Jurmala
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Jurmala is a beautiful town located between the Gulf of Riga and the Lielupe River. It has appr. 55,000 residents. It is most popular beach resort town in Latvia and attracts annually thousand tourists from Baltic states, Finland, Scandinavia and Russia to pamper themselves in beaches and luxurious spa treatments. It is the only city in Latvia that has a Healthy City status.
Jūrmala has an unique wooden architecture and 4000 historic buildings, giving to a city peculiar and calm atmosphere.
Beaches
Jurmala has 26 kilometres long network of fine quartz sand beaches, and city is the biggest resort of its kind in Latvia. Majori and Jaunkemeri beaches are Blue Flag certified. Here visitors can play beach football or volleyball, rent water bicycles and rest in cozy beach cafés. In Pumpuri beach is possible to try kite and windsurfing.
Spas
Jurmala has been known as a spa resort since the Czar regime and in Soviet times the party elite pampered itself here. In various spas a visitor can enjoy sauna, aromatherapy, mud and chocolate treatments and swimming. Prices are cheaper here than in Central European and Scandinavian spas.
What else to see
Open-air museum
Idyllic 19th century fisherman’s farmstead in Lielupe (Tīklu iela 1a) has been changed to be a museum with old, characteristic buildings. Here one can get introduced to historic Latvian farm architecture collection of anchors and fishing boats, and also the rope making workshop.
Kemeri National Park
Want to observe beautiful Latvian nature and hike in wilderness? Kemeri National Park, established in 1997, outside of the city is the place. Unique moorland has network of wooden trails for walking without a hurry and watching various ecosystem. Here can meet an elk, wolf or a woldboar and the flora consists 897 species of non-seed and seed plants. Jurmala city minibus route 10 connects Ķemeri to the Jurmala.
Art studio “Inner Light”
This photo of Art Studio ‘Inner Light’ is courtesy of TripAdvisor
This gallery of luminous art shows artwork made in an extraordinary fluorescence painting technique. Works are glittering in a special light and a new picture will be exposed to a viewer underneath the first work. Here is also available art therapy
Top 5 in Jurmala:
- Kite surfing on the beach
- Spas
- Kemeri National Park
- Inner Light art studio
- Livu water park
How to get in Jurmala
The closest international airport is in Riga. Minibus line 241 from airport goes to Imanta railwaystation, where is the suburban connection to Jurmala.
Suburban trains via the Riga-Tukums route goes to Jurmala, leaving approximately every 30 minutes from Riga Central Station (€2, 30 minutes). Jūrmala has several stations, but Majori is the most central.
E22 goes through Jurmala from Riga. A fee of €2 is charged for entering the city area by car.
Text: Timo Hellman
Photos: Wikimedia Commons, Tripadvisor[/fusion_text]
