Gauja National Park Loop

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Riga

   Riga sits on the Daugava river a few kilometres from the Baltic, in the flat sandy lowlands of Latvia, and it has been a trading city since the early thirteenth century, when German merchants and crusaders founded it. As a member of the Hanseatic League it grew rich on timber, flax and grain, and the old town is still a maze of cobbled lanes, brick churches, merchants' houses and guild halls. The ornate House of the Blackheads, rebuilt after wartime destruction, stands in the main square, and the spire of Saint Peter's Church rises above it all.

   Read the complete Riga write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Riga sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Sigulda.

2. 2. 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 comes up 41 km in. Next is Cēsis.

3. 3. Cēsis

   Cesis has the look of a place that has been fought over, and it has. The old castle, a ruin of grey stone on a low hill above the town, was begun in the early thirteenth century by the Livonian Order, the German crusading knights who conquered this part of the Baltic, and for three centuries it was one of their strongest seats, with towers, walls and the residence of the order's master. It was destroyed in the Great Northern War in the early eighteenth century, and the ruins stand beside a later manor house that now holds a museum. In summer, you can climb the round tower with a candle lantern, a pleasantly gloomy experience.

   Read the complete Cēsis write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   82 km in you reach Cēsis. Next is Līgatne.

4. 4. Līgatne

   Līgatne is a small town on the Gauja river in the heart of Latvia's biggest national park, and it has an unusual double character. On one side is its past as a company town, built around a paper mill that has been making paper here since the early nineteenth century and which gave the town its rows of tidy workers' houses and its handsome old buildings. On the other is its present as a gateway to nature, with forest trails and a nature park where wild animals live in large enclosures and can be seen from walkways. Bears, wolves, lynx and elk, all native to Latvia's forests, can be watched in surroundings that look more like the wild than a zoo.

   Read the complete Līgatne write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Līgatne, late in the day. Next is Riga.

5. 5. Riga

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Riga write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Riga sits at 187 km, late in the day.

Recorded source links

Source