BALTIC TOUR: – LIEPAJA – – JURMALA - RIGA

ITINERARY: Riga (1 night) JUSTUS HOTEL 4* or similar Liepaja (1 night) PROMENADE HOTEL 4* or similar Ventspils (1 night) DZINTARJURA HOTEL 4* or similar Jurmala (1 night) MAMA BOUTIQUE HOTEL 4* or similar Riga (1 night) JUSTUS HOTEL 4* or similar

DURATION: 6 days / 5 nights

MAP VIEW

Period: season 2021

Package price per person in DBL/TWIN room: 270 EUR Price per person in SGL room: 510 EUR

Price includes accommodation 6 nights including breakfast

Rent a car offer: from 200 EUR Skoda Fabia or similar (Car group B)

Rental duration: 6 days Basic cover: - Local Tax (TAX) - Collision Damage Waiver* (CDW) - Theft Protection (TP) - Airport//other surcharge - One way fee - Unlimited Mileage/Km's

Day 1 Riga

Arrival in Riga

Optional transfer or rent a car in Riga airport.

Private car with driver 35 EUR

Optional: Riga Sightseeing tour (3 hours)

Riga, the capital of , lies on the banks of the River on the shores of the Gulf of Riga. Historical chronicles mention the year 1201 as the date of its foundation. In 1282 the city joined the and became a trade and business link between the East and West. Riga is rich in history, culture and political life. Visitors will admire buildings of remarkable Gothic, Baroque, Classicism and (Jugendstil) architecture. In 1997 the central part of Riga was included in the List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Today Riga is called the City of Inspiration and often compared to the Paris of the 1930's, when so many writers and artists found inspiration sitting in the cafes of that wonderful city. Riga has more big-city excitement than anywhere else in the , where you can find world class opera and art, jazz and rock, designer clothes, casinos and clubs. During the driving part of the tour you will enjoy the view of the city canal parks, the Bastion Hill, the Powder Tower, the , the Fine Arts Museum, the charming district of Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) buildings, the , the University of Latvia, the Russian Orthodox Church, the Opera House, the Daugava River and it’s bridges and Passenger Terminal. A guided walking tour of the medieval Old of Riga will lead you down the cobbled stone streets highlighting the most beautiful sights of the medieval Old Town: , Dome Square and Dome Cathedral, St. Peter's Church, Town Hall Square and the House of Blackheads, the Great and the Small Guild Halls, the fortification wall of Riga, the Swedish Gate, etc.

English speaking guide 100 EUR Private car with driver 80 EUR

Optional: Visit Central Market (1,5 hour)

On December 28, 1922 Riga City Council decided to build a new food product market in the city centre. For this purpose, the city authority signed a deal with the government to buy the Zeppelin hangars abandoned by the German Kaiser's army in the western Latvian region of Kurzeme (near Vaiņode). So Zeppelin hangars become a landmark of Riga for both Rigans and the city's foreign guests. It was envisaged to build a total of five pavilions, the biggest of which (5000m2) was intended for wholesale trade and dressing of meat, but the four smaller ones (2592 m2 each) - for retail trade.

The first pavilion was designed for meat, the second one for dairy and meat products, the third - for bread, fruit, various food products and poultry, but the fourth-exclusively for fish.

The market's architecture demonstrates a certain impact of elements of the Modern style, as well as that of the pre-war Neo-Classicism. Some historical details of facades represent an interpretation of the Art Deco style. Although trade places in all the buildings are arranged in one level, the design of the pavilions also allows a two-level location.

Since 1930, Rigans can be proud of having the Europe's largest and the most updated market in their city. Farmers are always happy to bring their products here. In 1998, the territory of the market, being part of the historic centre of Riga, was included in UNESCO World Heritage List. During Visit to Market everyone will have a chance to taste different products – Fish, Meat, Bread, different sweets and etc.

English speaking guide 65 EUR Private car with driver 60 EUR

Overnight in Riga.

Day 2 Riga - - (winery’s visiting) - Kuldiga - Liepaja (248 km)

Breakfast at the hotel.

Way to Kandava and Sabile

Kandava Municipality is a municipality in , Latvia.The name of Kandava is associated with the green nature. Kandava is proud of the oldest stone bridge in Latvia and during the Duke times constructed Powder Tower, as well as the newly created Promenade with seven bridges.

Sabile is a small, romantic small town in Kurzeme, which is located in the most beautiful and deepest part of the ancient valley of the Abava River in the southern part of region. The city undeniably has its own charm - the river Abava flowing through it, small streets.

Optional: Vine tasting at “Drubazas” winery. Drubazas offers tastings of homemade wine in cozy wine-cellar. They produce wines from different berries and fruits.

Vine tasting 20 EUR

Further travel to Kuldiga

Optional: Excursion in Kuldiga (2 hours)

The town of Kuldiga is considered one of Latvia’s most beautiful, and is the only one in the country to have preserved the traditional wooden buildings. It escaped the many destructive wars and fires, thus representing a true image of a Latvian provincial town of the 16th and 17th century. An ancient bridge, the rapids of the river on the approaches to the town, the 13th century castle ruins—all this adds peculiar charm to the town. Visit Venta Rumba Widest waterfall in Europe. The old brick bridge across the Venta built in 1874 is one of the longest its type of bridges in Europe. The bridge was built according to the road standards of the 19th century (500 feet long and 26 feet wide) so that two carriages could pass each other on it.

English speaking guide 75 EUR

Private car with driver Riga - Kandava - Sabile (winery’s visiting) - Kuldiga - Liepaja full day 195 EUR

Further travel to Liepaja. Overnight in Liepaja.

Day 3 Liepaja – Jurkalne – Ventspils (118 km)

Breakfast at the hotel

Optional: Liepaja Sightseeing tour (4 hours)

The beginnings of Liepāja date back to the 13th century when a village was founded between the lake and the sea. The village was named Līva after a little river. Liepāja has grown from a small village into the third largest city in Latvia with the population of 85 000 people. It is a port city and the port is handling wide spectrum of transit cargos. Liepāja is a city of students. There is Liepāja University – it got the university status in 2008 but has been a higher education institution since 1954 – as well as branches of several other national higher education institutions. A new generation of musicians and artists is studying at Liepāja music and art schools.

Liepāja is rich in well-established cultural traditions. It is the home of the oldest professional Latvian theater, the only professional symphony orchestra outside Riga, a puppet theater, a number of folklore groups and numerous choirs. Also organ music well as jazz holds an important place in the city's cultural life. The Baltic Beach Party and Fontaine Festival have become the central pop and rock festivals in the city. Visit Karaosta.

Karosta holds a special place in the history of Liepāja and its today life. Karosta was built at the turn of the 19th and the 20th centuries as a military base of . This neighborhood today is a special part of the city where the Tsarist time architecture coexists alongside with the Soviet era heritage. It is a spectacular, paradoxical and unique site not only in Latvia but also in the world’s history and architecture. Its environment reflects interaction of tsarist military elegance and soviet militarism.

English speaking guide 120 EUR Private car with driver 90 EUR Entrance fee 6 EUR

Further travel to Jurkalne

Jūrkalne is a village in Latvia. It is the centre of a parish of the same name within on the Baltic coast.

Further travel to Ventspils

Private car with driver Liepaja – Jurkalne - Ventspils full day 195 EUR

Overnight in Ventspils

Day 4 Ventspils – Kolka – Jurmala (207 km)

Breakfast at the hotel

Optional: Ventspils Sightseeing tour (2 hours) Ventspils is a city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. Ventspils is a family-friendly city where the comfort of Ventspils’ resident families is considered and where families from other and countries are given an opportunity to pursue interesting leisure activities. Ventspils is special in a way, that here a modern port, innovative production facilities, and a beautiful beach coexist, the former being decorated by the Blue flag since 1999, a symbol of neatness and safety.

English speaking guide 75 EUR

Visiting Ventspils museum.

Ventspils Museum is engaged in the research and recording of history of the city and region of Ventspils.

Entrance fee 2.5 EUR

Further travel to Kolka

Cape Kolka is the most pronounced horn on the shores of Latvia, and it is where the waves from two seas clash – the open and the Gulf of Riga. During the bird migration season, dozens of thousands of birds fly over the cape.

Further travel to Jurmala

Private car with driver Ventspils – Kolka – Jurmala full day 195 EUR

Overnight in Jurmala

Day 5 Jurmala – – Rundale Palace – Riga (160 km)

Breakfast

Enjoy best Latvian beach resort.

Jurmala, a resort town possessing 150-year-old resort traditions, occupies approximately one-tenth part of the coastal line. Jurmala is the place for a city dweller tired of life to reacquire the feeling of being the Nature's child. Here fresh sea wind will fill people's lungs and make them dizzy with the smell of pines, the eyes will rest in the blue of the sea, the feet will sink in the soft golden sand…Now, after the 50-year-long isolation again various generations from various countries may enjoy the special gentle charm, curative waters and mud baths of Jurmala… Jurmala with its romantic wooden houses in art nouveau (Jugendstil), its spacious beaches, forests, and calmly flowing river is especially attractive in the modern world of standards, for it has not lost its singularity.

Optional: Visit Jurmala Ethnographic Open Air Museum.

Located at a distance of 14 km from the centre of Riga on the banks of the picturesque Lake Jugla. The museum was started in 1924 and now it is one of the oldest open air museums in Europe. Old houses, household articles of peasants, fishermen and craftsmen have been brought there from all regions of Latvia. There is even an inn, a mill and several churches. In the exhibition hall you can find exhibitions of applied art. The museum has 107 buildings on its territory all in all (about 100 ha).

English speaking guide 25 EUR Entrance fee free

Further travel to Rundale Palace with small stop in Jelgava.

Jelgava is a city in central Latvia about 41 kilometres (25 miles) southwest of Riga with 55,972 inhabitants (2019). It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the united Duchy of Courland and (1578–1795) and the administrative center of the Courland Governorate (1795–1918).

Optional: Rundale Palace sightseeing tour (2 hours)

Located at a distance of 76 km from Riga, Rundale Palace is a pearl of Baroque architecture in Latvia, standing proud in its original splendour in a fertile plain surrounded by forests. It is Latvia's version of Versailles and Sans Soucis. Today this place is subtly restored, and it is hard to believe that the Germans used the palace as a granary in World War II. Now the 138 rooms are open to visitors in all their splendour and it is the most significant masterpiece of Baroque architecture in the Baltic States. A French park also designed by F.B.Rastrelli lies in the southern part of the palace territory. It is newly made according to the original design of the 18th century. You have different tour opportunities in Rundale Palace. The short route includes the staterooms (the White Hall, Gold Hall, Grand Gallery), the Duke’s staterooms and the second study of the Duke. The Duke’s former living quarters and the Duchess’ apartments ARE NOT included. The long route includes the staterooms (the White Hall, Gold Hall, and Grand Gallery), the Duke’s former living quarters and staterooms, the Duchess’ apartments and exhibition “Seventeenth to Nineteenth Century Fashion in Latvia”.

English speaking guide 65 EUR

Entrance fee / long route and park 17 EUR

Private car with driver Jurmala – Jelgava - Rundale – Riga full day 180 EUR

Travel to Riga. Overnight in Riga

Day 6 Departure

Breakfast

Transfer to the airport

Private car with driver 35 EUR