A place fraught with many legends and ghost stories about the old burial mound at the church of Mazirbe, an ancient tomb covered by stones– the only known grave of warewolves in Latvia.

The trail climbs up and down along the bluffs of lower River Pilsupe and reveals a fascinating sight of three white dune exposures (the largest is called the White Dune). The trail is 900m long, and the White Dune is ca 20m high. It has formed ca 6000 years ago, in the period of the Littorina Sea which is a foregoer of the Baltic Sea. Here the first Stone Age settlement on the North Western coast of Latvia has been found in 1934 by geologist S. Burhards. In the sand, some 500m from the sea, he found some pottery fragments, a sandstone hone, a piece of flint, parts of bones and an amber bead. He handed the findings over to the National Museum of History. In October 1934, the site was checked by archaeologist E. Šturms, who found the archaeological layer, typical for such settlements, in the landslides of the Pilsupe riverbanks. In 1936 he started larger excavations to continue by 1938. Totally seven, chronologically different settlements were detected and many artefacts found, including fragments of the so called Sārnate and pit-comb pottery, as well as some pieces of corded pottery. Based on these findings, the settlement is dated back to the beginning or middle of the 3rd millenary B.C., and it has been inhabited till the beginning of the 2nd millenary B.C. Especially remarkable are three clay figures in human shape which have probably been used for some religious cult purposes.

Since 1993, archaeologist Ilzes Loze has discovered several pit-comb ware culture settlements in large area around Pūrciems village. They are known in research literature as „the Ģipka settlements”.

The Kretinga Estate park is one of the oldest ones in Lithuania to have survived to the present days.  Established in the 16th and 17th century, it is a mixed-style park that covers 23 ha of land.  The southern part of the park has an astronomical calendar with a sundial, a hedge, allies, and flowerbeds and rock gardens with dahlias, peonies, tulips and roses.  There are trails for strollers and areas for relaxation.  Particularly popular among local residents is the restored fountain in the park.

The café is located the Krūziņi guesthouse in the centre of Dundaga.

Latvian cuisine: Sauerkraut soup, grey peas with curdled milk, roast perch or cod, sorrel soup with potatoes.

Special foods: “A tower of cottage cheese” or crème from the ingredients of the Dundaga Dairy.

A small bakery that Jānis Kurpnieks, a baker with more than 20 years of experience, has set up in his father's home. More than 12 types of bread from cereals grown in Latvia. The greatest pride of the bakery is its wholemeal rye bread and sweet and sour bread, neither of which contains wheat flour. Rye bread is baked in large loaves weighing 8-9 kg and reaching up to half a metre in length. With such a loaf, the flavour “bouquet” is stronger and the shelf life – longer. Only natural ingredients and home-made sourdough, taken from the dough scraper (the dough of the previous baking), are used here for baking bread. The dough is fermented in oak tubs and the bread is baked in a proper bread oven, which is fired with softwood.

Historians say that the Livs or Livonians lived in the territory of Latvia long ago, starting in the 10th century.  They populated Northern Kurzeme and the river banks of the Daugava and Gauja rivers.  They asked the first German tradesmen who appeared in the area about the price of textiles at the market in Visby.  This means that they were familiar with the island of Gotland.  The Livonians were courageous and spiritually strong seafarers, because only strong men can live with the sea, go fishing and seal trapping, and take root in the by no means fertile sands of the seashore.

The territory between Ģipka and Ovīši is known as the Livonian coastline.  There are still romantic seashore fishing villages of Livonian origin, as well as Cape Kolka, where the great Latvian activist Krišjānis Valdemārs insisted that it was the centre of Europe.  Livonians all along the seashore responded to his call by taking part in building sailing ships all the way up to Ainaži, where there was a maritime school.  That allowed the ships to sail to the far corners of the world, thus creating a century of sailing ships.  This wasn’t possible without the Livonians.  Also on the coastline are the oldest lighthouses in Latvia, with the one at Ovīši still serving as a star that shows the route for seaborne ships that are heading for Rīga.

The Livonian heritage is also seen in the tradition of fishing for lamprey eels – something that is still very much in place in Carnikava, Svētciems and Salacgrīva.  Old-time fishing equipment that cannot be seen anywhere else is on display in the latter town.

The Latvian nation emerged when the Livonians flowed together with the Lettigalians, the Livonians joke.  It may be that there is some truth in the anecdote.  Liv or Livonian culture, lifestyles and history are closely linked to Latvia and cannot be separated from it.

The Brasla River flows through a lovely valley that is approximately 300 m wide and up to 30 m deep. It is near the Inčukalns-Valka highway. The river has among the most beautiful rapids in the country, with mighty cliffs (the Brasla cliffs) that can be seen at nearly every curve in the river (except along the lowest reaches of the river). During the winter, various unusual frozen waterfalls can be seen in some of the cliffs, including the Krauļukalns cliff and the Jāņavārti cliff. On the left bank of the Brasla, opposite the Brasla fish farm, there are the Aņīte cliffs -- a series of sandstone cliffs that are 1 km long. The cliffs are between 2 and 35 m in height, and the sandstone cliffs are separated by ravines. On the right bank of the Brasla, there are major cliffs such as the Vāršavu cliff, the Kraukļukalns cliff, the Jāņavārti cliff, the Slūnu cliff, the Virtaka cliff and the Buļi cliff. How can you best learn about them? Boat down the river from the aforementioned highway or even from Straupe, which is further upstream. An alternative is hiking down the right bank of the river, though please take into account that the terrain is fairly extreme, and you are going to have to think about what to do when you arrive at the place where the Brasla River flows into the Gauja.

Atrodas Valmieras – Ainažu autoceļa (P 16) malā starp Matīšiem un Aloju. Iekārtota vecajā un atjaunotajā dzirnavu ēkā. Nedēļas nogalēs piedāvā izklaides pasākumus, klāj galdus un īrē telpas svinībām.
Latviešu virtuve: Aukstā, frikadeļu, skābeņu, pupiņu, šķelto zirņu un skābu kāpostu zupas, Valmieras salāti, rosols, mājas kotletes, aknu strogonovs, pelēkie zirņi ar speķi, cepta menca, siļķe krējuma mērcē, mednieku desiņas, maizes zupa, rupjmaizes krems.

This convent-type castle was built in the mid-13th century by the bishopric of Piltene.  Annexes were added in the 16th and 19th centuries to create a typical internal courtyard.  The Neo-Gothic forms of the castle’s façade date back to the 1830s.  From the 16th century to the 1920, the castle was owned by the noble Behr family.  After it was burned down during the 1905 Revolution, the castle was rebuilt in two years’ time.  The castle is known for ghost stories, tales of elf weddings, and stains of blood in the Red Room that are supposedly the result of a murder.  A fireplace was built to hide the stains, but they reappeared.  Since the privatisation of the castle, the interior has been restored with halls and cellars that are decorated with elements that are typical to the castle.  Its rooms and viewing tower are open to the public.  In the park, visitors will find the Alley of Love and the elf oak tree.