Estonia 
In numbers.
30m
Height
OpenStreetMap
May–Jun
Aug–Sep
Best months
53m
Elevation
The water at Valaste Waterfall, month by month
It roars from April to May.
The fullest months: from April to May. Below −4 °C on average (from January to February): the falls can partly freeze.
- 52%Jan
- 43%Feb
- 57%Mar
- 100%Apr
- 84%May
- 71%Jun
- 51%Jul
- 58%Aug
- 60%Sep
- 72%Oct
- 63%Nov
- 62%Dec
Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from May to June and from August to September.
Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfall in Estonia
Valaste Waterfall is a waterfall in Estonia. The water falls 30 m.
Getting there.
- Kohtla-Järvenearest town · 6.1 km in a straight line
- Parking 50 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Tartu Airport (TAY)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 132 km in a straight lineCar hire at TAY airport (Tartu)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May to June and from August to Septemberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop as mapped in OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 55 m in 0.3 km.
What is around.
- 2viewpoints
- 2waymarked walking routesPenijõe-Aegviidu-Kauksi haru. IV lõik: Roela-Mummassaare, E11 section 36: Toila‒Saka
- 4car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- 1toilets
- 4information boards and visitor centres
- 4bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmKarjaoru joastik
- —caves
- 1campsitesValaste
- 2hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmOntika, Valaste hostel
- 1restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Kohtla-Järve6.1 km in a straight line
- Toila10 km in a straight line
- Jõhvi11 km in a straight line
- Kohtla-Nõmme14 km in a straight line
- Kiviõli23 km in a straight line
- Sillamäe25 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | -3 | -4 | 0 | 6 | 13 | 17 | 21 | 20 | 15 | 8 | 3 | -1 |
| Night °C | -7 | -8 | -5 | 1 | 7 | 12 | 16 | 15 | 11 | 5 | 0 | -4 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 56 | 48 | 44 | 44 | 54 | 81 | 68 | 84 | 68 | 76 | 71 | 64 |
| Wet days | 14 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Sun h/day | 0.1 | 1.5 | 4.6 | 7.0 | 9.4 | 8.8 | 8.9 | 7.0 | 4.4 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 25 | 31 | 27 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 19 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (53 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 102% | 268% | 144% | 118% | 74% | 117% | 108% | 76% | 69% | 85% | 127% | 95% |
| 2021 | 103% | 88% | 120% | 79% | 302% | 33% | 51% | 129% | 50% | 91% | 138% | 93% |
| 2022 | 119% | 148% | 48% | 73% | 85% | 89% | 87% | 64% | 86% | 67% | 65% | 101% |
| 2023 | 160% | 74% | 163% | 68% | 39% | 37% | 110% | 76% | 83% | 153% | 111% | 81% |
| 2024 | 71% | 108% | 87% | 209% | 24% | 110% | 228% | 109% | 51% | 57% | 132% | 184% |
| 2025 | 192% | 68% | 104% | 127% | 183% | 177% | 128% | 132% | 54% | 84% | 130% | 108% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Valaste Waterfall
Estonia
- 30 mHeight
- —Average flow
- May–Jun, Aug–SepBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q37426) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Height of the drop | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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