By rail
Majori station, half an hour by train from Riga
Europe · Latvia
Jūrmala, Latvia
A pine-shaded resort on the Gulf of Riga
Getting there
By air
Riga (RIX), ~15 km east
Best time to visit
June to August for the beach; spring and autumn for quiet walks on the sand
Don't miss
Jūrmala beach
Jomas iela
Dzintari Forest Park
Ķemeri National Park
Majori
The wooden villas of Dubulti
Things to do
Beach walks along the thirty-kilometre shore
Cycling between the wooden villas
A spa afternoon
Strolling Jomas iela
Where to eat
Sources: Photo: Trogain · CC BY-SA 4.0
What to pack
Swimwear, a windbreaker, cycling clothes, a towel for the spa
A quieter corner
The Ķemeri National Park bog boardwalk, a short drive west, with its viewing tower at dawn
Questions travellers ask
When is the best time to visit Jūrmala?
June to August for the beach; spring and autumn for quiet walks on the sand. What to pack: Swimwear, a windbreaker, cycling clothes, a towel for the spa.
How do I get to Jūrmala?
Fly into Riga (RIX), ~15 km east.
What is there to do in Jūrmala?
Beach walks along the thirty-kilometre shore, cycling between the wooden villas, a spa afternoon, strolling Jomas iela. A quieter find: The Ķemeri National Park bog boardwalk, a short drive west, with its viewing tower at dawn.
What should I eat in Jūrmala?
Smoked fish from the coast, rye bread, Latvian pastries, ice cream on Jomas iela.
About Jūrmala
- Coastal
- Forest
Where it is
Jūrmala is a resort city on the Gulf of Riga in Latvia, a long strip of beach and pine forest between the sea and the Lielupe River, half an hour west of the capital.
History
Fishing villages along this sandbar became a bathing resort for Riga's merchants in the nineteenth century, and the railway filled it with wooden summer villas. In the Soviet era it was one of the most popular seaside resorts in the USSR, and its sanatoriums and promenades still draw visitors from across the Baltic.
People
Rigans come out for the weekend, Russian-speaking holidaymakers return every summer, and a year-round community of a few tens of thousands keeps the cafés and spas open through the quiet winter.
Known for
- A long white-sand beach
- Wooden Art Nouveau villas
- Spa hotels
- Pine forests by the sea
Did you know?
The city is made of more than a dozen former villages strung along the coast, each with its own railway halt.
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.