An ancient Latgalian settlement. During the 10th century Kraslava district was under authority of the Prince of Polotsk, but the 13th century - under the authority of the Livonian Order. Until the beginning of 18th century it existed as a manor centre. In 1729 Kraslava was bought for 1400 thalers by Johan Ludvig Plater. Plater family ruled Kraslava for two centuries. In the of the18th century Platers began construction of Krāslava palace. After first division of Poland in 1772 Latgale was annexed to Russia. Kraslava began to perish. After construction of Riga - Daugavpils - Vitebsk railway (1865) economic life flourished again. Kraslava was little affected by the World War II, therefore, early wooden buildings of 20th century remained almost untouched.

Established in 1957, this is the first company to have produced the popular milk candies “Gotiņa.”  The tasty candy can be bought, and tours are available.  The owner of the company is the main candy master, and he is happy to talk about the complicated method by which the candy is produced.

Andris Roze is one of very few kokle makers in Latvia who manufactures the instrument and helps others to do so at master’s classes.  Roze also manufactures other traditional musical instruments, demonstrates them, offers consultations about them, collects them and gathers together historical information.  He works at the Drabeši Crafts House, where people can learn traditional skills such as weaving, processing of leather, felting, pottery and construction of musical instruments.

For more than 20 years the company has been partnering with some 100 local suppliers of milk.  Its main principle is to offer healthy dairy products, including kefir, cottage cheese, cream, yogurts and soft cheese.  SIA Elpa is the only dairy processing company in Southern Kurzeme that offers tours and tastings of products.  Products can be bought, and during the tours, visitors can taste kefir, cheese and yogurt and help with the dairy processing process themselves.

Here you can tour a local brewery, ride bikes, enjoy water sports, go fishing in the local river, and taste foods with hops.  The guesthouse offers tastings of herbal teas and beer.  Learn all about traditions in brewing beer.

This is one of the most ornate and beautiful tree farms in Latvia, with some 1,000 types and forms of plants.  The owner will take you on a tour, and you can purchase coniferous trees, decorative bushes, plants for fencing, ivies, and outstanding grafted trees and bushes in containers (1-200 litres).  A colourful arboretum is also on offer, along with garden consultations. This can be used as a venue for events and photo sessions.

The family enterprise (formed in 2006) makes home-made ice-cream from fruit and berries. They make both classical – such as plombieres, cream, joghurt ice-creams and sorbets and nowadays cuisine’s „miracle”- sprat, blue cheese, horse-radish and potato ice-cream with tomato sauce. Till now 80 different ice-cream recipes have been tried. If you book a visit beforehand, you can have an excursion and learn everything about the process of making ice-cream from the chefs themselves. In the cafe it is possible to try different ice-cream dishes – each one with a different ice-cream sauce. The cafe also welcomes pets!

Special foods: Horseradish ice cream with herring.

This is the ancient shore of the Baltic Ice Lake.  We can only imagine the landscape 10,000 years ago, when the Kurzeme peninsula was covered with vegetation reminiscent of a tundra, and waves from the icy lake dashed against the ancient shoreline.  We know that the lake was full of icebergs of various sizes.  Today the cliff is more than 20 km long (some 9 km of it are in the Slītere National Park), and it is as much as 42 m high.  It is the most impressive cliff of its type in all of Latvia.  At the foot of the cliff are the Irve flatlands (the name comes from the Liv 'īrva' or 'īra', both of which refer to deer).  The flatlands are the former bottom of the Baltic Ice Lake.  The Blue Hills are crossed by many small streams and rivers (Pitragupe, Lorumupe, Kaļķupe, Mazupe, etc.).  Their valleys are the basis for a branched and very complicated system of waterways which look particularly impressive when the trees are bare.  In many places the cliffs and valleys display small areas of sandstone from the Narva suite.  These are Latvia's oldest sediment cliffs that can be seen above ground.  Although the Blue Hills are very impressive in scope, there are only a few places where there are important viewing areas (a viewing tower at the Dundaga-Mazirbe road, the view from the Šlītere lighthouse, the view from Mežlīdumi).  The mightiness of the ancient shoreline can truly be enjoyed from the Cirste-Mazirbe road, the Cirste-Riepaldi road, Mežlīdumi and the Vīdala-Melnsils road).  It is worth visiting the area in the springtime, when the slopes of the Blue Hills seem to be sinking under the fresh greenery.