Discover Jūrmala

First impressions of Jūrmala

Jūrmala is Latvia's resort town — a 33km-long strip of pine forest, white-sand beach, and beautifully preserved wooden Art Nouveau villas wedged between the Baltic Sea and the Lielupe river, just 25 minutes by train from Riga. Originally a 19th-century spa destination for Tsarist Russian aristocracy (who came for the warm shallow water and sulphurous mud cures), it became a major Soviet retreat in the post-war decades, and remains the place where Latvians spend summer weekends. The town's pedestrianised main artery, Jomas iela, is a kilometre of wooden 1880s–1910s villas painted pale yellow, mint green, and dusky pink, lined with cafes and ice-cream stalls. Wander into the side streets for the country's best collection of carved 19th-century wooden architecture — hundreds of intricately ornamented summer houses survive intact. The wide Baltic beach itself is gentle, family-friendly, and stretches for kilometres past Majori, Dzintari, and Bulduri stations. Don't miss the genuinely good Dzintari Forest Park (with the 33-metre lookout tower for the panorama), the brilliant outdoor concert hall (Dzintari Concert Hall regularly hosts the New Wave music festival), and the curious Kemeri National Park 15km further west — wooden boardwalks looping through extraordinary raised peat-bog landscapes.