Gauja National Park, located in the northern part of Latvia, near the city of Gauja is the largest and oldest National Park in Latvia. A lot of outdoor activities and cultural monuments can be seen in this National Park. As outdoor activities, I can mention hiking, bungee jump, cycling, skiing, and boating. Also, there are a lot of castles like Turaida castle, Sigulda castle and Sigulda Medieval Castle.
How to get there
You need to go to Riga Central train station, and there you can ask for a ticket to Sigulda. There are a lot of trains that go from Riga to Sigulda. The journey takes around 1 hour to arrive there.
In Sigulda, you can find supermarkets as well.
About the Gauja National Park
From Sigulda Rail Station, I would suggest walking to Turaida castle, which was built on the 13th century. The path to Turaida is around 5 km. During the road, you can see the New Sigulda Castle, which is very beautiful too.
Inside the Turaida castle is great, especially for everyone who wants to know more about the Latvian history. There you will see castles, prisons, and a lot of historical things. You can walk to the top of the castle. Check out the pictures from the Turaida castle:
After this visit, I went through the Gauja river, to explore the nature and see the caves in this area. It is a great outdoor experience. During the walk, I was lucky to see one of the best sunsets, I’ve ever seen. A goldy sunset, also the river looked so beautiful and peaceful. On the bottom, you will see the pictures!
It takes one day to explore the main spots of this park, but if you want to explore more, you need to stay there for more days.