June to August is the easiest answer: long light, a warm shallow sea and island kitchens open for summer. For a first Estonia journey, start here.
May and early June bring green forests, dry boardwalks and long evenings before the busiest holiday weeks. These months are especially good for Tallinn, Lahemaa and the bogs.
The rarest prize is early spring. In March and April, snowmelt can lift Soomaa's rivers over their banks until the forest floods silver and the way through is by canoe — the fifth season. It does not come on order; I watch the water and time the trip to meet it.
Late August and September bring the Peipsi onion harvest, mushrooms in the forests and warm days with fewer visitors.
Winter is dark by four. Choose it for Christmas streets, frozen bog pools and the deep heat of a smoke sauna.
Tell me your months, and I will plan the Estonia they reveal: floodwater, islands, harvest or the long light of midsummer.
