The best hiking routes in Latvia

Latvia is a low-lying country where the walking experience is defined by vast pine forests, peat bogs, and a long Baltic coastline. Walking here means navigating flat or gently rolling terrain rather than climbing steep gradients. Underfoot, you will mostly encounter soft pine needles, sandy coastal tracks, and wooden boardwalks designed to carry walkers over wet peatlands.

For coastal walking, the western and northern shores offer wide sandy beaches backed by dunes and pine forests. In these coastal zones, the paths are sandy and the air carries the scent of pine and salt. Inland, the landscape shifts to dense coniferous forests and extensive peat bogs. In these bog areas, raised wooden boardwalks allow you to walk directly over deep moss layers and past dark bog pools, particularly striking during the autumn mist in October.

While the country lacks high peaks, the eastern regions present a more undulating landscape shaped by glacial debris, where quiet dirt roads wind between low hills and small lakes. The trail infrastructure is well-developed in popular forest areas close to Riga, which can be busier on weekends, while the more distant borderlands offer deep forest silence where you are unlikely to meet many other walkers.