Lahemaa

Declared in 1971, it was the first national park in the whole of the Soviet Union, an unusual milestone within a political system that generally put industrial development ahead of conserving natural areas. Its name means land of bays, and it protects a mosaic of Baltic coast, boreal forest and extensive peat bogs — some with boardwalks that let you cross them and even swim in their dark pools — along with 18th and 19th-century Baltic manor houses that came through the Soviet era as curious pockets of heritage inside the park.