Things to do in Latvia

Stroll the cobblestone streets of Vecrīga, a UNESCO World Heritage Site packed with medieval churches, colorful merchant houses, and lively squares like Livu Laukums.

Housed in five former Zeppelin hangars from the 1920s, Riga Central Market is one of Europe's largest markets.

A 33-kilometre stretch of fine white sand along the Gulf of Riga, Jūrmala's beach is backed by pine forests and elegant wooden summer villas.

This 13th-century red-brick castle perches above the Gauja River valley near Sigulda, surrounded by a sprawling open-air museum of wooden buildings and ancient burial grounds.

Latvia's grandest Baroque palace, designed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli in the 1730s for the Duke of Courland, features gilded halls, a French formal garden, and a restored theatre.

A looping wooden boardwalk leads deep into Ķemeri National Park's vast raised bog, past dark mirror pools, moss hummocks, and stunted pines.

At 240 metres wide, the Venta Rapid is the broadest natural waterfall in Europe.

Over 120 historic wooden buildings—farmsteads, windmills, churches, and fisherman's cottages—have been relocated to a forested lakeside park on the edge of Riga.

Alberta Iela and neighbouring streets in Riga's Quiet Centre contain the world's densest concentration of Art Nouveau facades, many designed by Mikhail Eisenstein around 1900.

Latvia's oldest and largest national park protects 90 kilometres of the Gauja River valley, with sandstone cliffs, ancient cave systems, and dense forests criss-crossed by marked hiking trails.

This grim military prison operated from 1900 through the Soviet era and now serves as an interactive museum where visitors can experience a mock arrest, solitary confinement, and guided tours of cells still bearing graffiti from inmates.

The ruined 13th-century Livonian Order castle in Cēsis lets you explore crumbling towers and vaulted halls by candlelight—guides hand you a lantern at the entrance.

Rising 42 metres above the city centre, this 1935 copper and granite monument topped by a figure holding three stars symbolises Latvian independence.

This 260-year-old herbal liqueur made from 24 botanicals is served neat, with coffee, or in cocktails at bars throughout Riga's Old Town.

Where the Baltic Sea meets the Gulf of Riga, Cape Kolka is a wild, wind-blasted spit backed by the Slītere forest.

Latvia's most important Catholic pilgrimage site, this 18th-century Baroque basilica in eastern Latgale draws tens of thousands every August 15 for the Assumption of Mary.

Built by Tsar Alexander I in the 1820s, this star-shaped fortress is the only one in the Baltics preserved almost entirely in its original form.

Hidden 9 metres beneath a paper-mill village, this secret Cold War bunker was designed to shelter Communist Party leaders in case of nuclear war.

At 368 metres, Riga's TV tower on Zaķusala island is the tallest structure in the Baltics.

Housed in a splendid 1905 Neo-Baroque building that reopened after a major renovation, this museum holds the country's largest collection of Latvian art from the 18th century to the present, plus a strong selection of Russian and Baltic German works.

One of the few bobsled tracks in Eastern Europe open to tourists, the Sigulda run sends visitors hurtling down the 1,200-metre ice channel at speeds up to 80 km/h in winter, or on wheeled bobsleds in summer.

Occupying the ancient Livonian coast on the Kolka peninsula, Slītere protects pristine dune ridges, primeval spruce forest, and coastal meadows rich in orchids.

The Livonian Order's 13th-century stone castle in Ventspils now houses a museum of local history, while the surrounding park features whimsical cow sculptures, a wide sandy beach, and a children's adventure playground loved by Latvian families.

The 123-metre Gothic spire of St. Peter's, rebuilt after a 1973 fire, has an elevator that whisks visitors to an open-air viewing platform.

After dark Vecrīga transforms: basement craft-beer bars, Soviet-themed cocktail lounges, and open-air terraces on every lane compete for attention.