Latvia holidays

Latvia is the middle Baltic country — Riga's old town is the largest Art Nouveau city in the world (one third of the city centre's buildings are Art Nouveau, mostly the work of Mikhail Eisenstein, father of Sergei the film-maker — the Albert Street complex on Alberta iela is the headline UNESCO-listed walking concentration), the medieval old quarter is also UNESCO with the Three Brothers houses, the House of the Blackheads, St Peter's Church climb, and the Town Hall Square. Beyond Riga: Jūrmala's 33km Baltic-coast pine-and-sand beach (the historic spa-resort town of the Russian-Soviet aristocracy, with wooden Art-Nouveau villas and the bog-and-spa-treatment heritage), the medieval Sigulda and Cēsis castles in the Gauja National Park, the Kuldīga town with the Venta Rapid (the widest waterfall in Europe), and the small-baltic-fishing villages along the Cape Kolka peninsula.

A 5-7 day Latvia trip: Riga (3-4 nights — Old Town walking, the Art Nouveau district at Alberta iela with the Eisenstein houses, the Central Market in five Zeppelin hangars, St Peter's Church viewpoint, the Latvian National Museum of Art, dinner at 3 Pavāru Restorāns or the upscale Vincents) → Jūrmala beach day-trip or 1-2 night stay (a 30-minute train ride from Riga — wooden villas, beach walks, the Dzintari concert hall) → Sigulda and Gauja National Park (1-2 nights — Turaida Castle, the Gauja River canoeing, the Aerodium vertical-wind tunnel) → optional Kuldīga (1-2 nights — Venta Rapid, the old town's brick-and-timber-house quarter, the Kuldīga Old Brick Bridge) → optional Liepāja and the Curonian Coast (2 nights for the Soviet-naval-base Karosta district and the Baltic Sea pier walks).