Why this ride
A 322 km round trip from Sigulda - roughly 5 h 33 in the saddle. On the way it passes Historic Centre of Riga, SESTU-KALNS Ziestu and back through Historic Centre of Riga. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Sigulda afternoon · SESTU-KALNS Ziestu
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 322 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 33
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Vidzeme Seacoast Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 1 km this is Vidzeme Seacoast Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 126 km
- Named road
- Vidzeme Seacoast Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Sigulda
Sigulda lies in the valley of the Gauja river, about fifty kilometres from Riga, and it behaves like a small Switzerland dropped into the Baltic plain. The land here is deeply cut by the river and its sandstone cliffs, covered in pine and birch forest, and the whole area forms the Gauja National Park, the largest in Latvia. Three castles face one another across the valley, and a cable car crosses it, giving the visitor views of the forest, the river and the autumn colours, which in October are among the best in the Baltic region.
Read the complete Sigulda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sigulda is where the day begins. Next is Historic Centre of Riga.
2. Historic Centre of Riga
Riga is the biggest city in the Baltic states, and its old centre reads like a history of northern trade. The city was founded in 1201 by a German bishop, soon became a leading member of the Hanseatic League, and grew rich on timber, flax, furs and grain moving between Russia and western Europe. The medieval core, packed with merchants' houses, guild halls and church spires, still has the layout of those days, with narrow cobbled lanes and squares, and the House of the Blackheads, a brotherhood of unmarried merchants, with its ornate gabled facade, stands in the Town Hall Square.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Riga write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Historic Centre of Riga comes up 64 km in.
3. Historic Centre of Riga
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Riga write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
128 km in you reach Historic Centre of Riga. Next is SESTU-KALNS Ziestu.
4. SESTU-KALNS Ziestu
Somewhere in the Latvian countryside, on a modest rise above the Daugava, stands a marker that was once part of the most ambitious measuring job of the nineteenth century. Sestukalns is one of the stations of the Struve Geodetic Arc, a chain of triangulation points that runs for nearly three thousand kilometres from Hammerfest on the Arctic coast of Norway to the Black Sea. The astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve, working out of the observatory at Dorpat, now Tartu, led the survey between 1816 and 1855 to find the size and shape of the Earth, and the result was accurate to a degree that astonished geodesists. It is on the World Heritage list, with a few dozen of the stations that still survive across ten countries.
Read the complete SESTU-KALNS Ziestu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
SESTU-KALNS Ziestu, about halfway. Next is back through Historic Centre of Riga.
5. back through Historic Centre of Riga
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Riga write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Historic Centre of Riga sits at 257 km, about halfway.
6. back through Historic Centre of Riga
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Riga write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Historic Centre of Riga comes up 321 km in. Next is Sigulda.
7. Sigulda
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sigulda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sigulda closes the day.
Leg by leg
Sigulda to Historic Centre of Riga
Sigulda → Historic Centre of Riga is 67 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Historic Centre of Riga to SESTU-KALNS Ziestu
Historic Centre of Riga → SESTU-KALNS Ziestu is 126 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
SESTU-KALNS Ziestu to back through Historic Centre of Riga
SESTU-KALNS Ziestu → back through Historic Centre of Riga is 126 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Historic Centre of Riga to Sigulda
back through Historic Centre of Riga → Sigulda is 67 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Gauja National Park Loop (163 km) · 187 km
- Jurmala afternoon · Historic Centre of Riga · 50 km
- Gauja National Park Loop · 142 km