Think of Hiiumaa as Estonia’s wilder, more windswept version of Martha’s Vineyard: a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve with miles of white-sand beaches and moss-carpeted forests, dotted with traditional timber farmhouses and medieval stone churches. While locals typically make the journey via a quick prop-plane hop from Tallinn or a leisurely mainland ferry, the most seamless route for international travelers is actually via Finland: After touching down in Helsinki and spending a night beneath the Belle Époque chandeliers of the freshly restored Hotel Kämp—the city’s storied, 19th-century grand dame—I boarded a private charter with Helsinki Citycopter for a breathtaking, 45-minute flight over the emerald islets of the Baltic Sea.
Hiiumaa moves at a very different pace from the Finnish capital, however. It’s long served as a popular summer getaway for Estonians, and more recently those who have prospered thanks to Tallinn’s tech boom over the past two decades: When I visited in June, families could be spotted hopping onto sailboats in the Kärdla marina, catching the early summer breeze to head out seal-watching, or gathering outside the beachside restaurants for smoked fish and cold beers.
Photo: Diana Iskander
Despite the island’s influx of visitors every summer, building a luxury retreat in such a remote location came with its fair share of challenges—though ultimately, it was a reminder to work with the land rather than against it. “It would have been easy at certain points to add more, to make things bigger, or to follow what the wellness industry is doing elsewhere,” Maran admits. “But we kept returning to the same principle: We wanted Eha to feel grown, not built, and that kind of feeling cannot be rushed.”
