This part of the Forest Trail passes through the historical centre of Valmiera. In Valmiera you can visit St. Simon’s Church, the Ruins of the Livonian Order Castle and Valmiera Museum. We also suggest walking the barefoot trail in “Sajūtu Parks” (Park of Senses). After sightseeing in Valmiera, the Forest Trail goes through Atpūtas (Recreation) park, the beautiful pine forest and Baiļi winter ski centre. Further on you will walk along the River Abuls Trail, curving along the banks of the river until reaching the Brenguļi brewery built in an old Hydroelectric power plant. You can enjoy unfiltered and unpasteurised beer here. Further down you will enter unpopulated forest areas and the Northern Gauja protected landscape area.

The forests in Northern Gauja (“Ziemeļgauja”) are very diverse. There are old or natural boreal (northern) forests and marsh forests, oak forests, alluvial forests (formed on river sediments which periodically flood) and mixed oak, wych elm and ash forests along the river. The tour will end in Strenči Town.

This is the most distinct cape in Latvia, with the waves of the Baltic Sea and the Bay of Rīga coming together.  During storms, the waves can be as much as 7 metres high.  The cape is an underwater shoal that stretches to the Kolka lighthouse, which is 5 km away.  It is on an artificial island that was created between 1872 and 1875.  When the island became stable, the 21 m lighthouse was installed in 1883.  Manufactured in St Petersburg, the lighthouse became operational on July 1, 1884.  Today the island contains the building for the supervisor of the lighthouse, several ancillary buildings and an impressive fog bell.  A monument to men lost at sea that was sculpted by Ģirts Burvis is on Cape Kolka, as is a wrecked wooden ship, presumably from the 19th century.  There is also a rock that is known as the “heart of Europe,” because the Latvian folklorist Krišjānis Valdemārs believed that the cape was the centre of Europe.  There are stands with information about Valdemārs, and the Latvian Border Guard uses facilities that were once in the hands of the Soviet Coast Guard.  Cape Kolka is an important place for migrating birds during the season, and it has a visitor centre and a summer café.  There are unusual pines on the beach that were washed onto it during storms.  Under the water around the cape is the largest ship graveyard in the Baltic Sea.  It is a dangerous place for swimmers because of changes in the flow of water and shifting sands.  At the end of the cape are the ruins of an old lighthouse that was built in the 18th century and lost during the latter half of the 19th century.

The narrow gauge rail line between Alūksne and Gulbene  has tracks that are 750 mm wide and was once part of a rail line between Stukmaņi and Valka.  Today it is the only passenger train on a narrow gauge railroad in Latvia, offering services every day.  The Alūksne station was opened in 1903, and 33 km line with 10 stations and other stop scan be covered in approximately 90 minutes.  A festival is held each year  -- one that is very popular among fans of small trams.

This farm grows hemp and offers information about the history of the plant and its uses in nutrition and saunas.  Hemp butter, ice cream, tea and hemp milk are offered.  Take a tour with degustation.

The craftsman offers useful household products such as terrines, pots to make pickles, dishes of sugar and salt, bowls, etc. You can learn about pottery traditions and watch as the kiln is opened.

Sweet and sour rye bread is baked here on the hearth of a wood-fired oven, following an old family recipe and using home-grown, historical varieties of rye flour. The dough consists of rye or barley flour, salt, sugar, caraway seas and natural yeast. You can help to bake the bread, taste and buy it, and tour the farm’s museum. The farm grows its own grain in an environmentally friendly way. 

Available for purchase: sweet and sour rye bread, sweet and sour rye bread with peas, garlic, seeds, hemp, or without sugar.

Auf der Küste der Halbinsel befinden sich sowohl ehemalige Fischerdörfer, als auch die Reste eines Militärstützpunkts der Sowjetarmee. Großartige von den Gletschern des Eiszeitalters eingebrachte Feldsteine.