Itinerary
Day 1 Riga Old Town and look at Art Nouveau in Riga, & watch an opera if you want!
Day 2 Jurmala Beach-Latvian’s Family Beach and A Bog Walk at Kemeri National Park
Day 3 Cesis Castle and the Castle park (free)
Day 4 Riga (heading to Vilnius)
Tips
If you don’t have a car, you can travel to Vilnius or Riga and other cities in the Baltic States by Simple Express. My experience with their LUX Express was pretty good!
If you need to use washroom, there’s RIMI supermarket everywhere with free WiFi and toilets!
Budget
I travelled in June, 2015 in a group of 4 (family). We spent around $30 per day– this includes renting a car, fuel, food and attraction. (Backpacking in Latvia-Travel Expenses for 4 Days)
If you don’t rent a car, your transportation cost will be $7 lower if you are staying just in Latvia. And I bet you can find a couchsurfing host there.
But if you are planning to visit Lithuania, then if you are a group of 3 or 4, the cost of renting a small car is comparable to taking public transportation.
Food
Lido Restaurant is a very famous chain, and I do recommend it. I’d also recommend Charlie’s Pizzas which is right in the heart of Old Town of Riga, it’s very good for value.
Other Attractions
Gauja National Park seems to be a more popular destination than Cesis. It’s possible that there’s more to do in Gauja and it’s closer to Riga.
In Riga area, I also went to Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum. It’s not a must but it’s a nice place. It’s easy to go there by car, I’m not sure about buses.
Rundale Palace is the lowlight of my trip. If you don’t have a car, it’s not worthwhile to go there by public transportation. If you have a car and you are going to Vilnius anyways, it is on your way and your experience will be passable.
Will I go there again?
I like my couchsurfing host a lot, and I’d love to see her again. But honestly, Latvia is a nice place to live but not so tourist friendly. Staying in Riga or Jurmala will be lovely, but if you plan to travel around to pick up different attractions here and there is not so worthwhile. I don’t think I’d go back in 10 years, but who knows? I like the kvass from Charlie’s pizzas a lot!
My Overall Opinion on Baltic States
For Baltics, I think 5 days are enough if you are short on time.
Spend 1 day in Tallinn, take the overnight bus to Vilnius in Lithuania. Spend the second day in Vilnius, and go to Trakai on the third day. Take the bus back to Riga. And on the forth day see Riga. Fly out or go to Poland on the fifth day.
It will look like
Day 1 Tallinn Old Town (overnight bus to Vilnius)
Day 2 Vilnius Old Town
Day 3 Trakai Castle + Bus back to Riga
Day 4 Riga Old Town
Day 5 ……..Flight/Bus
Although we saw the Hill of Crosses in Siaulial, Lithuania. And Rundale Palace and Cesis Castle, and Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum, Jurmala Beach. You are not missing much if you skip these places.
Our advantage of renting a car was that our couchsurfing hosts were only accessible by car, and we wanted to couchsurf. We are glad we did. Another advantage of having a car is that Kemeri National Park which was a nice place to visit but you have to go there by car.
Your budget for 5 days
We spent $109.5 in Latvia, $38.5 in Lithuania and $9 in Tallinn. That’s a total of $157. If you don’t rent a car, then you deduct $63.2 but add $25 for night bus, and $13 for Vilnius-Riga bus. And $18 for bus fares in the city.
Then for accommodation, it doesn’t change anything if you couchsurf.
Food wise, deduct $10 for staying 2 days less.
Entertainment, deduct $26.6 for the attractions I don’t think is not so worthwhile in Latvia.
Is this too complicated? The final budget based on what I spent in the new altered itinerary is
$157 – $63.2 +$25 +$13+$18 – $10 -$26.6 = $113.2
That will be $22.64 per day for 5 beautiful days of the old towns in the Baltic States!
Traveling Mega
