Travel to Latvia

Flying to Latvia

Latvia's national carrier is airBaltic (www.airbaltic.com), which runs direct flights to the UK, among other destinations. Other airlines flying non-stop to Latvia from the UK include Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) and the Hungarian company Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com).

The major airport is: Riga International Airport.

Airport Guides

Flight times

From London - 2 hours 40 minutes; New York - 10 hours (including stopover); Paris - 2 hours 45 minutes; Frankfurt - 2 hours 5 minutes.

Departure tax

None.

Travelling to Latvia by Rail

Riga has rail links with Moscow and St Petersburg in Russia, Tallinn and Valga in Estonia, Minsk in Belarus and Vilnius in Lithuania.

Latvijas Dzelzceļš (Latvian Railways) (tel: 8000 1181, in Latvia only or + 371 6723 1181; www.ldz.lv) is the national rail operator.

Rail passes

Latvia is not covered by InterRail or Eurail passes (but the latter does give you a discount on some ferry routes to Latvia).

Rail note

To Riga - 17 hours from Moscow; 15 hours and 30 minutes from St Petersburg; 12 hours from Minsk; 3 to 4 hours from Valga.
 

Driving to Latvia

Entry by car is possible from Russia, Estonia, Belarus or Lithuania. The Via Baltica highway runs through the Baltic countries.

Getting to Latvia by boat

Riga is a major Baltic port with a sea link to Stockholm, Sweden. Other ports in Latvia also service water traffic from Germany and Sweden.

Water note

Those travelling with a Eurail pass are entitled to a substantial discount on the Tallink Silja ferry route between Stockholm and Riga.

Cruise ships

Riga is on the route of several cruise ships (tel: +371 6703 0800; www.rop.lv/).

Ferry operators

Tallink Silja (tel: +49 40 547 541 222; www.tallinksilja.com) operates a ferry service between Riga and Stockholm. The journey time is approximately 16 hours.

Stena Line vessels (tel: +371 6362 2999, in Latvia only or 08447 70 70 70; www.stenaline.lv) sails between Ventspils and Nynäshamn (Sweden) and Travemünde (Germany). The operator also runs the service between Liepaja and Travemünde.