Our trip to Latvia was packed! We started with the seaside town of Liepaja then headed to Kuldiga, Kemeri National Park for a hike, Riga for a couple days, Jurmala for a day of relaxation, and Sigulda for a day of exploring and castles! Safe to say, I loved every minute of Latvia.
Liepaja
We drove over from Lithuania so this was our first taste of Latvia. We stayed near the beachside park and explored the beach town of Liepaja for a weekend. Of course, we really enjoyed the beach, but also got a little sight-seeing in by walking the “Follow the Notes” path! We learned about the wooden and art nouve architecture, Peter’s Market, and how the residential area of Kurmajas Avenue became a popular resort destination. It was a great way to see a bit of the town and learn some history!
Kuldiga
I’m a HUGE waterfall girl! I love them. So, when I found out that the WIDEST waterfall in Europe was in Latvia, I knew we had to stop! Venta Rapid in Kuldiga is 817 feet across! It was impressive! Definitely not the tallest, but adorable! Just like the town itself which dates back to 1242
We only had a few hours to explore but would have loved to spend a full day (probaby two) walking the small town, enjoying the beautiful parks and taking in the nature all around. Although, not pictured, we loved watching the fish (salmon and trout) attempt to jump up the falls. There were 100’s of them!
Kemeri National Park in Latvia!
It was my first “bog experience” and I loved it! I didn’t know what to expect other than some sort of wetland, but it’s definitely different from anything I’ve seen before. It’s nothing like a swamp or marsh that I’ve been to in Florida or Wisconsin, but it is wet! We enjoyed the longer boardwalk loop “hike” which was an easy stroll and under 3 miles. It took us about an hour and a half, but you may enjoy spending a little more time taking in the beautiful scenery.
Kemeri National Park is less than an hour drive from Riga which makes it a perfect day activity if you find yourself in Riga for a few days (or weeks)! We stopped on our drive to Riga and arrived around mid-day. If you have more flexibility in your schedule it would be amazing to see the park at sunrise or dusk which would be a good option in the spring or fall.
Riga
Riga, the capitol of Latvia, has everything you would expect a capitol city to have. A charming old town, history, beautiful buildings, lovely parks, and perfect city squares filled with restaurants and cafes.
We did our usual walking tour where we learned a lot of history and interesting things about Riga, Latvia and the Baltics. We met at the cat house (very interesting story) and learned about Riga’s association with cats. Our guide gave us some wonderful food and drink options, like going to Ala Pagrabs on Wednesdays (make reservations) to see the traditional Latvian dances and trying a unique beverage, Riga black balsam. The original is quite harsh so try the sampler and have someone to share it with
Beer! I was pleasantly surprised with the beer scene here! We stopped at Kakis Maisa for a local beer flight, Ms & Mr Beer that has a nice selection of local beer, Labietis that had some of the most interesting flavors (tomato gose and herbed ale) and Banshee that has over 20 draft beers plus more in bottles and cans. We missed Stargorod, but it is definitely on the list for next time!
Jurmala
So, I loved it here! A lovely coastal beach town in the Baltics. Just 45 min from Riga, which makes it a perfect day trip. We were even able to use public transportation to get here! Like many of the coastal beach towns in the Baltics, you have a mix of coniferous and deciduous trees before the trees open up to a beautiful coast!
The town itself self is also super cute. They have a pedestrian street, Jomas Street, that’s lined with cafes, restaurants, craft vendors and ice cream carts. Running parallel to it is Jūras Street, where you can see many of the different architecture styles. Jurmala is the perfect balance of seaside and city!
Sigulda!
My oh my, what a wonderful place. You can totally take public transportation here from Riga, but plan on walking around 10 miles if you do that and be sure to have a whole day set aside. We rented a car for the day and probably should have used it a little more because we almost got 10 miles in ourselves and it wasn’t easy!
Once we arrived, we took the Cable car from Sigulda across the Gauja River to Krimulda, walked to Gutman Cave, followed the walking path along the road to Turaida Castle, walked back down towards Gutman Cave, and hiked all the way back to where we first got into the cable car.
We then explored the new castle which was built between 1878 and 1881 and old castle which was built in 1202! They were in the same area and although we didn’t pay to go into the new castle we did pay the fee to walk around the grounds of the old castle. The views were gorgeous and we could spot the Turaida Castle, where we had just walked from. After that exploration we added another little walk along the Gauja River where we were able to admire the sandstone cliffs and small devil’s cave. It was a beautiful trip filled with beautiful sights.
I know we saw a lot! I loved the beach at Liepaja, the waterfall in Kuldiga, the very interesting hike at the Kemeri National Park, everything about Riga, the vibes in Jurmala and the castles in Sigulda but after looking at a map, I realized that that was only HALF the country. There is so much more to see, Cesis and Kandava are definitely on my list! I can’t wait to go back!
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