In pine woods on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, west of the resort strip of Zelenogorsk, lie the shattered concrete remains of Fort Ino. It was built from 1909 as part of the defences of Saint Petersburg, a key battery of Peter the Great's Naval Fortress, designed to close the gulf to enemy fleets with heavy guns. When Finland became independent, the fort ended up on Finnish territory, and under the Treaty of Tartu in 1920 its fortifications were to be dismantled, which is why what remains today is mostly blasted concrete, scattered among the trees and dunes.
The Karelian Isthmus here is a land of sand, pine and granite boulders left by the ice age glaciers, with long beaches on the gulf and lakes inland. It was Finnish territory until the Winter War and Second World War, and traces of Finnish farms, cemeteries and fortifications remain in the forests. Komarovo, a few kilometres east, is a resort village where the poet Anna Akhmatova spent her last summers and is buried.
The roads here run along the coast and through pine forests, mostly flat with gentle bends, and in summer they are busy with holidaymakers heading to the beaches and dachas. The coastal road is pleasant, with occasional views of the gulf, and smaller roads lead inland to lakes and villages. Surfaces vary, and sand can drift onto the road near the beaches.
The light on this coast is the thing people remember. On summer evenings the sun sinks slowly into the gulf toward Finland, the sand turns pink, and the pines throw long shadows across the ruins. Locals come out to swim in shallow, cool water that barely gets salty this far east in the Baltic. In winter the gulf freezes, and ice fishermen walk far out onto it.
Fuel and services are available in Zelenogorsk and Roshchino, ten kilometres away inland, while Molodyozhnoye, the nearest village, is small. The fort ruins are reached by forest paths and can be dangerous, with broken concrete, holes and rusted metal, so take care. Visitors from abroad face a changed political and practical situation in Russia, so official advice comes before any plan here.