Welcome to Kuressaare
Saaremaa's star attraction, Kuressaare is a picturesque town with peaceful leafy streets, charming guesthouses and cafés, and a magnificent castle rising up in its midst. The town is also famous for its spas, which range from Eastern-bloc sanatoriums to sleek and stylish resorts. Its reputation as a health centre began as early as the 19th century, when the ameliorative properties of its coastal mud were discovered and the first health spas opened.
Kuressaare's reason for being is its castle, which was founded in the 13th century as the Haapsalu-based Bishop of Ösel-Wiek's stronghold in the island part of his diocese. Kuressaare became Saaremaa's main trading centre, developing quickly after passing into Swedish hands in 1645. In the Soviet era Kuressaare was named Kingisseppa, after Viktor Kingissepp, an Estonian communist of the 1920s.
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