Ruunaraipe campfire site

The Ruunaraipe dunes were formed around 14,000 years ago, when the shoreline of the Baltic Ice Lake was located here. These special dunes stand out in the middle of Soomaa’s swampy landscape and are some of the highest inland dunes in Estonia.

At Ruunaraipe in Soomaa National Park, high sand dunes rise out of the surrounding swamps and bogs – among the highest inland dunes in Estonia. They were built about 14,000 years ago, when the shore of the Baltic Ice Lake reached this spot and the wind piled up sand along its beach. Today slender pines grow on and around the dunes, and the forest is popular for mushrooms, such as rufous milkcaps and russulas, and for berries. You can climb the dunes, several metres high, and walk through the pines, and up to two tents may be pitched on the sand.