Jūrmala

Jūrmala (Riga-Strand in German) is a 57,653 inhabitants city sandwiched between the Gulf of Riga and the Lielupe River in Latvia. It's the 5th most populated city in the country and during Soviet times, it was one of the favourite resorts for the Communist Party high-level officials like Leonid Brezhnev and Nikita Khrushchev. It's named by some as the Latvian version of the French Riviera and its main characteristic are the wooden Art Nouveau houses.

How do I arrive to Jūrmala?

  Jūrmala is very well connected due to its economic importance and its closeness to Riga. 

• Boat: there's a slow boat going from Riga to Jūrmala during the weekends (aprox. 1 hour).
• Train: there are 2-3 trains each hour from Riga, stopping in many of Jūrmala's district. The same line connects Jūrmala with Ķemeri National Park.
• Bus: from Jūrmala Bus Station there are buses each 5-15 minutes to Riga (aprox. 30 minutes) and to Riga International Airport too. 
• Car: if you rented a car Jūrmala can be reached from Ķemeri National Park (aprox. 15 minutes), Riga (aprox. 40 minutes), from Jelgava (aprox. 40 minutes ), Kuldīga (aprox. 1.5 hours) or from Ventspils (aprox. 2 hours). Getting with the car into Jūrmala costs 2€.

Once in Jūrmala, the best choices to move within the city is by bicycle or by minibus.

History

The city of Jūrmala actually consists of a group of small resorts which include Ķemeri, Jaunķemeri, Sloka, Kauguri, Vaivari, Asari, Melluži, Pumpuri, Jaundubulti, Dubulti, Majori, Dzintari, Bulduri and Lielupe.
Jūrmala's reputation as a spa (and later as a health spa too) destination began in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when wealthy landowners and Russian army officers came here to rest. It's importance grew with Riga - Tukums railway in 1877. In Soviet times Jūrmala was popular with the Communist officials because of its beach and sanatoriums, becoming one of the most popular holiday destinations in the whole Union.After Latvian independence, the number of Russian tourists who visited Jūrmala was importantly reduced (they need visa to get in Latvia) and have yet to attract European ones. However, during the past few years, Jūrmala has started to recover, with many Russian celebrities, successful businessmen and others have been buying houses near the beach, and lots of different festivals and other activities have brought more and more people to the town each summer. 

 

What can I visit in Jūrmala?

Jūrmala is a very nice and wide resort city with many districts, among the main ones are: Bulduri, Dzintari, Majori and Dubulti. In Dzintari and Majori are located the most cute buildings and streets, specially wooden Art-Nouveau wooden houses. The former has Dzintaru prospekts as the most interesting street while Majori has Jomas iela, Lienes iela and Rīgas iela. Jūras iela connects all the districts of Jūrmala. Joma Street Festival is held in July, conmemorating the unification of Jūrmala's districts, with many events like sand sculptures competitions.

These are Jūrmala's main attractions:

• Jūrmala Beach: 25 km white-sand beach awarded with Blue Flag. It has always been the social center of Jūrmala and there are sports competitions in here too.
• Inner Light Art Gallery (11-17; 5€/ 3€/ 1€  adults/ students/ retiree and kids): this art gallery has paintings of local painter Vitaly Yermolayev. They all have something in common, they change with the light they receive, which added to the darkness of the rooms and Enya music makes it a special place.
• Jūrmala City Museum (10-18 Wed-Sun from May to Sep; 10-17 Wed-Sun from Oct to Apr; free): museum which shows the beginning of this resort town, its development in the 19th century as a luxury resort and how it has changed till our days with photos, toys, books and other objects.
• One of the most interesting things of Jūrmala is its architecture. Even it's too big, the more interesting bulding are located in the districts of Dzintari and Majori.
• House of Aspazija (10-18 Tue-Sat from May to Sep; 10-17 Tue-Sat from Oct to Apr; free): 20th century house, where the Latvian writer Aspazija lived, with items and interiors from those years which has been used as meeting point for writers, artists, photographers and other intellectuals from Riga, Jūrmala and Latvia. It's considered one of the most beautiful and unusual museums in Jūrmala.
• Bulduri Lutheran Church: 19th century church which is also known as the Forest Chapel.
• Dubulti Lutheran Church: 19th century Art-Noveau style church with rich decoration.
• St. kņaza Vladimira Russian Orthodox Church: 19th century church located in Dubulti district. 
  
• Jūrmala House of Artists (12-19 Tue-Fri; 12-16 Sat; free): small museum which shows the process of creating art and home of temporary expositions. It's located in a beautiful 1920 wooden house.
• Jūrmala Open-Air Museum (10-18 Tue-Sun from May to Sep; 10-17 Tue-Sun from Oct to Apr; free): this ethnographic museumis an interesting way to discover fishermen life with 19th century houses, rope-making workshops, fishing boat's decks and nautical objects. In summer Thursdays afternoons there are events with local fishermen about smoke fish (where it can be savored). Here there's also the Museum of Resort History (booking on advance; 5€/ 3€/ 1€  adults/ students/ retiree and kids), small museum with old medical equipment, interesting accessories, photographs and documents, telling us the story of Jūrmala as a health resort.

Jomas iela

Inner Light Art Gallery

Which activities can I do in Jūrmala?

 Jūrmala is considered the Baltic spa capital city, whose first spa was founded in 1838. There are some which are quite popular like Baltic Beach Spa (Jūras iela 23/25), the biggest one in the Baltic countries, or National Rehabilitation Center Vaivari (Asaru prospekts 61), a resort from Soviet times. Apart from those activities, there are other interesting activities like the water park Līvu Akvaparks (Viestura iela 24), which is one of the largest in Northern Europe of its kind, or other ones like attending a concert in Dzintari Concert Hall (Turaidas iela 1) or other cultural activities in Jūrmala Culture Center (Jomas iela 35). Dzintari Concert Hall used to be one of the centers of Russian music in the world till they were forbidden in 2015 due to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine.

Where can I eat in Jūrmala?

Jūrmala is a medium-high budget destination, what basically means that eating in here isn't cheap. Despite its price, the culinary offer of Jūrmala is wide, mainly placed in Jomas iela. The restaurants MaMa (Tirgoņu iela 22), which has Latvian-Italian fusion food or the Indian Sue's Asia (Jomas iela 74) are interesting choices for medium budget. The high budget recommendations are the Italian restaurant Il Sole (Jūras iela 23/25) and the famous 36.Line (36. līnija), with Latvian modern food. The city has also interesting pubs and clubbing offer like the bar Seaside (Jomas iela 47/49).

Posted in: Europe,Latvia