After 1944 Naissaar disappeared from the map of places an ordinary person could visit. The Soviet navy took over almost the whole island and built in its forests a naval-mine depot often described as the largest in the Baltic: storage yards and an assembly workshop in the middle of the island, linked to the harbour by the old fortress railway. For nearly fifty years the only civilians here were the lighthouse staff.
The garrison lived at Männiku, a purpose-built settlement in the pines about a kilometre east of the old village of Lõunaküla: around ten houses for officers and their families, a headquarters, barracks, a club, a power station and a fuel store. When the troops left in the early 1990s they burned the explosive out of the mines and left the empty steel shells behind. Scrap dealers took many; the rest still lie about the island and have become its unofficial emblem.
Top things to do: Männiku & the Mine Factory
Walk through Männiku
The railway and the main track from the harbour both lead to Männiku. Some of the brick and silicate houses have been taken over as summer homes; others stand empty with trees growing through the roofs. It is an unusually clear picture of what a closed Soviet garrison looked like — read it from the road, and do not go inside derelict buildings.
Find the mine warehouses
The storage sheds and the assembly works where mines were fitted out stand in the forest in the central part of the island, beside the old railway bed. The central trail passes them. Rails, loading ramps and the odd piece of machinery survive; roofs and floors are not to be trusted.
Count the mine casings
You will meet the empty shells everywhere: stacked beside the track, half-buried in sand on the shore, and reused as fire pits, flower pots, even a sauna stove. They are harmless — the charge was burned out before the navy left — and they make the island’s best photographs.
Visit the military museum
A small museum of the island’s military past, run as a branch of the Coastal People’s Museum in Viimsi, shows mines, uniforms, vehicles and photographs. It keeps summer hours only, tied to the boat season, so ask on the boat or at the harbour whether it is open on your day.
Ride there by train or truck
In season a small train on the restored narrow-gauge railway runs between the harbour and Männiku, and guided tours of the island use old military trucks. Either saves the walk and comes with commentary.
How to get to Männiku & the Mine Factory
- From the harbour: Männiku is about 3.5 km south of the harbour along the railway and the forest road — under an hour on foot, a quarter of an hour by bike.
- By island transport: the seasonal train and the truck tours both go to Männiku; times are arranged around the boats, so ask when you land.
- To the island: see our guide to getting to Naissaar for boats from Tallinn.
Insider tips
- Stay on roads and marked paths. Naissaar was a military area for most of the 20th century and unexploded ordnance is still occasionally found; never touch metal objects you cannot identify, and report anything suspicious.
- Keep out of ruined buildings and underground rooms — floors, stairs and roofs have had three decades to rot.
- Some houses at Männiku are private summer homes: photograph from the road and respect gardens and fences.
- There is no shop. In summer there is usually somewhere near the harbour or in Männiku serving simple food and drinks, but do not rely on it — carry water and a picnic.
Best tours & tickets: Männiku & the Mine Factory
These experiences are the easiest way to see Männiku & the Mine Factory:
Private island trip from €796 per group From Tallinn: Half-Day Guided Tour to Naissaar Island
The only Naissaar trip listed on GetYourGuide: a private half-day outing from Tallinn with the crossing and a guide on the island. It is new and has no reviews yet, and the price is for the whole group — it makes most sense when you can share the cost.
- Boat crossing of Tallinn Bay with your own group
- Guided visit to the island’s nature park and military heritage
- Priced per group, not per person
Guided tour from €167 Tallinn: Behind the Iron Curtain Soviet Secrets Guided Tour
A longer tour by vehicle to Soviet military sites outside the centre. It is the closest thing on the mainland to what you see on Naissaar: a coast that was fenced off, guarded and armed for half a century.
- An abandoned air-defence base
- Former border zones on the coast
- How the Moscow Olympics reached Estonia’s shore
Walking tour from €30 Hidden Tallinn: Soviet Walking Tour
A well-reviewed, inexpensive walk through the Soviet layer of the city. It is the natural companion to Naissaar, which spent the same decades as a closed military island that ordinary Estonians could only look at from the shore.
- Soviet-era architecture and everyday spaces still in use
- Stories from the occupation years
- Beyond the usual Old Town route
