Latvia: Eight Attractions and Natural Wonders

The middle Baltic state

Latvia sits between Estonia and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea, with about 1.8 million people and a capital, Riga, that has long been one of the largest and most cosmopolitan cities in the region — a Hanseatic trading port that later became a showcase of Art Nouveau architecture. Away from the capital, Latvia is heavily forested, dotted with lakes, and cut by the Gauja river valley, with a long, mostly wild Baltic coastline.

The eight below centre on Riga and the nearby Gauja Valley, with the coast and a bog trail further out. Late spring to early autumn is best; the Gauja valley is especially good for the autumn leaves, and winter brings snow and Christmas markets to Riga.

1. Riga's old town

Riga's old town (Vecrīga), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, packs eight centuries of Baltic history into a compact quarter on the Daugava: the medieval Dome Cathedral, St Peter's Church (a lift climbs the tower to a viewing gallery), the ornate House of the Blackheads, the Three Brothers, the oldest group of houses in Riga, and, just outside, a lively Central Market set in former Zeppelin hangars. Cobbled lanes lead to riverside parks along the old city canal.

Two days covers the centre comfortably, with easy walks to the sights below.

2. Riga's Art Nouveau district

Beyond the old town, Riga has what the historian Jānis Krastiņš calls the highest concentration of Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) buildings anywhere — about a third of all buildings in the centre, put up in a building boom around 1900, many of the best known by the architect Mikhail Eisenstein (father of the filmmaker Sergei). Alberta iela is the street to walk, with faces and ornament worked into stone and stucco.

The Riga Art Nouveau Centre museum, in a period apartment, gives the domestic context.

3. Gauja National Park and Sigulda

Gauja National Park, an hour from Riga, Latvia's largest national park, protects the old Gauja river valley — forested hills, sandstone cliffs and caves, and a scatter of castles. Sigulda, the main base, has a cable car across the gorge, a bobsleigh and luge track (built in 1986 for Soviet sledders, now Latvia's training centre), and summer bungee jumping. The Gūtmaņa cave, the widest and highest in the Baltics, holds carved names and dates going back to the 17th century.

It is an easy day trip or overnight from Riga, and a hub for hiking and canoeing.

4. Turaida Castle

Across the valley from Sigulda, Turaida Castle is a striking red-brick medieval fortress, carefully restored after standing in ruin for centuries, at the heart of the Turaida Museum Reserve. It is linked to the 19th-century legend of the "Rose of Turaida", a young woman said to have been murdered in the nearby Gūtmaņa cave in 1620, whose grave in the castle grounds is still much visited.

The castle tower gives the best view back over the Gauja valley.

5. Cēsis

Cēsis, further up the Gauja valley, keeps its medieval street plan around the ruined castle of the Livonian Order, where visitors can climb the Western Tower to the vaulted Master's Chamber and a view over the town. The newer castle next door houses a museum, and the castle park and its pond make for an easy stroll.

It is a good add-on to Sigulda and Turaida on a day through the Gauja valley.

6. Rundāle Palace

Rundāle Palace, in the southern Zemgale region, is one of Latvia's two great ducal palaces — a baroque and rococo summer residence built for the Dukes of Courland by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the architect behind the Winter Palace in St Petersburg. Restored over decades after Soviet-era neglect, its gilded state rooms and formal garden are the closest thing in the Baltics to a Versailles in miniature.

It is about 80 kilometres south of Riga, near the town of Bauska and its own castle ruin.

7. Jūrmala

Jūrmala, a strip of small towns along 32 kilometres of white-sand beach just west of Riga, was the seaside retreat of the Soviet elite and remains Latvia's main resort — wooden villas in a distinctive local Art Nouveau style, spa hotels, pine forest, and the old main street, Jomas iela. It is easily reached by suburban train and makes a relaxed contrast to the capital.

Summer is busy; the pine-forest walks are pleasant in any season.

8. The Ķemeri bog

Ķemeri National Park, next to Jūrmala, protects the Great Ķemeri Bog — a raised peat bog dotted with small pools, crossed by wooden boardwalks of 1.4 and 3.4 kilometres, the longer with an observation platform for sunrise or sunset over the flat, mossy expanse. The park also has sulphur springs and muds that fed the 19th-century resorts and spas of Ķemeri.

It is an easy add-on to a Jūrmala day, especially early or late for the light.

Latvia suits a short trip: two or three days in Riga, with a day trip to the Gauja valley (Sigulda, Turaida, Cēsis) and a day to Jūrmala or Rundāle — about a week covers all eight comfortably.