Coming to Latvia
What to see From June 30th to Jule 7th all of Latvia, and particularly Riga, will be celebrating the Traditional Song and Dance Festival, which takes place once every four years and this time is organized in our honor. It is a truly spectacular event, and it is worth spending some time around Riga’s city center those days (particularly from Thursday); there will be singing and dancing everywhere. In fact, if you’re staying until Monday in Latvia, we propose you to finish the weekend together by going to the closing gala, Sunday evening. Beyond the festival, Riga is always worth visiting, with its medieval old town, a unique collection of Art Nouveau buildings and, in the summer, parks and terraces everywhere. The open-air ethnographical museum, on the city’s outskirts by a lake, is also well worth the visit. The national park of the river Gauja, located near Riga’s region, has also a lot to offer: Sigulda’s Castle (and other nearby attractions, like bobsleigh,…) Turaida’s Castle The lake-castle at lake Araisu The castle and old town in Cesis A true soviet bunker in Ligatne etc. 35min away from Riga you’ll also find the largest seaside resort in the Baltics, Jurmala (which means “by the seaside”). The beaches and the spas are both excellent. There are also very nice, half-deserted beaches near Saulkrasti (50min away from Riga). If you’re willing to travel a little bit further away, there are many other places well worth the trip. The ones we have listed below can all be reached in 2-3h by car, but in some case, it’s worth making it a full-day trip and spending the night there to see everything: West of Latvia (Kurzeme): Jaunmoku pils (palace), Ventspils and Liepaja (coastal city), Kuldiga (cute old town, very wide waterfalls). South of Latvia (Zemgale): Rundales Pils (latvian “Versailles”), Tervetes dabas takas (fairy-tale nature park), ... East of Letonia (Latgale): Aglona Basilica, Bread museum, lake region ... To see Riga and the neighboring cities (Sigulda, Cesis, Jurmala) properly will take at least 2-3 days. If you want to go further and visit other regions, it’s better to plan on spending 5 or 6 days in total. If you have more time, you can also cross over into Estonia and Lithuania (Lithuania’s west coast, in particular, is spectacular) We also advise you to leave Riga for right before the wedding (Thursday and Friday), when there will be more things going on. For more information, www.latvia.travel is a very complete site in English. http://www.dziesmusvetki.lvhttp://www.liveriga.comhttp://www.jugendstils.riga.lv/http://www.brivdabasmuzejs.lv/lv/languagehttp://www.gnp.lv/enhttp://tourism.sigulda.lv/http://www.latvia.travel/en/turaida-museum-reservehttp://www.latvia.travel/en/sight/araisi-archaeological-museum-parkhttp://www.tourism.cesis.lv/en/start-page/http://www.visitligatne.lv/pub/?id=42http://www.tourism.jurmala.lv/page/1588http://www.latvia.travel/en/white-dune-saulkrastihttp://www.jaunmokupils.lv/enhttp://www.ventspils.lv/eng/http://www.latvia.travel/en/article/kuldigahttp://rundale.net/en/http://www.latvia.travel/en/tervete-nature-parkhttp://www.latvia.travel/en/tervete-nature-parkhttp://www.latvia.travel/en/sight/aglona-basilicahttp://www.latvia.travelshapeimage_2_link_0shapeimage_2_link_1shapeimage_2_link_2shapeimage_2_link_3shapeimage_2_link_4shapeimage_2_link_5shapeimage_2_link_6shapeimage_2_link_7shapeimage_2_link_8shapeimage_2_link_9shapeimage_2_link_10shapeimage_2_link_11shapeimage_2_link_12shapeimage_2_link_13shapeimage_2_link_14shapeimage_2_link_15shapeimage_2_link_16shapeimage_2_link_17shapeimage_2_link_18shapeimage_2_link_19
 

       es

Made in Paris with love and some late nights.

How to come The easiest way of traveling to Latvia is by plane to Riga airport (RIX). The following airlines have regular flights there:
 AirBaltic: Non-stop flights from Barcelona, Paris, London, Munich, Frankfurt,... Lufthansa: Non-stop from Frankfurt Ryanair: From Paris (Beauvais), Frankfurt (Hahn), Brussels (Charleroi),... There’s not too much competition on these segments, so prices tend to go up fast. The easiest way to get a good price is to book as soon as you know which dates you want to travel. If you’re thinking about a longer trip around the Baltics, you can also arrive to Vilnius (Lithuania) o Tallinn (Estonia) and get a bus from there (Luxespress or Ecolines), or fly to Stockholm and take ferry. And if traveling around Latvia is part of your plans, then the best is to rent a car. At http://www.rentalcars.com you’ll find good prices. That said, during the weekend don’t worry about the transport; we’ll take care of that (see Wedding and Reception).http://www.airbaltic.com/public/index.htmlhttp://www.lufthansa.com/es/es/Homepagehttp://www.ryanair.com/eshttp://www.luxexpress.euhttp://ecolines.nethttp://www.tallinksilja.com/en/schedules/stoRig/http://www.rentalcars.comhttp://www.rentalcars.comWedding_and_Reception.htmlshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1shapeimage_3_link_2shapeimage_3_link_3shapeimage_3_link_4shapeimage_3_link_5shapeimage_3_link_6shapeimage_3_link_7shapeimage_3_link_8
Sleeping Riga is cheaper than both Madrid and Paris, and also quite touristic, so you shouldn’t have trouble finding good accommodation… However, with the (unique, unmissable) Dance and Song Festival in July, it’s very likely that the city and the country be full of visitors those days. It’ll thus be easier to find good deals and a convenient location if you book early. Here are some pointers to simplify your search: Hostels: Low prices, modern style and breakfast are included. However, the bathrooms are sometimes shared and rooms are basic. Prices run about 20-30€/person/night (booking well in advance): Funky Hostel Riga Riga Style Hostel Cinnamon Sally Backpackers Hostel Riga Hotels: We’ve selected a couple hotels near the city center that look comfy and have reasonable prices (around 40-60€/pers./night): Hotel Justus Riga Old Riga Palace Hotel Old City Boutique Hotel Ah, and a reminder, in case you came here directly without reading about the wedding plans: don’t worry about the accommodation and transport for Saturday; we’ve got that one covered.http://www.funkyhostel.com/http://www.booking.com/hotel/lv/riga-style-hostel.fr.html?aid=325621;label=hotel-397268_Pool-com_Slice-99999;sid=7306318fbe3b646509547196cb4a9640;dcid=1;checkin=2013-07-04;checkout=2013-07-08;srfid=83e8ada4ecdd550608f7ed6691f66471685a8173X6http://www.cinnamonsally.com/http://www.hoteljustus.lv/http://hoteloldrigapalace.lv/http://www.oldcityhotel.lv/shapeimage_4_link_0shapeimage_4_link_1shapeimage_4_link_2shapeimage_4_link_3shapeimage_4_link_4shapeimage_4_link_5

Traditional Latvian dance

Wedding & Reception · About Us · Coming to Latvia   

RSVP   ·   Wedding Registry   ·   Guest Book