Why this ride
The western shore from Jurmala to Cape Kolka, where the Baltic meets the Gulf of Riga and the road runs behind the dunes almost the whole way.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kurzeme Coast Run
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 132 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 24
- 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
Kurzeme Coast Run
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 30 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 30 km
- Named road
- Kurzeme Coast Run
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Jūrmala
A dune forest and a long white beach is not the first thing most people expect near Riga, but that is what Jūrmala is. The town is a string of seaside villages strung along a narrow strip of land between the Gulf of Riga and the Lielupe river, about twenty-five kilometres west of the capital. Over fifty thousand people live here, and in the Soviet era it was the main resort of the Baltic region, a place where party officials and ordinary workers took their holidays. Today it keeps that holiday atmosphere, with spa hotels, sanatoriums and a very long beach of soft pale sand that stretches for some thirty kilometres.
Read the complete Jurmala write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kurzeme Coast Run point 1 sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Kurzeme Coast Run point 2.
2. Engure
Engure is a quiet place on the Gulf of Riga, where the land is flat, the pine forests run right to the dunes and the water is shallow and cold. The village sits on a coast of pale sand and low dunes in western Latvia, with a long beach where you can walk for kilometres without meeting anyone, and behind it lies Lake Engure, a big, shallow, reed-fringed lake that is one of the most important bird habitats in the country. It is a protected nature park, with thousands of waterfowl, from ducks and grebes to cranes and swans, and in spring and autumn the migration brings clouds of birds.
Read the complete Engure write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kurzeme Coast Run point 2 comes up 38 km in. Next is Kurzeme Coast Run point 3.
3. Roja
Roja is a fishing town at the mouth of a small river in north-western Latvia, on the coast of the Gulf of Riga, and it carries the sea in its character. The harbour is a working one, with fishing boats, a small marina and a smell of salt and smoke, and the town has a long maritime history. A fishing museum tells the story of how people along this coast lived and worked, from the sailing boats of the nineteenth century to the large collective fleets of the Soviet era, when Roja was a significant fishing port. The beach nearby is wide, clean and often empty, and a pine forest runs along the dunes.
Read the complete Roja write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least 85 km in you reach Kurzeme Coast Run point 3. Next is Kurzeme Coast Run point 4.
4. Kurzeme Coast Run point 4
Planning note
Kurzeme Coast Run point 4, late in the day.