This itinerary allows you to enjoy the Latvian winter at its best. It starts in the bustling capital of Riga with its Christmas market, decorations, shopping facilities, many cultural events and museums as well as a charming Old Town.
Then the route heads out to the countryside to enjoy winter pleasures at skiing and sledging slopes. After an active day its time for relaxation and papmering at a spa hotel plus the chance to experience Latvia's healthy and unique sauna rituals. For sightseeing visit Sigulda medieval castle ruins, Turaida Castle and taste home-made wine at Krimulda manor. Local wild animals such as wolves, bears, mooose and more, can easily can be observed at the Ligatne Nature Trails and afterwards enjoy a ride in a horse-drawn sledge at a nearby farm.

A Latvian traditional farm with a herd of some 150 goats, offering tours of the farm and cheese for sale.  They offer also home-made ice-cream from the goat milk and a soup made on open-fire. Also latvian traditional sauna is available. The products can also be bought at the little market in Straupe.

In a document from 1387, the village is named Minor Irva.  Until the mid-20th century, Mazirbe was the largest Livonian village on the coast of Kurzeme.  It was a fishing village and a centre for fishing.  The village had a church, school, pharmacy, forestry company, several stores, a post and telegraph office, train station, barber shop, bakery and photo workshop, as well as a brick kiln.  During the 1930s, a local fishing co-operative built a fish processing plant here.  The Livonian Association was established here in 1923, and the Livonian People's Centre was opened in 1939.  Oppoite the centre is the Stūrīši homestead (the home of the Taizel dynasty), where you can learn about everyday household objects and, by ordering it advance, taste local foods.  The first chairmen of the Livonian Association, Kārlis Stalte and Māritņš Lepste, lived in Mazirbe.  Cultural worker Kārlis Stalte (1870-1978) spent man years as the verger and organist of a church in Mazirbe.  Mārtiņš Lepste was a Livonian language teacher in the 1930s.  The former Maritime School building can be viewed from the outside.  Some 2,000 students attended the school between 1894 and 1914.  During Soviet years, the army had a base here.

The Naujene castle hill is on the steep bank of the Daugava River, is up to 25 metres high and has two valleys on its sides.  Between 1275 and 1277, the master of the Livonian Order, Ernst von Ratzenburg, organised the construction of a brick castle to replace a Lettigalian wooden castle that had stood there before.  The castle had a drawbridge and an external and internal forecastle.  Until the middle part of the 16th century, the castle was the residence of one of the top officials in Dünaburg.  The forces of Ivan the Terrible sacked the castle in 1577, after which the location lost its strategic importance.  New fortifications were built in the location that is now the city of Daugavpils.  Alongside the ruins of the castle is a miniature model that helps to imagine the appearance of the location many centuries ago.  A well-appointed pathway leads from the car park to the castle hill.  The hill offers one of the loveliest views of the curvy Daugava River and its surrounding nature park.

Šis ir viens no 6 ceļojuma maršrutiem sērijā "Baudi laukus!", un tas aicina apmeklēt Lauku Labumus – visdažādāko veidu un nozaru saimniecības un uzņēmumus, kas atvērti apmeklētājiem, piedāvā ekskursijas, nogaršot, apskatīt un iegādāties savus ražojumus. Tur apskatāmi mājdzīvnieki, mūsdienīgas lauku saimniecības, amatnieku darbnīcas, iegādājami lauku produkti – maize, medus, mājas vīns un alus, siers, ogas, augļi, zivis, gaļa, dārzeņi, tējas un citi laukos audzēti labumi. Pa ceļam iespējams ieturēt pusdienas lauku krodziņos. 

The first half of this section leads through magnificent coniferous forests, especially in the Järvevälja landscape reserve, where the trail is surrounded by beautiful dunes in the north and a raised bog in the south. It is well worth visiting the kiosk at Rannapungerja to buy smoked fish – the Lake Peipus vendace (rääbis) and some local farm produce. In the second part, the Forest Trail winds along the coast of the beautiful Lake Peipus. During the summer, when the water level in the lake is lower, beautiful, sandy beaches with wide shallows appear. Past Alajõe, the highest dunes of Lake Peipus (up to 20 m) rise on the landscape, providing a distant view of Lake Peipus, one of the largest lakes in Europe.

The owners are in the process of renewing a more than a hundred-year-old wooden barn, where they plan to organize creative workshops for young people, with the participation of a blacksmith, carpenter and other craftsmen. The owner teaches how to plat a paling. There is a possibility to get to know farm animals – rabbits, chickens, ducks, goats, etc. The house of useful arts is going to be opened in May 2014

Reinis Kaudzīte, co-author of the first Latvian novel “Times of the Land-Surveyors” (“Mērnieku laiki”) stayed in Pēterupe Village from 1913. 
In 1913 R. Kaudzīte bought a small property (currently No. 17 School Street), where he spent the last years of his life along with the lady of the house Karlīna Damroze. After the death of R. Kaudzīte, Karlīne – the well-known and respected midwife – continued to run the household. During Soviet times, the house was converted into a residential building. The neighbouring garden-house also acquired the status of a one-room flat, which in 11 August 1991 was turned into the Public Museum of Saulkrasti History. In 2008 the basic idea of the museum was changed and the house underwent redecoration. Now the museum is dedicated to the life of Reinis Kaudzīte in Pēterupe. The exhibition consists of furniture, crockery, household items, tools, photographs and other items of the early 20th century contributed by Saulkrasti residents. 
“Neighbour’s bench” and a signpost with references to places where the writer once travelled to are located in the garden by the building.