15 of the best things to do in Latvia

Latvia is crammed with storied castles, but few conjure up the same feelings of times past as medieval Cēsis Castle. Constructed in the early 13th century by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, this sturdy fortification stood firm for centuries, remaining inhabited until the 17th century. And its impenetrable towers survey the dense forests of Gauja National Park.

Before poking around the castle's crumbling courtyard, murky towers and pitch-black spiral staircase, you’ll be handed a candle-lit lantern to illuminate every unlit corner. Only the western tower, displaying a video timeline of the castle's history on its walls, has any semblance of modernity.

Adjacent to the castle in an 18th-century manor house is the Cēsis History & Art Museum, where you can see Latvia's first national flag and climb the Lademaher Tower for panoramas over the forest canopy. In summer, the castle’s grounds revert to the Middle Ages, with costumed revelers, craft displays and medieval games. A friendly, bushy-tailed cat guards the castle year-round.

Planning tip: You can buy separate tickets for each of the four parts of the complex, but a combined ticket covering the castle, manor house, tower and the art gallery in the stables is only a few euros more.

With its gabled Gothic townhouses, Art Nouveau landmarks, hulking medieval castle and symphony of soaring church spires, the whole of Rīga is an unofficial architectural museum. Founded in 1201, and cementing its wealth as a strategically placed port for the Hanseatic League, this is a city of cobbled streets, moats-turned-canals and affluent boulevards flanked by ornamental facades.

To discover the stories of those who have been and gone, head to Vecrīga, the medieval Old Town. Start at Rīga Cathedral, where Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque details are seamlessly blended – time your visit to coincide with the lunchtime organ concerts.

Swing by the Three Brothers, a trio of wedged-together, Dutch-gabled homes constructed over three centuries at a time of growing trade between Latvia and Holland. Then gawk at the flamboyant, sculpture-clad facade of the show-stealing House of the Blackheads – once home to the city's most prominent medieval guild – before admiring the city's handsome Art Nouveau synagogue and the gallery-like thoroughfare known as Alberta Iela.

Detour: If you visit Rīga at the weekend, swing by the pine-shrouded Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum for a peek at Latvian rural life. Spanning 115 historical wooden buildings gathered from across Latvia – including furnished farmsteads and a windmill – this interesting museum is just a 45-minute trolley bus ride (line 31) from the city center.

Leisurely treks through the nation’s four forested national parks are soul-soothing, but in the great outdoor adventure playground that is Latvia, there’s always some new experience to get stuck into. Try slipping on bog shoes to squish around the fringes of birdsong-soundtracked swamps in waterlogged Kemeri National Park.

In the sweeping forests of Gauja National Park, you can get a bird’s eye view of the canopy from a cable car or zoom along ziplines before kayaking the gentle rapids of the Gauja River. If wild swimming is more your scene, put Rāzna National Park and its namesake lake on your radar. Or set your sights on Slitere National Park for bird watching and pine-forest cycling trails dropping down to shoreline sunsets.

Planning tip: Wild camping is permitted in Lavia, with some restrictions. Download the Dabas Türisms app to find free and paid rest areas and plan your national park visit. There are a small number of bears living in Latvia’s forests so follow local safety advice.

Latvia boasts a coastline spanning nearly 500km (311 miles), lined with seemingly endless dune-ribboned and pine-backed Baltic beaches. Here, the coastline is always calling, and the cinematic setting more than compensates for the slightly cool waters.

For a city-based beach break, set your sights on Liepāja or Ventspils. Even bustling Rīga is just 30 minutes from white sand thanks to the energetic beach resort of Jūrmala. But Latvia’s shores shimmer brighter the further you stray from civilization.

Head to remote and windswept Cape Kolka to watch the Baltic melt into the Gulf of Riga, or amble along the boardwalk-topped, soaring Baltā Kāpa (White Dune) in Saulkrasti. You’ll soon find yourself besotted with the Baltic’s breezy beaches.

Stretching for some 3200km (2000 miles) across the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the two long-distance Baltic Trails offer heroic rewards for ramblers. You'd need months to tackle the entire network of trails, but some stretches naturally lend themselves to shorter adventures.

Linking Rīga and Tallinn, the Forest Trail slices through hushed hinterlands and nature reserves, including Gauja National Park, while the Coastal Hiking Route tracks the wave-lapped shoreline. The best way to start planning is via the helpful interactive maps on the Baltic Trails website.

Planning tip: From the fishing village of Pape Koņi, you can take a full-day, border-crossing beach stroll to the Lithuanian resort town of Šventoji. This pebbly beach offers a gentle introduction to the Baltic Coastal Hiking Route, but public buses in the area need to be booked 24 hours ahead by phone.

With its well-preserved medieval layout, wooden manor houses and half-timbered homes, Kuldīga is arguably Latvia’s prettiest town, having escaped the war damage that devastated many neighboring settlements.

Soak up the magic of Kuldīga's old center on foot, then pause for a riverside beer from the nearby DUNA Brewery overlooking Europe’s widest waterfall, the 249m-wide (817ft) Ventas Rumba. Drop into one of Kuldīga's cozy cafes (try the berry-bursting cakes at The Marmalade) before learning about the legends and history of the Duchy of Courland at the immersive Story of Ancient Kuldiga experience and Kuldiga County Museum.

Detour: For something a little different, wrap up warm and descend into the Riežupe Sand Caves, 5km (3 miles) from town. These atmospheric, hand-built tunnels extend deep into the hillside, though only a quarter of the labyrinth is accessible. Visit on a 30-minute torch-lit guided tour, complete with humorous stories and local legends.

Rīga’s reputation as the nightlife capital of the Baltics lures plenty of stag and hen parties to the city's busy pubs and hedonistic nightclubs. But with an ever-growing clutch of chic cocktail and craft beer bars spilling out of underground cellars and sprawling over cobbled terraces, this cosmopolitan city caters for all. Start a big night out by checking out Kakis Maisā or Distillers Republic, or drop into one of the city's late-night music venues such as the recently rehomed Laska V21.

Seeking a more elegant evening? Snap up tickets to a show at one of the city’s glitzy cultural venues. A night at the acclaimed Latvian National Opera or an orchestral performance at the Great Guild needn’t break the bank. Alternatively, secure tickets for the Arena Rīga to see two of Latvia’s most popular pastimes, ice hockey and basketball.

Planning tip: Latvia's biggest cultural celebration, the week-long Latvian Song and Dance Festival sees around 40,000 folk art, dance, and music performers put on numerous shows for some 500,000 visitors in the first week of July. Founded in 1873, this mega-event takes place every five years, returning to Rīga in 2028.

If you can't wait that long, visit the city of Liepāja – due to be crowned one of Europe's Capitals of Culture in 2027. There's always an exciting program brewing in the city’s futuristic Great Amber Concert Hall.

Foraging for birch sap, mushrooms and bilberries is a popular pastime, so it should come as no surprise that Latvian cuisine is heavily linked to the land. Even though the Michelin Guide arrived in Latvia in 2023, traditional recipes and modern Latvian cuisine still make a feature of local, seasonal ingredients.

Staples worth sampling include rupjmaize, Latvia’s beloved rye bread and pelēkie zirņi ar speķi, a humble but hearty dish of designated-origin gray peas with bacon. Other local favorites include smoked sprats, aukstā zupa, a chilled, bright pink beetroot-based soup, and pīrāgi, meat-stuffed savory dumplings. Buffet-style chain restaurant LIDO charges by weight, making it easy to sample a selection of local specialties.

Planning tip: Enlist the help of a local before you set out on your own (safe) foraging foray. Baltic Nature Tourism lists local farmers and guides who provide accompanied foraging experiences.

Sauna culture is embraced in both Baltic and Nordic nations, but Latvia’s traditional bathhouses, known as pirts, are places to engage with unique, millennia-old pagan traditions. If you’ve never been scrubbed with honey, brushed with birch twigs and plunged into cold ponds between wet-stone sauna sessions, now is your chance.

Sounds nerve-racking? Fear not. Your qualified pirtniek (sauna master) will tailor the session to your preferences. At the end of the three-hour-long experience, you’ll leave with both your body and mind cleansed – and for that, you can thank the two goddesses that inhabit each bathhouse according to local folk legend.

Planning tip: Be sure to hydrate well the day before and on the morning of your visit to a pirts. Most of the country's traditional bathhouses are found in countryside cabins and guesthouses; Žadeīta Pirts near Jūrmala offers a full menu of bathhouse rituals if you don't have time to stray far from Rīga.

Piecing together the history of Livonia, the medieval state spanning modern-day Latvia and Estonia, can take some time. You’ll need to learn about the Livs, the original pagan inhabitants of the land, and the medieval Curonians before diving into the Livonian Crusades and the rise of the Livonian Order.

Luckily, the Livonians left castles scattered across the country – Sigulda, inside Gauja National Park, is a superb spot to start your study session. Begin at the Sigulda Castle Complex, walking the ramparts of this ruined Livonian Order castle. Next, head to the Turaida Museum Reserve, home to a restored red brick castle, extensive exhibits in the grounds and displays dedicated to the Livs, for whom Turaida had special importance.

Planning tip: It's a 4km (2½-mile) walk between Sigulda and Turaida, or a 10-minute bus ride on line 3112. Tūrists Cafe, outside the Turaida Museum Reserve, is an excellent lunch spot, with heaped salads, pink soups and wholesome hospitality.

Latvia’s most extravagant architectural triumph, Rundāle Palace is a Baroque masterpiece and the brainchild of architect ​​Francesco Rastrelli – best known for his work on the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. Fronted by Versailles-inspired gardens and scented by delicate roses in spring, the well-manicured grounds set the scene for the opulent interior within.

Crossing the threshold, you’ll be whisked back to the 18th century. Retaining many of the original features requested by the Duke of Courland, the painstakingly restored private chambers and stately halls – of which around 40 are open to the public – are as educational as they are elaborate. Look out for the palace-heating porcelain stoves, frescoed ceilings and portraits of the Duke's family.

Try to schedule your stay to coincide with the summer solstice – or rather 23 and 24 June, as Latvia celebrates the middle of summer on fixed dates. Rooted in ancient traditions, Latvia’s Midsummer celebrations hark back to pagan times, and it's the party of the year.

Over the two days known as Līgo and Jāņi, wildflowers are transformed into headdresses, saunas are fired up, cheese is consumed copiously, folk songs are chanted around crackling bonfires and beer flows freely. Leaping over the bonfire is said to grant freedom from burdens, and if you’re still awake as the sun rises on the longest day of the year, you’ve done Jāņi justice.

Planning tip: Most major cities and towns have well-publicized public events with live music and all-night festivities. However, the most traditional and intimate celebrations take place in the countryside – enquire at guesthouses about local events and bonfires before booking.

Latvia's history is long and sometimes brutal. The country was conquered by a string of invaders over the centuries, and in modern times, the country was occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union twice. Some Soviet-era spaces, such as Karosta Prison, offer extreme reenactment experiences and overnight stays, but there are more sensitive ways to learn about the nation’s harrowing history.

In Rīga, the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, the Riga Ghetto and Latvian Holocaust Museum, and tours of the Salaspils Concentration Camp are insightful, if heart-wrenching, places to start getting to grips with Latvia's troubled past.

Latvia’s winter costume change transforms the country into a living Christmas card, especially after a fresh sprinkling of show. While the days are shorter and darker, and it’s tempting to squirrel away in one of Rīga’s cozy basement bars, nothing keeps Latvians from their winter sports, so why not join them?

Feeling brave? Venture down to Vecāķi for an icy plunge in the Baltic Sea. Or don warm winter gear for a spot of cross-country skiing – downhill slopes are rare in a country where the highest point is just over 300m (984ft). If you’d rather leave the winter sports to confident pros, snap up tickets to watch Latvia’s much-loved national sport, ice hockey.

Rīga’s cheer-inducing Christmas Market – scented by mulled wine or Black Balsam, a local herbal liqueur – is another seasonal treat. The city claims to have erected the first-ever decorated public Christmas tree, and you'll spot a stone marker on the ground in Town Hall Square attesting to this fact, so where better to celebrate the start of the holiday season?

Detour: It's just a short hop to Tallinn, the capital of neighboring Estonia, where locals also claim to have displayed the first Christmas tree. The city hosts its own stuck-in-time fairytale Christmas market, and you can get here in less than five hours by LuxExpress bus, with a machine serving complimentary hot chocolate and coffee onboard.