"The Switzerland of Latvia" a Sigulda Travel Page by Dabs

Sigulda, a lovely town in the Gauja Valley, is the daytrip from Riga that everyone recommended to me and it is well worth a visit should you have a day to spare. Whether you come in by bus or car, make your first stop the national park visitors center to get a map, several times we seemed to be a bit off course and our Lonely Planet map was inadequate.

If you are in reasonable shape, you should be able to walk between the sights, you can work off some of that food you've been eating at the Lido restaurants in Riga.

We started from the Sigulda bus station, stopped at the Sigulda Church, picked up a map at the visitors center, visited the New Sigulda Castle and Knights Stronghold and then headed over to the cable car that takes you over the Gauja Valley, the natural divider between the Knights stronghold and the Archibishop of Riga's castle over at Turaida.

Take the cable car over the Gauja Valley to ruins of the Krimulda castle, continuing walking (downhill) to Gutmanis cave, then onto Turaida.

At Turaida, the museum reserve has several main sights-the castle and it's view over the valley is the highlight, you can also visit the enchanting Folksong garden, a wooden steepled church with the grave of Turaida Rose in the churchyard and an estate with several buildings showing how an estate works.

After your visit here you can take the bus back to Sigulda.

If you have more than just a day, there are other hiking/biking areas to explore. In addition to what we saw, there is ballooning, bungee jumping (from the cable car!), bobsledding in both winter and summer, skiing and lots more outdoorsy opportunities.