Why Latvia
The country is flat, forested and edged by five hundred kilometres of Baltic coast. Riga holds a third of the population and has the largest Art Nouveau ensemble in Europe, World Heritage listed — more than eight hundred buildings, concentrated in a few streets.
Jūrmala, the seaside resort, is half an hour by train from the capital. Gauja national park, to the east, is the country's green lung.
June to August for the light — days run past seventeen hours — and for swimming in a sea that stays cold. Winter is long, dark and frozen, with six-hour days in December.
Entry and stay
An EU and Schengen country. An identity card is enough for nationals of the EU, the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
For other nationalities, the European Entry/Exit System (EES) has been in service since 10 April 2026 and digitally records every crossing of a Schengen external border. ETIAS, at twenty euros, is expected in the final quarter of 2026.
Source: France Diplomatie and the European Commission, checked on 22 September 2026.
Getting around
Trains serve Jūrmala and a few routes; coaches cover the country better and link Riga to Tallinn and Vilnius in about four hours. Riga is the road hub of the three Baltic states.
In the city, trams, trolleybuses and buses run on a single cheap ticket.
Money
Euro — Latvia adopted it in 2014. Cards are very widely accepted, including for small amounts.
The country remains markedly cheaper than neighbouring Scandinavia, which explains the weekend tourism from Sweden and Finland.
Before you go
Russian is spoken by a significant share of the population, but Latvian is the only official language and the question is politically sensitive: addressing a stranger in Russian is not neutral. English is universal among the under-forties.
Riga's central market occupies five former zeppelin hangars: it is one of the largest in Europe and closes in the early afternoon.
The Baltic freezes near the coast in some winters, and the Jūrmala beaches are then spectacular and deserted.