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Places to Visit

The Best and Most Beautiful Places to Visit in Latvia

Five of the most beautiful places to visit in Latvia, none more than three hours from Riga by car. Art Nouveau streets, a Baroque palace, a valley of castles, a sand coastline, and Europe's widest waterfall.

  • 5Stops, all within 3 hours of Riga
  • 1997UNESCO World Heritage listing
  • WidestWaterfall in Europe, Kuldīga

Latvia rewards a slow itinerary more than a checklist. Nowhere on this list sits more than three hours from Riga by car. A single week covers all five without long transfers eating into the time. These are the best places to visit in Latvia that keep coming up for a reason, in the order most visitors reach them.

Looking for something quieter and further off the standard route? See the hidden gems in Latvia guide instead. This page sticks to the five places most first-time visitors actually plan around.

1
Riga See this stop →
2
Sigulda See this stop →
3
Rundāle See this stop →
4
Jūrmala See this stop →
5
Kuldīga See this stop →
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Route overviewRiga
Art Nouveau facades on Alberta iela, Riga
1

Riga's Art Nouveau District: The Best Place to Visit in Latvia

Riga's Historic Centre joined the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997, largely on the strength of its Art Nouveau architecture. Alberta iela, a ten-minute walk from Old Town, holds the district's densest cluster of facades, built in the 1900s' first decade. See the Riga travel guide for the fuller architectural history.

Old Town itself, the medieval core the district grew from, is worth a separate half-day. The House of the Blackheads, St. Peter's Church tower for the best rooftop view, and the narrow streets around the Cathedral fill it easily.

Art Nouveau facades on Alberta iela, Riga. Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Turaida Castle above the Gauja valley, Sigulda
2

Sigulda and the Gauja Valley

Gauja National Park, Latvia's largest and oldest, was established in 1973. It runs about 920 square kilometres along the Gauja River, dotted with medieval castles and ancient mounds. Sigulda, an hour from Riga, is the valley's main base. Turaida Castle's red-brick tower sits above the river, reachable by cable car or by hiking trails on the valley floor.

Sigulda also has a 1,200-metre bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track. It was built in 1986 for Soviet athletes. Now it's Latvia's Olympic training centre — one of the few in the world open to visitors alongside professionals.

Turaida Castle above the Gauja valley, Sigulda. Photo: Pudelek, CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Baroque facade and formal garden of Rundāle Palace, Latvia
3

Rundāle Palace: Latvia's Most Beautiful Baroque Building

Rundāle was designed by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the architect behind the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. It was built as a summer residence for Ernst Johann von Biron, Duke of Courland. Construction ran 1736–1740 and 1763–1768, interrupted when the Duke was arrested and exiled partway through.

Little later renovation touched it. The Golden and White Halls, and the French-style garden replanted to Rastrelli's plan, still read as 18th-century rather than a modern guess. It sits about 80 kilometres south of Riga, near Bauska, an easy 1.5-hour day trip.

The Baroque facade and formal garden of Rundāle Palace, Latvia. Photo: Arian Zwegers, CC BY 2.0.

Wooden villa architecture along the Jūrmala coastline
4

Jūrmala's Coastline

Jūrmala runs along the coast 25 kilometres from Riga, half an hour by car or direct commuter train. 32km of open sand along the Gulf of Riga sit alongside a run of wooden villa architecture. Built as summer residences through the 19th and early 20th centuries, they line Jomas iela's pedestrian strip all the way to the dunes.

Wooden villa architecture along the Jūrmala coastline. Photo: Igor Chernov, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ventas Rumba waterfall on the Venta River, Kuldīga
5

Kuldīga and the Ventas Rumba Waterfall

Kuldīga sits furthest out at 150 kilometres, close to two and a half hours by car. That keeps it quieter than the closer stops, despite an equally strong claim on attention. Ventas Rumba, the waterfall the town is built around, is the widest in Europe at 249 metres — barely two metres tall, but stretching that far across the Venta River, and up to 275 metres during spring floods.

The Old Town matches it: brick and half-timbered buildings along the Alekšupīte mill stream. They're largely undamaged through wars that flattened much of the rest of the country. That's exactly why they made Latvia's own UNESCO tentative list.

Ventas Rumba waterfall on the Venta River, Kuldīga. Photo: Zairon, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Distance from Riga, by Car

Driving distance from Riga to each destination A horizontal bar chart comparing kilometres from Riga: Jūrmala 25km, Sigulda 50km, Rundāle 80km, Kuldīga 150km. Jūrmala 25 km · ~30 min Sigulda 50 km · ~1 hr Rundāle 80 km · ~1.5 hrs Kuldīga 150 km · ~2.5 hrs

Approximate driving distances and times from central Riga.

Riga, Sigulda, and Jūrmala all sit on direct train lines from Riga Central Station, running often enough to plan around loosely. Rundāle and Kuldīga are car or organised-tour territory — those buses run only a few times a day.

None of this needs rushing. Each of these five holds its own distinct draw — Baroque architecture, a river valley, a coastline, a waterfall, Old Town streets — rather than five variations on the same view.

That variety is exactly why they're among the most beautiful places to visit in Latvia and not just the closest. A full week based in Riga covers the best places to visit in Latvia without feeling like a checklist. See where to stay in each town along the way.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best places to visit in Latvia?

Riga's Art Nouveau district, Sigulda's valley, Rundāle Palace, Jūrmala's coastline, and Kuldīga's waterfall cover most of what draws first-time visitors to Latvia. All five sit within a two-and-a-half-hour drive of the capital. A single week based in Riga covers the whole list without long transfers.

How many days do you need to see the best of Latvia?

Four days covers Riga plus one day trip, usually Sigulda or Jūrmala. A full week lets you add Rundāle and Kuldīga too, without rushing between stops or losing a day to driving. See the Latvia itinerary guide for a full day-by-day breakdown of how these stops fit together.

Is Riga worth visiting for more than a day?

Yes — Old Town alone takes half a day, covering the House of the Blackheads and St. Peter's Church tower. The Art Nouveau district on Alberta iela is a separate half-day on its own. Two to three days is normal before heading out to Sigulda or the coast.

What is Latvia's most beautiful place to visit?

No single answer, but three come up most often: Rundāle Palace's Baroque gardens, Sigulda's castle-topped cliffs above the Gauja valley, and Riga's own Alberta iela — by most counts the single most-photographed street in the country. Which one wins out usually comes down to whether the visitor wants architecture, landscape, or a city street.

How far is Sigulda from Riga, and can you get there by train?

About 50 kilometres, roughly an hour by car or by regional train from Riga Central Station. That's why it's the most common day trip from the capital. Turaida Castle and the Gauja valley's hiking trails are easy to reach without a car.

Is Kuldīga worth the two-and-a-half-hour drive from Riga?

Its distance keeps it quieter than the closer stops. The Ventas Rumba waterfall — commonly called the widest in Europe — is different enough from Riga to justify staying over. So is the brick-and-timber Old Town, rather than a rushed there-and-back drive.

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