Rummu Quarry Camping and Places to Stay by the Lake

• Top choice Rummu, cliffs, waterfall from US$144 Duration6 hours^[6]Group sizeSmall group, max 7^[6]Rating4.76 from 133 reviews^[6]Guide languageEnglish^[6] Check availability
• Paldiski and Rummu quarry from US$127 Duration7 hours^[7]Group sizeSmall group, max 8^[7]Rating4.15 from 6 reviews^[7]Guide languageEnglish^[7] See this tour
• Pakri park and coast from US$167 Duration5 hours^[8]Group sizePrivate group^[8]Rating4.69 from 8 reviews^[8]Guide languageEnglish, Estonian^[8] See this tour

Sleeping at Rummu quarry: what is actually there

The stay that is named at the quarry itself is Rummu Caravan Park, inside Rummu Quarry, which offers overnight accommodation for motorhomes, caravans and tents.^[1] That is the whole appeal of a night here: you park or pitch within sight of a turquoise lake sitting in an old limestone bowl, with the abandoned concrete blocks of a former prison standing at the water's edge. Early mornings and late evenings are the reward, when the day visitors have gone home and the surface of the lake turns to glass.

The quarry is a lived-in landscape of water, limestone and half-standing walls rather than a manicured attraction with a tidy car park. It began to fill with water after the prison closed after 1991, when the pumps that once kept the quarry and the prison dry were shut down.^[13] Rummu Quarry is open all year round every day from 10:00 to 20:00.^[4] Sleeping beside it means you watch the place change through the day instead of catching it in a single hour of afternoon light.

Rummu sits in Harju County, west of Tallinn and on the road towards Paldiski, which makes it an easy first or last stop on a longer Estonian loop. Arrive, set up, walk the shoreline, and save the coast and the waterfall for the following morning when the light is better and the roads are quieter.

Rummu quarry camping: vans, caravans and tents

Tents, caravans and motorhomes are all named for the park, so you can set your own level of comfort.^[1] Pack for Baltic weather rather than for a Mediterranean summer: a warm layer for the evening, a waterproof shell that actually keeps rain out, and midge repellent for still evenings in high summer. Ground in limestone country can be firm underfoot, so a few spare pegs and a mallet earn their place in the bag.

Water is the centre of everything here. In summer the water temperature at Rummu Quarry is 15.0 to 20.0 °C.^[9] The lake reaches a maximum depth of 14 metres.^[14] Swimming is an unofficial and unguarded affair, a place where locals usually come to swim in summer.^[10] If you would rather be warm than cold, sauna rituals are offered at Paekalda Holiday Center.^[12] Otherwise, a kettle, a stove and a windbreak do a surprising amount of work on a Baltic evening.

Low light over the quarry lake, with the old prison walls still standing at the water.

Getting to Rummu quarry from Tallinn

Without a car, the bus is the simplest way out. FlixBus runs 2 rides each day between Tallinn and Rummu.^[2] Two rides a day is a thin timetable, so check the times before you commit to a pitch, work out how you will carry water and food, and give yourself a comfortable margin rather than sprinting for the last bus with a rucksack.

By road, Daytrip lists the transfer from Rummu Quarry & Prison to Tallinn at a total distance of 45 km and an estimated time of 50 min.^[3] The route runs west out of the city through Harju County, past Keila and on towards Paldiski, so a car makes it easy to add a stretch of coast or the waterfall on the way home rather than doubling back.

If you would rather someone else did the driving, a day tour from Tallinn is the low-effort option. The tour booked here takes 6 hours and is limited to a small group of 7 participants, with free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance.^[6] It is a straightforward way to see the coast, the waterfall and the quarry in one run if you are staying in the city.

Rummu quarry houses, hotels and other bases

If canvas and caravanning are not for you, treat Rummu as a day out and sleep in the city instead. The transfer between Rummu Quarry & Prison and Tallinn is listed at a total distance of 45 km and an estimated time of 50 min, so a hotel bed in Tallinn, or a house rented in Keila or Paldiski, keeps you within an easy drive of the lake.^[3]

The stay named at the quarry is the caravan park, which takes motorhomes, caravans and tents.^[1] Sauna rituals are offered at Paekalda Holiday Center.^[12] Whichever base you pick, give one day of the trip to a guided loop, because the coast road, the lighthouse and the quarry gate are simpler when someone else is reading the map and watching the time.

If your dates fall on a summer weekend, book both the pitch and any tour ahead so the plan does not depend on luck. Free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance applies to the tour booked from this site, which softens the risk of committing before the forecast settles.^[6]

What to see around Rummu quarry

Keila waterfall is 6 metres high, and it is one of the stops on the day tour from Tallinn.^[6][15] It drops over a limestone ledge on the Keila River, a wide curtain of water that is loud and brown after rain and gentler in a dry spell. There is a viewing area and a park around it, and enough space to stretch your legs before the next stop.

The coast west of Rummu is a line of pale, steep cliffs above the Baltic, with pine and moss behind the edge, boulders on the beach below and seabirds riding the updraught. The same tour stops at Suurupi, Paldiski and Pakri lighthouse before turning inland for the quarry.^[6] Bring something windproof; the cliff tops are exposed and the Baltic breeze does not stop for photographs.

Inland, the local stone tells its own story. Vasalemma marble is the local name for Vasalemma limestone, a detritic limestone with a marble-like structure and texture.^[16] Once you have seen it in a quarry wall or in the paving of a small town square, you start noticing it in buildings and kerbs all over this corner of Estonia.

Winter at the quarry: ice, skates and the prison

Winter turns the lake into a different place altogether. Tickets for the Rummu skating rink are from €10 per person or €20 per family, and include access to the Rummu quarry in winter, along with the skating rink, the prison and an audio guide.^[5] Skating between half-drowned walls, with your breath in the air and almost nobody else around, is the kind of thing people remember longer than a summer swim.

Camping through an Estonian winter is a serious business: short days, hard ground, and a lake that locks up with ice. If you are not travelling with winter-rated kit and a plan for the dark, treat the rink as a day out and keep a warm base in Tallinn instead. The cold here is dry and sharp rather than damp, but it is still cold enough to empty a campsite quickly.

The quarry keeps its hours right through the cold months. It is open all year round every day from 10:00 to 20:00.^[4] Come in the middle of the day, dress for wind coming off the water, and expect low, long light that makes the drowned buildings look their best and the ice look faintly blue.

Diving, swimming and the drowned prison

Rummu quarry began to fill with water after the prison closed after 1991, when the pumps that once kept the quarry and the prison dry were shut down.^[13] A working limestone quarry became a lake with buildings half-submerged, walls dropping away into green water and machinery left exactly where it stood when the water arrived.

The maximum depth of the lake is 14 metres.^[14] Rummu Diving & WaterSports organizes weekly dives for certified divers, open water dives for those whose courses are incomplete, and full OWD courses.^[11] For a diver, the appeal is obvious: you swim past staircases, windows and sunken rooms rather than reef and coral.

If you are swimming rather than diving, keep it simple and keep it cautious. This is an unofficial and unguarded place for swimming or diving, where locals usually come to swim in summer.^[10] In summer the water temperature at Rummu Quarry is 15.0 to 20.0 °C, and the quarry is open all year round every day from 10:00 to 20:00.^[4][9] Cold water, hidden structures and no lifeguard are a combination that rewards a buoyancy aid and a bit of humility.

Planning your stay

1. Choose your base

   Decide between a pitch at the caravan park inside the quarry and a bed in Tallinn, 45 km and about 50 min away by road.^[1][3]

2. Sort out transport

   FlixBus runs 2 rides each day between Tallinn and Rummu, so check the times early if you are arriving by bus.^[2]

3. Build in the sights

   Keila waterfall is 6 metres high, and the day tour adds Paldiski, Pakri lighthouse and the quarry.^[6][15]

4. Plan for the water

   Summer water in the quarry is 15.0 to 20.0 °C and maximum lake depth is 14 metres.^[9][14] Swimming is unofficial and unguarded.^[10]

5. Book the day tour

   Free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance applies to the 6-hour small-group tour, which is limited to 7 participants.^[6]

Common questions