Latvia Complete Guide 2026: Riga, Jūrmala, Sigulda, Cēsis, Liepāja and Gauja National Park
Browse more guides: Latvia travel | Europe destinations Latvia Complete Guide 2026: Riga, Jūrmala, Sigulda, Cēsis, Liepāja and Gauja National Park TL;DR Latvia is the middle Baltic state and the one I keep coming back to because it concentrates an enormous amount of variety into a country of roughly 1.8 million people. Riga itself, founded in 1201 by Bishop Albert and inscribed by UNESCO in 1997, holds a medieval Hanseatic Old Town and an Art Nouveau quarter that accounts for roughly one third of the historic centre's buildings. Within a 90-minute radius I can reach the 33-kilometre Jūrmala seaside, the 917 km² Gauja National Park around Sigulda and Cēsis, and the baroque Rundāle Palace. Add Kuldīga with the 240-metre-wide Venta Falls (UNESCO 2023), Liepāja's old Soviet naval town of Karosta, Daugavpils with the Mark Rothko Art Centre, and the Ķemeri bog boardwalks, and a single trip can cover medieval, imperial, Soviet, and modern Latvia. The country is in the EU, NATO, S...