Latvia

Traveling

Entry requirements

Passport and visa service

Entry of foreigners into Latvia of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Visa HQ

Diplomatic representations

Organizing your trip

Means of transport recommended in town

Maps of urban networks

Maporama
Mapblast
UT Library on line

Means of transport recommended in the rest of the country

Rail companies

Airlines

Traveling by yourself

Recommendation

The main freeways are well maintained, secondary roads are in bad condition, often not asphalted. Frequent police controls; speed is limited to 50 km:h in cities, 90 km/h on roads. It is compulsory to turn your headlights on, day and night all year long from April 1st 1999. Supply in fuel is hard to find in the country, but not on the main roads. The civil liability insurance is compulsory with a local insurer (the "green card" is not recognized yet in Latvia). It is possible to rent cars with or without chauffeur. For fearless persons, urban public transports are advised. Otherwise, it is advised to ride a taxi: easy to find and prices are reasonable.

Road maps

Find an itinerary

Visiting

Different forms of tourism

Historical

-Riga (capital): its old city and the "new city"
-Liepaja
-Jurmala (palges).
We also suggest you to buy road or city maps of the places you would like to go to.

Tourism organizations

Informations portal on tourism in Latvia

Living conditions

Health and safety

For further information on sanitary conditions

For further information on safety conditions

Emergency numbers

Time difference and climate

Time and time difference

It is %T:%M %A in Riga (GMT+2 in winter, GMT+3 in summer)

Summer time period

Summer time from March to October

Map of the time zone

Type of climate

For further information

Average annual temperatures and rainfall

Eating

Culinary specialties

In Latvia, the best part of the meal is usually the starter. Indeed, there is a large variety of appetizers.
Among Lettish specialties:
Kotletes: lamb ribs
Skabu kapostu zupa: vegetable soup
Smoked fish: salmon, trouts.
Smetana: cream dessert, yoghurt-based.
Drinks: The Riga Black Balsam is a famous liquor in Latvia which was first produced in 1700.
Bauskas Tumsais: stout
Gaisais: white beer
Kvass: soft drink which is served in the summer.

Drinks

Dietary taboos

Paying

Domestic currency

Latvian Lats

ISO Code

LVL

To obtain domestic currency

The currency is the Lats or LVL.

Possible means of payment

Speaking

Official language

Latvian

Other languages spoken

This country, with 2.5 million inhabitants is home to several linguistic communities. Indeed, it is important to note that only 54.5% of the population speaks Latvian. As far as minorities are concerned, 33.5% of the citizens speak Russian and 4.1% speak Byelorussian. Finally, Ukrainian is spoken by 3% of the population, Polish by 2.2%, Lithuanian by 1.7%, Yiddish by 0.5%, Tatar by 0.2% and Estonian by 0.1%.

Business language

Russian and English

Getting some knowledge

Free translation tools

Latvian Dictionary - Free English-Latvian-English dictionary
Ectaco - Free English-Latvian-English dictionary

Useful resources

To find an accommodation

To find an apartment

To find a job

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