17-20 july 2025
Illiku, Saaremaa
17-20 july 2025
Illiku, Saaremaa
17-20 july 2025
Illiku, Saaremaa
17-20 july 2025
Illiku, Saaremaa
17-20 july 2025
Illiku, Saaremaa
17-20 july 2025
Illiku, Saaremaa
Location: Estonia, Saaremaa island, Orissaare town, illiku islet, Piidivabrik venue
International airport: Lennart Meri, Tallinn.
Distance from the airport: 175 km.
If you have never been to Saaremaa or haven’t visited in a long time and need guidance on how to get to the island, as well as great tips on what’s happening, then look here – we’ll give you a wonderful tour!
To get to the festival, you’ll have to cross water three times, but don’t worry—you won’t get your feet wet, you’re lucky if you get to use them at all.
There is a regular flight connection between Tallinn and Saaremaa, and a scheduled bus service runs here multiple times a day. Buses depart not only from the capital but also from other major Estonian cities. If you’re starting your journey from Tallinn, Tartu, or Pärnu, choose a bus route that’s headed to Kuressaare and hop on! But don’t forget that the festival takes place in Orissaare. A bus ticket costs around €20 and that includes the ferry ride, too. So it’s a rather comfy trip.
If you’ve chosen a domestic flight from Tallinn to Kuressaare, which takes about 30 minutes, you’ll still need to reach Orissaare, located 52 km from Kuressaare. You can get here by express bus (40 min) or a regional bus (70 min), which gives you the opportunity to explore some of Saaremaa’s smaller villages along the way.
Estonia is rather small and distances are relatively short. If you’re driving from Finland, Latvia, or Lithuania, keep in mind that your journey to Saaremaa’s gateway, the Virtsu harbour, won’t take more than five hours. During the summer months, ferries between Virtsu and Kuivastu depart every 30 minutes, and you can easily book your ferry tickets in advance. If a particular ferry is sold out, don’t worry—only about 70% of the capacity is available for pre-sale, so if you can’t get on your preferred boat, you’ll definitely find a spot on the next one.
When the traffic lights turn green, make sure you haven’t left any bags behind in Virtsu, and get yourself on that ferry. On board, you can enjoy a traditional Estonian Christmas dinner all year round, so if you’re hungry, go ahead and fill up. When you arrive in Kuivastu, an odd race begins, and Muhu island passes by in a heartbeat. But worry not – you’ll have plenty of time to take it all in on your way back.
There is a stretch of water between Muhu and Saaremaa that you can cross by the Väikese väina dam. From there you can already see the Orissaare TV tower on your right – use it as a landmark to guide you. Visiting the festival home, illiku islet, and Orissare marina should be at the top of your list as soon as you arrive. Take a deep breath of the fresh sea air, grab an iced coffee from Köht resto and go check out the mightiest oak tree in Orissaare that stands, quite intentionally, or maybe not, in the middle of the town’s stadium. This legendary tree was crowned European Tree of the Year in 2015. There’s a large hollow in its trunk—if you can fit inside, snap a picture and send it to us. We’ll send you something interesting in return!
If you want to explore Saaremaa’s nature and sights, let’s take a trip along the northern coast via Rannamaantee. This scenic road offers gentle curves, and through the trees, you’ll catch glimpses of the sea. Along the way, you’ll come across Maasi castle ruins, Pulli cliff, and the iconic Angla windmills and Kaali meteorite crater and Panga cliff aren’t too far away either!
If you start feeling hungry again, head towards Kuressaare and enjoy the city’s diverse dining scene. Hafen, OmNom, Pöide Grillhouse, Kanala Wings, and Arensburg are just a few great spots to satisfy your appetite. Kuressaare also offers plenty of accommodation options and more hot tubs than you can count—so we’ll leave it up to you to discover the perfect place to stay!
If you’re looking for more adventures outside the city, we recommend visiting these unique and experience-filled destinations: Sörwe Spa, Salme Sai, Särg resto, Pihtla brewery, Pilguse Manor, and Lambakogu (a herd of stone sheep worth checking out if you understand some Estonian and local humour). For those seeking active adventures, check out Pidula Wakepark, Saare Golf, or the Pöide disc golf course. Families with children should definitely visit the Saaremaa Zoo, where you can get up close with some fascinating animals. You can also spend an exciting day at Asva Viking Village or Muhu Adventure park!
If you find yourself back in eastern Saaremaa or Muhu, then know that you are in for a treat because there are plenty of fantastic dining options on this part of the island as well. Köht resto, Pizza&Prosecco, Mia Köök, Pritsukas cafe, Kala resto, and a whole street of fast food stalls in the heart of Muhu – Muhurito, Island Burger and Meite Napoli make your taste buds tingle. For dessert, we suggest something even sweeter—meeting the amazing local people! Visit Orissaare Rally Park, the Military Museum, Muhu Museum, Muhu Farm winery, or Tika horse stable for a truly memorable experience.
If you happen to be in Saaremaa over the weekend and are looking for a wild night out, to be honest, the nightlife here isn’t exactly mind-blowing. But luckily, during the summer months, the event calendar is packed, offering something for every taste. Check out saare.events to find a program that suits you!
If your Saaremaa adventure is coming to an end, don’t forget to pack a piece of it and take it home with you. We recommend grabbing a loaf of Muhu bread, a handcrafted juniper knife, Ideafarm’s amazing syrup, or even a cool piece of clothing from illiku or local Muhu designers as souvenir.
And once you step off the ferry once again, why not continue exploring the rest of Estonia? Summer here may be short, but that’s all the more reason to make the most of it—road-tripping through the country, discovering hidden gems, soaking up the sun and sea, and indulging in flavors and experiences. Estonia is home to fantastic restaurants that create seasonal, locally inspired culinary delights, and summer theaters that offer unique cultural experiences under the open sky. If you don’t feel like going far, head to a bog—legend has it that in Estonia, you’re never more than 15 kilometers away from one! Take a refreshing dip in a bog lake, snack on wild berries, and enjoy that pure energy boost.
For even more inspiration, check out Visit Estonia website—you’ll find countless ideas for adventures with friends!
“Trust the whale” or affectionately illiku’s forest whale will be born for the I Land Sound 2023 festival. With its life-size 5-metre body length it is a little bit bigger than a newborn humpback whale. The sculpture is covered in fishnets and cigarette butts that are one of the biggest sources of pollution in the oceans. Huge amounts of plastic, including cigarette butts, have been found in the stomachs of whales and other aquatic animals, and fishnets that are left adrift in the sea are a major threat to whales because they can get stuck.
A whale in the middle of the greenery looks a bit odd, maybe even a little magical, bringing a part of the deep sea into the daylight. The area of the body of water on planet Earth is unfathomable. And most of the time people don’t think about the fact that our activities on land will reach distant places in the world’s oceans. Just like that, litter and plastic travels with rainwater into the rivers and seas straight to oceans, where only 40 years ago huge garbage islands were discovered. These garbage islands are spread out over hundreds of thousands of kilometres and still collect more and more plastic. Inevitably this pollution also affects all sea animals, including the world’s biggest – whales.
It is estimated that since the beginning of the whaling industry about 3 billion whales from different species have been hunted, and because of that the population of some whales has become endangered.
Whales have an important role in preserving the Earth’s ecosystem. Even though they are far from our cultural space, they keep us alive by feeding the phytoplankton, that feeds on whale excrement. Phytoplankton is just like a rainforest that floats in the ocean and produces at least half of the planet’s oxygen. It helps to maintain the fish population and helps to fight climate change by binding immense amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere.
The more whales, the safer our planet!
Artist: Ines-Issa Villido
For millennia on end, people have kindled flames where the earth meets the sea, a signal for those setting sail across the water. Throughout millennia, humanity has kindled fires, letting smoke rise skywards, bearing with it hopes and fears, pleas and prayers. For millenia, men and women have sought to master the flame, yet even after the passage of countless centuries, the fire persists, a testament to the wild, the unbridled, the eternally free.
Metal artist, Taavi Teevet, crafts columns that strive to draw the earth closer to the sky, lifting the primitive and raw power of fire towards the heavens. As twilight cedes to night and the sun plunges beneath the sea’s horizon, these pillars conjure a new fiery twilight, a searing tableau painted against the cosmos. This spectacle is a Nordic symphony, a melody woven from the elements – earth, water, air, metal, and inevitably, the eternal flame.
And as the dawn makes its grand entrance once more, these fiery columns transform, metamorphose. They emerge as sculptures, no longer just bearers of light and heat but entities that simultaneously frame and carry the vista that unfolds with the breaking day.
Artist: Taavi Teevet
The Stop is raw and simple. It is a bus pavillion in the sea, where visitors can have a rest. It’s also the perfect place to see the beautiful sunrise of Illiku – looking towards a new and brighter future.
The installation conveys a powerful message of sustainability and the need to protect our oceans from pollution, as well as do everything in our power to prevent climate change.
An explosion of discarded plastic and cans can be seen flowing out of the bin, in contrast to the other beautiful flower explosions seen througout this year’s festival. The trash is painted gold, because one man’s trash, is our gold! There is too much plastic that we don’t recycle.
We urge you to take pictures sitting on the bench, and share it on social media along with your thoughts on sustainability to help normalise a more green way of living. We hope it inspires people to make small changes in their lives to protect our planet.
Artists: The students of Pallas university Miina Vilo, Monika Teder and Katariina Torm
Supervisor: Maiken Austin
Thank you: Innar Mäesalu from Haapsalu Linnavalitsus and Marju Saar Kuressaare Linnamajandus
ilandphant Ellu was born in 2019 and at the time she was part of the setting of Loojangu stage. Ellu carries the message of taking care of animals and nature and to make us think about the choices we make and how they affect our surroundings. Awareness and care open up opportunities to work with nature. Ellu also aims to raise people’s awareness about the life and destiny of the elephants who are used for hiking trips, rides and other forms of entertainment in tourism. Although elephants are very intelligent and like to learn new things, they are still wild animals and in order to make them obey humans they are subjected to a cruel training process.
Ilandphand Ellu is a life-sized African elephant and by climbing her you can experience the feeling of riding a real elephant without harming the animal. Ellu is all about life and love and wishes that people would choose to admire elephants from afar.
Artists: Kristjan Klemets, Kertu Laanela, Heikki Gross and Eva Reiska
The interpretation of the art was created for I Land Sound 2022. It invites people to look at themselves and understand the twists and turns of their thoughts and actions. The metal heart sits on a chess board and each square of it gives the opportunity to look at the situation from a new angle. Each step gives way to a new point of view, a new idea, a new opportunity, a new person – a new interpretation. And like that everyone has a chance to feel something that touches them deeply, something that resides deep in their heart. Everyone has a chance to find their own truth.
Artists: Mari-Leen Lao ja Enno Innos
Cigarette butts have become the most common litter on Earth and the biggest source of pollution in the sea. One cigarette filter can contaminate up to 500 litres of clean water by releasing toxins like lead, nicotine, acetone and ammonia. In the spring of 2019 we wanted to do something to improve the situation and raise awareness on the issue. So at I Land Sound 2019 we used Kops and custom made buttbins to collect 5.1 kg or about 29, 000 cigarette butts. All were used to make the Buttboard that was completed in July of 2020.
The bottom part of the SUP-board was made by John Kaju, a professional windsurfer and boatmaker from Saaremaa. Ines-Issa Villido, a well-known artist to festival guests, created the top part of the board, including the design, the stand for the Buttboard was designed by Laura Pormeister. The filters are coated with strong epoxy resin, which permanently attaches them to the paddle board and prevents harmful chemicals from being released into the environment. And for your information – yes, the board floats and you can paddle on it; no, it doesn’t smell.
Artists: Ines-Issa Villido, John Kaju and Laura Pormeister
Maria-Liisa Leonidov’s mural is an imagination of a magical-mystical forest that’s inhabited by some odd-looking nocturnal creatures. To make this colourful piece of art even more exciting the artist added lightbulbs as the eyes for the beings and just like that the piece comes alive at night. The mural received an award for the best area design at I Land Sound 2019 and decorates the seaward side of Piidivabrik to this day.
Artist: Maria-Liisa Leonidov
Nestled in the Baltic region, Estonia is a hidden gem waiting to be discovered by all adventurous souls. Although tiny, our homeland is packed with surprises – the wilderness and pure nature, stories of ancient times and mythical creatures, modern innovations and rich culture.
Did you know that Tallinn, our capital city, is home to one of the best-preserved medieval old towns in Europe? There’s nothing quite like taking a stroll through the charming cobblestone streets of our old town, where archaic towers stand proudly alongside trendy cafes. It feels as if you’re stepping back in time, but with all the modern luxuries. And there’s Wi-Fi everywhere!
But Estonia isn’t just about city life and ancient architecture; we’re all about embracing nature’s beauty too. Lose yourself in the serene wilderness of our national parks, where mystical bogs and whispering forests await. Take a dip in the sea, or if you’re feeling brave in a lake at the bog, that supposedly has rejuvenating qualities. Enjoy the freedom, the seclusion, the chance of picking berries or mushrooms in the wild!
Of course, no trip to Estonia is complete without experiencing our vibrant cultural scene. From theatres, museums and folk festivals in the countryside to cutting-edge electronic beats, our passion for art and music knows no bounds. Who knows, you might even discover your new favourite artist on a random night sipping drinks at a bar. And we just love singing! It’s part of our DNA and if you’re lucky enough, you might experience the magic that’s created at one of our song festivals.
So whether you’re here for the sights, the sounds, or the sheer sense of adventure, Estonia welcomes you with open arms and has a little surprise for everyone. Get ready to make memories that will last a lifetime in this beautiful corner of the world.
We recommend checking out the Visit Estonia website, that has all the information you could possibly need from accommodation to all the best sights and events in the country.
