Sigulda is Latvia's top nature destination, the gateway to the Gauja river valley and the place where Latvians come to breathe in the forest, cross ravines by cable car and wander among castles and red sandstone cliffs. It's called the 'Switzerland of Vidzeme' and, although there are no high mountains, the deep Gauja valley, carpeted with forests that blaze red and gold in autumn, has a serene beauty that justifies the nickname.
Within just a few kilometres you'll find a density of attractions that's hard to match: three medieval castles overlooking the valley (the Livonian Order Castle and the New Castle in Sigulda, the imposing red-brick Turaida opposite, and the ruins of Krimulda), the largest cave in the Baltic states (Gūtmanis Cave), a cable car that soars over the river, and even the only Olympic bobsleigh track in the Baltics open to the public, where anyone can hurtle down at full speed.
This guide covers Sigulda with a practical, adventurous eye: which castles to see, how to cross the valley by cable car, how much the bobsleigh and adrenaline activities cost, how to get there by train from Riga in an hour, when to come for the famous autumn colours and how to use Sigulda as a base for exploring Gauja National Park along with Turaida and Cēsis. It's the Baltics' unmissable nature trip, just a short hop from the capital.
Sigulda was born in the 13th century, when the crusaders of the Order of the Brothers of the Sword built one of their castles here around 1207 to control the Gauja valley, until then home to the pagan Livonians. The town that grew around it was known by its German name, Segewold. Opposite, across the river, the Archbishop of Riga built Turaida Castle, and a short distance away stood Krimulda: three rival fortresses keeping watch on each other over the same valley. After centuries of German, Swedish and Russian rule, Sigulda flourished as a tourist destination as early as the 19th century thanks to the railway, when it became popular as the 'Switzerland of Vidzeme'. In the 20th century it gained its Olympic bobsleigh track (1986), and today it is the heart of Gauja National Park. We tell the whole story on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The historic heart of Livonia, with the Gauja valley, the castles of the Order and the medieval town of Cēsis, birthplace of the Latvian flag.
Read the history of Vidzeme: the Gauja valley →A local guide tells you in half an hour what no sign at the site will ever explain. We look ours up on Civitatis: guided in Spanish and booked online with no fuss. They have 11 activities in Riga. And there are free tours here: you book without paying and tip the guide whatever you think at the end, so trying one costs you nothing. Have a look below: tap any of them to see them all.
They depart from Riga, 51 km away. If you book from this link we earn a commission and you pay no more.
No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Few places capture the medieval history of the Baltic like the Gauja valley around Sigulda. Within just a few kilometres, three stone and brick castles rise above the wooded slopes, facing each other across the river: Sigulda, Turaida and Krimulda. This was neither chance nor whim. Each belonged to a different power, and their closeness tells the story of a land that was conquered and carved up.
Before the castles, this valley belonged to the Livonians, a pagan Finno-Ugric people who lived from fishing, hunting and river trade along the Gauja, and to the Latgalians further east. Their wooden forts crowned the hills of the valley. For them, the river and the forests were both their livelihood and their home.
Everything changed in the early 13th century with the arrival of the German crusaders. In 1207, after the conquest of the Livonian lands, the Order of the Brothers of the Sword built Sigulda Castle on the right bank of the Gauja. The town that grew up around it took the German name Segewold. Opposite, on the left bank, the Bishop (later Archbishop) of Riga built the imposing Turaida Castle in 1214, and Krimulda Castle a short distance away. The three marked the border between the lands of the Order and those of the Archbishop: allies and rivals at the same time, they kept watch on each other across the valley.
During the Middle Ages, Sigulda (Segewold) was a stronghold of the Livonian Order, the organisation of warrior monks that ruled much of what is now Latvia and Estonia. The castle controlled the route through the Gauja valley and the region's trade. Life played out between the Order's fortress and the Archbishop's, with their tensions and their truces.
When the Order's state collapsed in the mid-16th century, during the long and devastating Livonian War, Sigulda went down with it. The valley changed hands several times: it fell to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, then to the Swedish Empire in the 17th century, and finally to the Russian Empire after the Great Northern War in the early 18th century. The wars left the castles damaged and largely in ruins. Sigulda and Krimulda castles were reduced to the walls we can walk around today.
As in the rest of Latvia, local power ended up with the Baltic German barons, who ran the estates and their Latvian serfs under the Russian crown. In the 19th century, the Kropotkin family built a new neo-Gothic manor next to Sigulda's medieval ruins, the New Castle, as their stately residence. It is the elegant building that dominates the site today.
As in Jūrmala, it was the railway and the Romantic fashion for nature that turned Sigulda into a tourist destination. In the second half of the 19th century, the railway linking Riga with inland Vidzeme put the Gauja valley within easy reach of people from the capital. With its wooded hills, red sandstone cliffs and castles perched above the ravine, Sigulda became a place for day trips and summer holidays.
That was when it got the nickname it still goes by: the 'Switzerland of Vidzeme' (or 'Latvian Switzerland'). In a land of plains and forests, the deep green Gauja valley looked like a small piece of Alpine scenery. Visitors came to walk the trails, look out from the viewpoints and visit Gūtmanis Cave, the largest cave in the Baltics, covered in centuries-old inscriptions. They also came for the legends of the valley, such as the tragic tale of the Rose of Turaida, the young woman Maija who was murdered near the cave in 1620.
That tourist calling has only grown since. Sigulda filled up with hotels and summer houses and, in the 20th century, with facilities built for visitors. Among them is the cable car that has crossed the valley between Sigulda and Krimulda since 1969, the only one of its kind in the Baltic states.
The 20th century brought Sigulda the same upheavals as the rest of Latvia: independence in 1918, Soviet occupation in 1940, Nazi occupation, Soviet occupation again from 1944 and, at last, independence regained in 1991. Under Soviet rule, the beauty of the Gauja valley gained a form of protection. In 1973 Gauja National Park was created here, the first and largest in Latvia, with almost 917 km² set aside to protect the valley's forests, sandstone cliffs, caves and wildlife.
The other big milestone of those years came from sport. In 1986, in the middle of the Soviet era, Sigulda opened an international-standard bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track, one of only a few in the world, built for training and competition in these winter sports. Over time it also became a one-of-a-kind attraction: it is one of the few tracks on the planet open to the public, where any visitor can hurtle down its curves. Sigulda has kept a strong tradition in sliding sports ever since, and Olympic athletes have come from the town.
So the romantic Sigulda of castles and legends gained a sporty, adventurous side, and today the two sit together comfortably.
Today's Sigulda lives off that double heritage. Above all, it is the tourist capital of Gauja National Park and Latvia's top nature destination. Locals from Riga and travellers arrive by train in just over an hour to walk the valley, cross it by cable car, visit the three castles and marvel at Gūtmanis Cave. In autumn, when the Gauja forests blaze red and gold, Sigulda is at its most beautiful, and there are even festivals celebrating the autumn colours.
But it is also an outdoor adventure park: bobsleigh, bungee jumping from the cable car, zip lines, canoeing and kayaking on the Gauja in summer, and cross-country skiing and sledging in winter. That mix of medieval heritage, protected landscape and adrenaline sports is what makes it unique.
Exploring Sigulda means taking in, in a single day, eight centuries of history, from the pagan Livonians and the German crusaders to the Soviet Olympic track, along with one of the landscapes Latvians love most. Three castles still keep watch on each other over the Gauja valley, and between them the river still flows as it did before there were any fortresses on its slopes.
