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Daugavpils Lead Shot Factory
Guns and bullets are not to everyones liking, but it is the near-extinct ancient technology that makes this odd sight worth a visit. Its all about gravitation. Molten lead is poured from the top of an old brick tower. By the time the drops reach the bottom, they solidify into perfe
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Bīriņi Castle
Like a big pink birthday cake sitting on a verdant lawn, Bīriņi Castle governs a scenic tract of land overlooking a tranquil lake. Located on the northwestern edges of the Gauja towards Saulkrasti, the baronial estate has been transformed into an opulent hotel swathed in a Renaissa
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Church Hill
Celebrating the citys multiculturalism, churches of four main local Christian denominations face each other on a small hill dissected by 18 Novembra iela. While local Lutherans flock into the red-brick neo-Gothic Martin Luther Cathedral , the Catholics congregate at Holy Virgin Cat
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Wooden Toy Museum
Well, this one is way cooler than just another small collection of toys from around the world. The owner, drawing teacher Andris Millers, makes mindboggling kinetic wooden sculptures, including vehicles that each year parade during Sabile Wine Festival. With his absurdist sense of
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Ventspils Beach
For Liepāja, the wide stretch of dazzlingly white sand south of the Venta River is what the Louvre is for Paris – its main treasure. During the warmer months, beach bums of every ilk – from nudist to kiteboarder – line the sands to absorb the sun’s rays. Backed by a belt of dunes a
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St Gertrude Church
This gracious red-brick neo-Gothic church is dedicated to you, dear travellers, for its patron – St Gertrude – answers the prayers of those on the road. This is why the church in her name was erected at what was once the edge of the city and where the road started. Now surrounded b
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Open
For centuries, life in Kurzeme revolved around seafaring and fishing. Occupying vast parkland territory, the museum features a collection of fishing crafts, anchors and traditional log houses, brought from coastal villages north and south of Ventspils. A bonus attraction is a narro
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Livonian Order Castle
Cross the teeny Alekšupīte ravine to reach the site of this castle, built from 1242 to 1245, but ruined during the Great Northern War. The Castle Watchman’s House was built in 1735 to protect the ruins. Legend has it that the house was the site of executions and beheadings, and the
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Krimulda Manor
The big white building just west of the northern cable-car station is Krimulda Manor, built in 1897, confiscated by the government in 1922 and later turned into a tuberculosis hospital. Today it is a rehabilitation centre. It admittedly looks better from afar as a lot of paint is
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Rīga Motor Museum
The stars of the collection at this fantastic museum are cars that once belonged to Soviet luminaries such as Gorky, Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev, complete with irreverent life-sized figures of the men themselves. Stalin, pockmarked cheeks and all, sits regally in the back of hi
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Rīga Art Nouveau Museum
If you’re curious about what lurks behind Rīga’s imaginative art nouveau facades, then it’s definitely worth stopping by here. Once the home of Konstantīns Pēkšēns (a local architect responsible for over 250 of the city’s buildings), the interiors have been completely restored to r
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Corner House
The epitome of a haunted house, this imposing fin de siècle building is remembered by generations of Latvians as the local headquarters of the notorious Soviet secret police – NKVD/KGB. Arbitrary arrests, torture, executions – it saw it all. These days it houses an exhibition dedic
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Žanis Lipke Memorial
There is hardly a place in Latvia that can tell such a poignant and optimistic story as this modern labyrinthine memorial. Žanis Lipke was a big-hearted man with an adventurous streak. During the Nazi occupation, he found a job with the German air force, which allowed him to smuggl
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St John’s Church
A 13th- to 19th-century amalgam of Gothic and baroque styles, it was first mentioned when the citizens installed catapults on its roof and successfully dispersed attacking Livonian knights. Initially run by Dominican monks, it was pillaged during the reformation. After a stint as s
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Āraiši Lake Fortress
Plopped on an islet in the middle of Āraiši Lake, about 10km south of Cēsis, Āraiši Lake Fortress is a reconstruction of a settlement inhabited by Latgallians, an ancient tribe that once called the region home in the 9th and 10th centuries. A wooden walkway leads across the water t
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Pension
What poses as a dreary rehabilitation centre is in fact a top-secret Soviet bunker, known by its code name, the Pension. When Latvia was part of the USSR, it was one of the most important strategic hideouts during a time of nuclear threat. In fact, the bunker’s location was so tigh
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Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre
Russian imperial architects who built the huge arsenal to store weapons inside Dinaburg Fortress would have been surprised to hear that their creation was destined to become an art gallery named after a local Jew who fled to America. Opened in 2011, the ultramodern centre is a new
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Cēsis History & Art Museum
Right from the outset when youre handed a lit candle in a glass lantern, its clear that this isnt an ordinary museum. At its centre is Cēsis Castle , founded in 1209 by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword. The candles to help you negotiate the dark spiral stair in the western tower
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Esplanāde
The expansive Esplanāde is a large park dotted with tall trees, wooden benches and open-air cafes. The Latvian National Museum of Art graces it on one side, while the cupolas of the Russian Orthodox cathedral majestically rise on the other. The park used to be teeming with Soviet-e
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Bauska Castle
Bauska castle occupies a pretty hillock squeezed between two rivers – Mūsa and Mēmele – which flow parallel to each other. It consists of two parts – the ruins of the 15th century Livonian order castle and the 16th century duke of Kurzeme castle, which remains intact and contains a
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