Arrival at Rīga International airport. Free time to explore Rīga. Places of particular interest are the medieval Old Town and the Art Nouveau district included into UNESCO World's Heritage list. Also the Central Market, one of the largest in Europe is worth a visit to see the local products.
Accommodation at hotel in Rīga.
Breakfast.
The route goes along the right bank of the Daugava river providing some fine views and then crosses the river at Kegums HES.
Sites and attractions en route:
If interested in birdwatching then detour to the Nagli fishing ponds by the lake Lubana would be beneficial. The ponds are one of the richest and most diverse site of the nesting and resting waterbirds. There are several birdwatching towers and Tirumnieki raised swamp trail.
Overnight at the guesthouse near Rezekne.
Breakfast.
Latgale region is Latvia' s “land of lakes” and there is Rāzna National Park.
Sites and attractions en route:
Overnight at the guesthouse near Daugavpils.
Breakfast.
Latvian/Lithuanian border crossing at Smelyne.
Sites and attractions en route:
Guided birdwatching and other wildlife excursions within the park are available upon request.
Overnight at the guest house in Ignalina.
Breakfast.
Vilnius city tour. Vilnius Old Town, the Gediminas tower, Presidential Palace, St. Anne’s Church, Sts. Peter & Paul's Church, The KGB museum, The Gates of Dawn, The Bernardine Gardens, the Castle Hill, the Hill of Three Crosses, Gediminas avenue.
Overnight in a hotel in Vilnius.
Breakfast.
Overnight in a guesthouse or a hotel in Trakai.
Breakfast.
Sites and attractions en route:
Overnight in Druskininkai.
Breakfast.
Kaunas city tour. Old Town Kaunas, the Ninth Fort, Laisvesaleja (Liberty Boulevard), the Kaunas castle, Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul. The house of Chigune Sugihara, the Japanese consul, who resided in Kaunas in 1939 - 1940 and rescued Jewish people from persecutions by granting them visas.
Overnight in a hotel in Kaunas.
Breakfast.
Klaipeda, a harbour city. Ferry to peninsula (15min) to Curonian Spit National Park, a sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. This is the only place in the Baltic States where there is such a vast territory of open-air sand dunes which still change the local terrain very actively because of the wind.
Sites to visit: ethnographic villages, Nida holiday resort, impressive sand dunes. Near Juodkrantė, bird lovers can observe the colony of grey herons and large cormorants. Juodkrante also has unique forest sound observation sites “Sound catchers” in an old forest.
Overnight at Nida.
Breakfast.
Sites and attractions en route:
Cross Latvian/Lithuanian border.
Overnight in a hotel in Liepāja.
Breakfast.
Sites and attractions en route:
Overnight in Ventspils.
Breakfast.
Sites and attractions en route:
Guided wildlife (birds, mammals, insects) tours can be pre-arranged.
Overnight near Ģipka or Roja.
Breakfast.
Sites and attractions en route:
Overnight in Rīga.
Breakfast.
Departure.