Tours in Latvia

Start in Riga, because most people do. Walk into the old town in the evening and the first thing you notice is how the cobbles slow everyone down. People stop in Dome Square to look up, then wander on without a plan. Around the House of the Blackheads the façades lean close together and the light does something warm and uneven on the stone. This is the part of Latvia where a camera feels natural, and where a photo shoot with a local photographer makes real sense. In the colder months the Christmas market fills the square with stalls, lights and the smell of mulled wine and roasted nuts.

Step out of the old town and Riga changes. Wooden houses lean along quiet streets, and the Art Nouveau district rewards anyone who keeps looking up at the carved faces and stone flourishes above the doors. The Central Market, set in its great hangars near the railway, is where you buy smoked fish, pickles, rye bread and whatever is in season. Cross the Daugava and you get the skyline back in one view, which is worth the walk.

Beyond the capital, the country is quiet and green. Jurmala runs along the Baltic with pine forest behind a long pale beach and wooden villas on the side streets. Sigulda and the Gauja valley offer castle ruins, sandstone cliffs and trails that feel a long way from any city. Cesis has a calm, well kept old centre. Kuldiga has a wide brick bridge and a low waterfall that locals treat as a gathering spot. Liepaja is windier, rougher and more musical, with a coast that feels open.

You can ask a local guide for any of these places, even where no tour is listed yet. For now, the Riga photo shoot below is the way to leave with proper pictures of the old town and its market.