The heart of the Baltics: Riga and its UNESCO-listed old town packed with art nouveau, endless white-sand beaches, medieval castles among forests, and an unhurried pace that still escapes the crowds.
Latvia is the middle country of the three Baltic states and probably the most underrated. Its trump card is Riga, the capital: the largest city in the Baltics, with a UNESCO-listed medieval old town and, above all, one of the world's greatest concentrations of art nouveau (jugendstil) architecture, with façades covered in faces, dragons and sculpted figures. Add forests covering almost half the territory, more than 500 km of white-sand Baltic coast and medieval castles, and you have a destination with a great deal to discover and still very little crowding.
The country is flat and easy to cover. Riga works as a base for almost everything: half an hour away is Jūrmala, the great seaside resort of dunes and wooden villas; to the west, the Kurzeme region with Cape Kolka and fishing villages; and to the east, historic Vidzeme with the 'valley of castles' around Sigulda and Cēsis, inside Gauja National Park. In a few days you can combine a lively capital with Baltic nature, beach and castles.
The best of Latvia is Riga itself: elegant, cultured, with a rising food and nightlife scene, at prices well below Western Europe. What surprises most visitors is how much forest and untouched coast sits minutes from the capital, and how quickly the country turns quiet, green and genuine once you leave the centre.
The currency is the euro (€). In Riga and the larger towns cards work almost everywhere, but carry some cash for markets, small villages and transport. Tell your bank before you travel and check the day's rate.
Riga (RIX) is the biggest airport in the Baltics and the home base of airBaltic, so it usually has the best connections in the region. A city bus links the airport with the centre in about half an hour. Lux Express and Ecolines connect Riga with Tallinn and Vilnius in around four hours, with wifi and comfortable seats, and are the natural way to do the three-country Baltic circuit. Trains work well for nearby escapes such as Jūrmala beach or Sigulda castle. The old town and the art nouveau district are walkable.
The best time to visit Latvia is summer, June to August: very long days — around the solstice it barely gets dark — temperatures of 17 to 25 °C, everything open, Jūrmala's beaches at their best and a full festival calendar. It is high season and the nicest window for combining Riga, coast and nature. The peak is Jāņi (Midsummer, 23-24 June), the most important celebration of the year, with flower crowns, bonfires and singing across the country.
Late spring (May) and early autumn (September) are also good windows: fewer people, slightly lower prices and still pleasant weather. Autumn, late September and October, brings the foliage colours in Gauja National Park, one of the finest landscapes of the year. Winter, November to March, is cold, dark and snowy; Riga turns very Christmassy — the city claims the first decorated Christmas tree in history, in 1510 — but days are extremely short and many outdoor activities are limited. In short: summer for the full trip, autumn for the foliage, winter only for the Christmas magic.
Latvian cooking is hearty and rooted in Baltic country traditions, built for the cold: black rye bread (rupjmaize), potato, pork, herring and other smoked fish, soups, beetroot, cabbage and plenty of dairy. Try pelēkie zirņi ar speķi (grey peas with bacon, close to a national dish), smoked fish from the central market, pīrāgi (small bacon-filled pastries), cold beetroot soup — bright pink, in summer — and for dessert rupjmaizes kārtojums, layered rye bread with cream. To drink, the famous Riga Black Balsam, a strong black herbal liqueur, plus good craft beer.
For reference, verified in July 2026: the set lunch in a local place runs USD 6 to 10, a casual dinner USD 10 to 18 a dish, and a coffee with something sweet USD 3 to 6. The central market and the supermarkets (Rimi, Maxima) are far cheaper, and there are good home-cooking buffet chains such as Lido with generous, inexpensive plates. Tipping is not obligatory: leave 10 % if the service was good. Tap water is safe to drink.
Latvia is a safe country to travel in: violent crime is low and Riga is comfortable to walk by day and by night. The precautions are those of any tourist city: watch for pickpockets in the old town, the central market and on transport, and for the tourist traps in Riga's nightlife — bars and clubs that pad the bill or overcharge, and people who steer foreigners towards expensive venues. Choose well-known places, confirm prices before you order and use bank ATMs. In winter, watch for ice on the pavements.
No vaccinations are required to enter; keep your routine ones up to date. If you plan to walk in forests between spring and autumn, be aware of ticks that can carry encephalitis — use repellent and cover up. Tap water is safe to drink across the country. Medical care is good quality; as an EU country it is still worth taking travel insurance with solid cover. The single emergency number is 112, verified in July 2026.
Latvia is one of the most affordable countries in the eurozone: it costs considerably less than Western Europe or the Nordics, even though you pay in euros. For reference, verified in July 2026: a backpacker manages on USD 45 to 65 a day, a mid-range trip runs USD 75 to 120 a day, and a comfortable one from USD 140. A hostel dorm bed in Riga costs USD 15 to 27 a night, more in peak summer and in the old town, and a simple double room or Airbnb starts around USD 40 to 65.
Day to day: the set lunch is USD 6 to 10, a coffee USD 3 to 5, and Riga's public transport is cheap at around USD 1.50 a ticket, with an electronic card available. The suburban train to Jūrmala or Sigulda costs only USD 2 to 4, and most museums charge USD 5 to 12. Riga also has a great deal to do free or nearly free — the art nouveau streets, the parks, the market. These are reference figures and vary with the season and the exchange rate.
The language is Latvian, a Baltic language related only to Lithuanian, very old and with its own musical tradition of choral singing — the song and dance festivals are UNESCO-listed. It resembles neither the Romance languages nor Russian, so do not expect to guess your way through it. English is widely spoken among younger people and in tourism, so Riga is easy; Russian is broadly understood, and a substantial part of the population speaks it as a first language. Latvians are reserved and somewhat introverted, value punctuality and order, and are warm once the ice is broken.
Practical notes: sockets are European types C and F at 230 V, so a European adapter is enough. Connectivity is excellent and cheap — buy a local SIM (LMT, Tele2, Bite) or use an eSIM with plenty of data; as an EU country that SIM will roam across Europe, and free wifi is widespread. Two pieces of advice from having been there: in Riga's nightlife, stick to known venues and confirm prices to avoid the tourist traps, and make use of the suburban train, which is cheap and comfortable, for trips to Jūrmala, Sigulda or Cēsis. And in winter, bring proper thermal clothing.
Latvia is a small country tucked into the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea that spent almost seven hundred years under the rule of others: German crusaders, the Hanseatic League, Poland-Lithuania, Sweden and the Russian Empire took turns governing a peasant people who, meanwhile, stubbornly held on to their language and their songs. That language, Latvian, belongs to the Baltic branch of Indo-European, one of the most archaic on the continent, and those songs — the dainas — ended up being the thread that kept the identity alive until, in 1918, there was at last a state called Latvia.
Here you'll find the full arc: the Baltic tribes and their resistance to the crusade, the founding of Riga in 1201 and the centuries of German rule, the Duchy of Courland with its tropical colonies, the national awakening of the 19th century, the brief and brave first republic, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the two occupations — Soviet and Nazi — that crushed the country between 1940 and 1945, the Holocaust that wiped out almost its entire Jewish community, the Stalinist deportations, the Baltic human chain and the independence regained in 1991. A hard history, told with precision and with sources, without bronze-statue heroics or euphemisms.
Read the full history of Latvia →Pick a region and open each destination to see what to do, prices and how to get there.
These are the sources we cite most across this country's guides, with how many times each appears. Hard data —tickets, opening hours, requirements, transport— comes from the official source and carries the date we checked it. Restaurant and hotel picks come from guides and reviews, and we say so on each page.
