Latvia’s Premier Beach Resort
Huh? Beach resorts in Latvia? It’s true! Now that it’s the middle of winter and the ground is covered with a white blanket, I thought I’d reminisce a little about our summer and fall spent in the seaside city of Jūrmala, Latvia.
Jūrmala, pronounced yoor’mah-luh (roll those Rs!), is a beautiful beach town that has a wide powder-soft sand beach stretching for 20 miles. It’s also home to luxury hotels and spas, nature parks, boardwalks, and an active nightlife, including many festivals and concerts. The beach is easy to reach from Rīga with trains leaving about every half hour from Central Station. The trip itself is about 30 minutes depending on which part of Jūrmala you’re heading for, and costs less than 2 euros each way.
Jūrmala actually consists of about 15 smaller seaside communities strung along the coast that have more or less grown together. Jūrmala’s reputation as a resort destination began around the late 18th century when wealthy landowners would travel to the collection of communities to relax and recuperate. Later when the Russian Empire ruled the area, a resort was established at Kemeri where patients could be treated with its healing mud deposits and mineral water springs. During the Soviet occupation it became one of the most popular holiday destinations in the Soviet Union; there were even trains that ran directly to Jūrmala from Moscow. Today, the beach is still popular with Russians. Many of the fancy homes close to the beach are owned by wealthy Russians.
More history here, including some cool historical photos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jūrmala
And an aerial virtual tour is located here: https://latviainside.com/aerial-virtual-tours-of-latvia/aerial-virtual-tour-of-jurmala-resort/
Please enjoy this set of photos we took in the autumn after the throngs of tourists left the beach:
It seems that development is either not allowed or highly discouraged too close to the beach and much of the area against the beach is a long forested park with walking trails and boardwalks. Popup bars and restaurants show up on the beach during the summer, but are removed in the fall, along with dozens of round blinds for changing into swimwear. In the fall we encountered mushroom pickers in some of the less-frequented areas of the parks.
While wandering around in the forest I stumbled across this curious group of pods hung in the trees. They are part of a campground called “Čiekurs” or pinecones. Christina isn’t much of a camper, but maybe I can talk her into living like an Ewok for the night.
More info: https://www.sekosaulei.lv/en/home/
Jūrmala town itself is full of parks, hotels, spas, and restaurants. One particular street, Jomas street (shown here), is a very touristy pedestrian mall with bars, restaurants, antique stores, and souvenir and gift shops.
During the summer, Jūrmala is heavily peppered with ice cream vendors. Christina has apparently procured herself an eye-popping selection in a “bubble waffle” cone. To be fair, the ice cream made in Latvia is really tasty.
Some additional photos of town are shown in the gallery below.
And here for more info.
Reminders of Latvia’s turbulent past are never far away. Here is a small cemetery/memorial of Russian soldiers. These “brāļu kapi” or graves of brothers (in arms) are located all over Latvia.
Just outside of Ķemeri is Ķemeri National Park, home of the Great Ķemeri Bog. This bog was formed about 10,000 years ago and reaches depths of 2 stories. Apparently, unaware WWII tanks entered the bog, and some are still stuck at the bottom. More daring souls could strap on bog-shoes and walk on the top layer of moss and peat to explore the park, but we stuck to the boardwalk. Lots of insects buzzing around, and apparently carnivorous plants snack on them, but we were unable to see them.
Hang in there folks, the days are getting longer here in the northern hemisphere!
Nice pics Randy, is the water warm enough to swim in the summer?
Yep! It’s crisp but definitely swimmable.
Good write up and pics..brings back memories. Thing that still surprises me was lack of garbage strewn around. Graffiti yes, garbage no..
Amazing! And some public art that is actually great! 🤩