Setomaa in South-East Estonia is a unique area for its people (the Seto) and culture. The historic location in the borderland between East and West, straddling two languages and cultures has shaped the local language, life style, clothes and food. A very specific type of singing – leelo – is incorporated in the UNESCO list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Visitors are advised to follow the Seto Külävüü route from Võõpsu to Luhamaa through many villages to better understand the area.
Traditional Seto food is found at Seto Teahouse (tsäimaja) (+372 505 4673, www.setomuuseum.ee) in Värska and at Taarka Tarõ in the Seto Community Centre in Obinitsa (+372 5620 3374, http://taarkatare.com). Catering for groups should be booked in advance, cultural shows can also be booked.

Mežvidi (SIA Latgale Vegetable Logistics) began operations in 2007 and sells tasty and healthy red tomatoes.  The owners plan to grow and deliver tomatoes during the winter, when people have the greatest need for healthy and vitamin-rich vegetables.  The farm helps to facilitate co-operation among people who farm vegetables, and it informs the public about how tomatoes are grown.

Lakeside Sigulda is a quiet camping and recreation area on the territory of Lake Matinu. Offers relaxation, overnight stays near nature and picnic options in a quiet environment. Travelers with campers, caravans, as well as those staying in tents can stay overnight in the camping area. In addition, a well-equipped glamping tent for 2 people has also been created. Showers, toilets, outdoor kitchen, picnic areas, grills, internet and electricity connection are available for camping guests.

SUP boards are available for active recreation.

The largest town in South-Eastern Latvia is on the banks of the Daugava River, which is the border between Latvia and Belarus at this location.  The border runs down the middle of the river.  Piedruja has two parts – Piedruja and Aleksandrova, which are separated by a central street (the V 631 road).  Piedruja emerged from the Druja town that was on the left bank of the Daugava.  During the 17th century, the two parts were owned by the Stapekha dynasty of Lithuanian aristocrats.  It is worth strolling through the town, because the low-level wooden houses are reminiscent of buildings that are exhibited in open-air ethnographic museums.  Piedruja is neat and tidy, with two churches and the Daugava rock that are part of a local hiking trails.  Aleksandrova has a tourist accommodation, “Piedruja,” which offers special soirées in the Lettigalian, Russian and Belarusian style.  Please be aware that you need a temporary permit to enter the border zone.  The Border Guard facility is in Piedruja and at a place where there was a Daugava crossing point comparatively recently.

The museum was established in 1973 and has been in the Kalna Ziedi homestead since 1989.  The permanent exhibition is in a building that was erected in 1989 on the foundations of the former home, while the warehouse (1990) was built on the foundations of a cattle shed.  The exhibition hall (2000) was built where a granary once stood.  The only part of the former farm that remains in place is the cellar, but the placement of the buildings is typical for the layout of a farm in Vidzeme.  The collection of the museum speaks to the history of the administrative district, beginning with information about the Stone Age.  The open-air exhibition features beehives with marks of belonging, as well as rare round crosses that are monuments to Medieval cemeteries.  100 metres to the Northeast from the museum is the Kalna Ziedi castle hill, while 200 metres to the south are the remains of a sacrificial oak stump that was destroyed in 1994.  The location is on the edge of the reservoir of the Pļaviņas hydroelectric power plant and offers a broad view of the plant’s dam and the town of Pļaviņas.

This is a biological goat farm and cheese-making plant that offers various cheeses made of goat’s milk and cow milk.  The farm has some 100 dairy cows.  Owners Ruta and Stefans welcome guests and speak Latvian, German and Russian.  The cheese is available on site, at the Kalnciems market in Rīga and elsewhere in Latvia.

Production - goat’s and cow’s milk cheeses. Offers excursions in the farm and cheese-making plant, tasting.

This is an ancient populated area.  There were 50 homesteads here during the 1930s, with only ten remaining in 1990.  The Livonian scholar and entomologist Kārlis Princis (1893-1978) was born in Oviši.  In 1944, he emigrated to Sweden.  The Oviši lighthouse (1814) is 38 metres high and is the oldest functioning lighthouse in Latvia.  There are lovely views from the top of the lighthouse.  The building in which employees of the lighthouse used to live was erected in 1905 and has been preserved.  A narrow-gauge train station was in the building at one time.  The Oviši Lighthouse Museum is nearby, as is the metal Tree of Austra.  Opposite Cape Oviši is a great place for bird watching. 

The nature reserve “Plieņciema kāpa” is founded in 1987 and covers 60.6 hectares of land. Since 2005 it is a Natura2000 site. The nature reserve protects a 150-200m wide and 3.5km long part of a distinct, continuous dune rampart. The dunes shelter Plieņciems village protecting from sea winds. The key natural values here are rare and protected biotopes of national and European significance: “Wooded dunes of the coast 2180” in the area of 61.8 ha, “Fixed dunes with herbaceous vegetation, 2130 (grey dunes)” in the area of 8.27 ha, “Shifting dunes along the shoreline with Ammophila arenaria (white dunes) 2120 in the area of 3.20 ha”, “Black alder swamp forests 9080”, ) in the area of 2,68 ha, as well as rare and protected species of Latvian and European significance including eastern pasqueflower (pulsatilla patens), Rolling Hen-and-chicks(Jovibarba sobolifera), Nothorhina muricata, Wryneck (Jynx torquilla), Woodlark (Lullula arborea).

In the nature reserve, there is a “Vabu square” – a deflation in the dune where for centuries local fishermen have been drying nets. In the 18^th and 19^th centuries ships were built here. Nine ships have been built here in 1882 - 1925. The four-masted gaff-rigged schooner with hoisting engine “Eurasia” was completed in 1925, the largest ship built by the Kurzeme fishermen. It was one of the works of Martin Morgenstern (1866-1945), a famous shipbuilding master.

Thanks to dunes, Plieņciems village was a popular holiday resort and has been mentioned in written sources already in 1738. Clergymen and landlords with their families used to stay here. In 1808, a merchant from Riga bought the local pub and replaced it with a massive two-storey building with a large ball-room and dining hall. On July 15, 1810, a sea bathing facility was opened for health treatment. For arrival of the empress Elisabeth Alexeievna, the wife of emperor Alexander I of Russia, who was a grandson of Catherine the Great, the road from Tukums town was repaired, the two highest hills were levelled, a road passage was dug across the Plieņciems dune, and a lime-tree alley was planted to facilitate access to the beach and bathing spot. Later, in 1920ies, the resort circles consisted mainly of the Kurzeme region landlords. There was a dance-floor in the park of Plieņciems village, and a special orchestra played music for resort guests three times a day.

This mixed-type park dates back to the latter half of the 19th century and has remained all but unchanged.  It is in a lovely place between two lakes, and its spatial structure was preserved when it was restored.  The park covers 10 ha and has two parts.  One is a fairly precisely rectangular territory alongside the state, surrounded by a stand of linden trees and introduced trees.  The other part has a natural forest.  The largest oak tree in the park has been declared to be a protected element of natural heritage.  The mighty trunk of the tree is 6.3 m around, has a 2m diameter and stands 30.5 m high.