News from Baltic Country Holidays

 Summer time is busy and packed with lots of events all across Latvia. We have selected our top of the events:

On 5th June in Brussels, the president of the Latvian Countryside Association "Lauku Celotājs", Asnāte Ziemele received an award Best Life-Environment Project for POLPROP-NATURA  project in EU LIFE programme. The project took place in the SlītereNational Park as a demo territory from 2009-2012. "Lauku Ceļotājs" executed the project together with the people and organizations of Slītere. The sustainable tourism development model was created by attracting local entrepreneurs, inhabitants, local authorities and administration of SlītereNational Park. This experience was used for making proposals for environmental protection and tourism development policy. 

Midsummer Solstice Celebrations (Jāņi) is the biggest celebration in Latvia which roots goes deep in ancient times. It is wildly celebrated and many pre-events take place few days before 23-24 June (when it is always celbrated) Some events are more traditional than the others. In our list - we have put only few events wich will give you traditional feel of Jāņi and activities surroounded with it.

The new Executive Committee will lead and manage EuroGites during the period of 2013-2016: Andy Woodward, FARMSTAY UK - President (UK), Klaus Ehrlich, RAAR - Secretary General (ES), Asnāte Ziemele, Latvian Country Tourism Association, Jan Tjosaas, HANEN (Norway), Panos Poulos, Hellenic Agrotourism Federation (Greece), Linas Zabaliunas, Lithuanian country tourism association, Patrick Farjas, GITES DE FRANCE (France), Hans Embacher, Urlaub am Bauernhof in Österreich (Austria).

The Hermitage, St. Isaac's Cathedral, The Peter & Paul Fortress, The Summer Garden and Palace are only few highlights of the Russian jewel on the Baltic Sea - St. Petersburg. We are freshly back from our inspection trip and ready to share with you our discoveries.
After popular demand we have put together a tour with the Baltic States plus St. Petersburg. The tour is focused on castles and manor houses in the Baltic States, St. Petersburg with its surrounding palaces. Apart of this tour St. Petersburg can be added to any other our tour, combined with Tallinn and Helsinki or bought on its own. There is excellent train connection from Helsinki and Riga which both we recommend and can help to book the tickets. We also offer cruise connections - St. Peter's Lines http://www.celotajs.lv/cont/cntr/ferry_en.html .
In terms of accommodation, we're cooperating with some small, cosy hotels in convenient locations to explore the city. For selection click on this link.

 Welcome to St. Petersburg!

The people of the Baltic have a close relationship with nature and its annual cycle. Each season has its own specific activities like mushrooming, berry picking, collecting herbs, ice-fishing and different agricultural jobs as well as traditional and seasonal celebrations. The country is a haven for the tourist who loves nature, respects traditions and would like to experience the countries and their cultures more deeply.
Baltic Country Holiday's well-researched tours and sites are based around small-scale accommodation, open farms, local producers, living traditions and sincere people. For many years we have carried regular inspections of our accommodation and sites, have closely cooperated with national parks and nature experts, researched and developed new routes. We' re always looking for local farms and producers and encourage the development of new products. Since we ourselves like to explore and be active, we have tried all the routes in various different ways: cycling, walking, canoeing, by car and by public transport. We feel we can honestly call ourselves the Baltic experts.

In this issue(download): 

- Our new tour manual GO LOCAL! is out (EN,RU,DE)

-Sample spa packages in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania 

- New tours:

• From Gdansk to Helsinki through the Baltic States, 19 day 
• Castles and Manors from Riga to St.Petersburg, 12 days
• Winter in Northern-Latvia, 3 days
• Guided Day Tour at Kemeri National Park, 1 day

Info on our new publications.

We look forward to see you in ITB Berlin and MITT in Moscow!

Lauku ceļotājs has created a map of the Latvian, Estonian Heritage – a map with 150 magnificent places in Latvia and Estonia where customs which have been passed from one generation to another blend into modern life – whether these are grandmother’s potato pancakes, made not counting calories, or a clear homebrew with the nowadays mandatory excise stamps, and a tag of the owner-manufacturer, or the traditional sign of Jumis on the roofs of new buildings. The map encourages people to visit craftsmen and centres of craftsmen, masters of local and traditional dishes and drinks, small rural food manufacturing companies, fishermen, sites of annual traditional celebrations (such as solstice), farmsteads where visitors can participate in farm works and children can learn more about domestic animals, to visit organic and health holdings, pubs, museums and collections, historic centres of towns, ethnographic villages and territories, events with a theme related to history and reconstructions of historical events, sacred sites and buildings, castles and manors, traditional places for buying souvenirs, nature trails and routes. The map was composed by Lauku ceļotājs cooperating with the Estonian Rural Tourism Association (Eesti maaturism), the map is available in Latvian, Russian, English, German, Estonian, and Finnish.

You can download map here.

A new catalogue is published, where you will find practical information which will help you to plan your weekends and trips through Latvia's countryside – what to do, what to see, where to eat and where to spend the night.

Languages: English, Latvian, Russian,

Price (shipping within Europe included): 8,00 EUR

More about the catalogue and other publications read here.

Electronical version of the catalogue here.

„Lauku ceļotājs” participate in Project „AcTour: Active Tourism for Sustainable Development” where partners from Spain, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Latvia intends to transfer an innovative, tchnology-enhanced and job-related Training Guide and Curriculum on Active Tourism as a new professional profile for European rural regions. Project results will be available here http://www.activetourism.org/

Open AcTour project page in a new window