Zelenogorsk, the Green Hill, was Terijoki until 1948, and for the first half of the twentieth century it was one of the busiest Finnish resort towns on this coast, the first sizeable stop across the border from St Petersburg. Wealthy families from the imperial capital built summer villas here, and the town had a famous casino, a promenade and a lively summer season. The Finnish past is still visible in the Lutheran church, a pale stone building with a tall spire, restored after decades of neglect, and in the layout of the older streets with their wooden houses set among pines.
Today it has about fifteen thousand people and a split personality: a quiet seaside town in winter, a crowded escape from the city in summer. The beach, long and sandy, runs along the shore of the Gulf of Finland, and on clear days you can see the low line of the Kronstadt forts and the dam across the bay. A short ride east lies Komarovo, a village of dachas where the poet Anna Akhmatova spent her last summers and where she is buried in a small cemetery among the pines.
For riders, Zelenogorsk is the last real town on the coastal stretch before the road heads into quieter country toward Primorsk and Vyborg. The coastal road beyond it narrows and runs through forest, with bends that follow the shoreline, occasional glimpses of the sea, and long straights through the pines. The surface is mostly decent but can be patchy, and the road is popular with weekend riders from St Petersburg, so do not be surprised to see groups of bikes heading north on a sunny Saturday.
The practical side is easy. Fuel stations, supermarkets, cafes and restaurants line the main road through town, and the seafront has places to sit with a coffee and watch the water. If you want a swim, the beach is fine in summer, though the water is cool and shallow for a long way out. Fill the tank here before heading on, as the next stretch along the coast is thinly populated, and enjoy the smell of pines and salt that seems to define this whole shore.