170 years of resort traditions in Kuressaare

The history of Kuressaare as a tourist destination goes back to 1832 when a steamer took 20 visitors over from Riga. They took a stroll in town, spent some hours in the surroundings and boarded the vessel again.

In 1840 the first mud treatment establishment was built, followed by next ones in 1876 and 1883. Several thousands of people from a number of countries around the Baltic Sea used to spend their summers here, leading to the improvement of the town environment and development of a rich cultural life. Today, when Kuressaare is celebrating its 170^th anniversary as a resort, seven high standard spa-hotels offer a variety of modern health and wellness services to any taste and demand year-round. Moreover, there are plenty of opportunities for active leisure and things to enjoy in Kuressaare. Tourism is an important industry for Kuressaare and the island of Saaremaa where it is located. Much has been achieved to make the city looking and feeling lovely. One can enjoy all modern amenities in Kuressaare, still the wildlife and countryside with a number of nature treasures are just a few steps away on the second biggest island in the Baltic Sea.

These days travelling is not such an effort, the world has become smaller and people want to visit possibly many places once they have left home. During the recent decade, Kuressaare has joined several projects in orderto cooperate with our neighbours in Latvia and Finland but also in Estonia to attract visitors and create a win-win situation for every project partner. Currently, we are implementing a project with Ventspils and Talsi district of the Kurzeme region in Latvia. The project, called One Vacation-Two Countries, is supported by Estonia-Latvia programme and aims at developing beach infrastructure and promoting two countries as a joint tourist destination by producing advertising materials complementing each other and jointly disseminating information on our common region at tourist fairs in five countries.

The Swedish island of Gotland hasthroughout history been a natural place to communicate with. During the period when Europe was strictly separated into East and West, this connection was cut. Kuressaare, Ventspils and Gotland have taken up a joint initiative to restore the connection and submitted a project application to the Central Baltic Interreg IVA programme to support the need for natural neighbouring to be met. This year we welcome everyone to celebrate the resort anniversary and have your share in Opera Days, Maritime Week, Chamber Music Days, spa-tourism conference, exhibition about history of resorts in Kuressaare, and other events.