ferry. There is also a direct summer ferry from Pärnu, and booking ferry tickets in advance is recommended.
Opening hours
Open all day; ferries per timetable
Nearby sights
- Valgeranna Beach
- Pärnu Mole
- Lydia Koidula Memorial Museum
- Pärnu Beach
- Ammende Villa
- Pärnu Mud Baths
- Vallikäär Park
- Tallinn Gate