Latvia

Getting there & away

Land

Bus

International bus companies Eurolines (6721 4080; www.eurolines.lv) and Ecolines (6721 4512; www.ecolines.lv) are based at the Rīga bus station.

Eurolines and a few smaller carriers have buses from Rīga to Vilnius (7.50Ls, five hours, at least four daily), Moscow (15Ls, 17 hours, two daily), Tallinn (7Ls, 4½ hours, 10 to 15 daily), St Petersburg (12Ls, 13 hours, two daily) and Kaliningrad (8.50Ls, nine hours, two daily).

Ecolines and Eurolines serve various cities in Poland, Germany and other Western European countries, including Warsaw (22Ls, 10 hours, daily), Berlin (30Ls, 20 hours, daily) and London (81Ls, 36 hours, four weekly).

Car & motorcycle

Lines are small at the Lithuania and Estonia borders and shouldn’t hold you up more than 10 minutes.

Train

Rīga is linked by direct train to the following international destinations: Moscow (from 25Ls, 18 hours, twice daily), St Petersburg (from 10Ls, 13 hours, daily), Kyiv (from 25Ls, 20½ hours, even days October to May, daily June to September), Lviv (from 18Ls, 26 hours, even days), and Vilnius (from 10Ls, five hours, even days).

^ Back to top

Boat

DFDS Tor Line (6735 3523; www.dfdstorline.com; Zivju iela 1) has three weekly ferries between Lübeck, Germany (from 45Ls, 34 hours, three weekly) and Rīga. One of those ferries goes via Ventspils.

Estonia’s Tallink (6709 9700; www.tallink.lv; Eksporta iela 3a) sails to/from Stockholm (from 25Ls, 16 hours, every other day).

There are a few ferries connecting Ventspils with Germany and Sweden. Inquire at the ferry information office (6360 7358; 7 Plosta iela) in Ventspils or check the website of Scandlines (www.scandlines.com).

SSC (6371 3607; ventspils@slkferries.ee; 5 Plosta iela) makes four weekly trips between Ventspils and Mõntu, Estonia (from 15Ls, four hours).

^ Back to top

Air

In 2005 budget carrier Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) launched flights between Rīga and London (Stansted), Liverpool, Stockholm (Skavsta), Frankfurt (Hahn), Tampere and Dublin. EasyJet (www.easyjet.com) has cheap flights between Rīga and Berlin (Schonefeld), while Norwegian (www.norwegian.no) offers budget flights to Oslo.

Latvia’s flagship carrier is Air Baltic (www.airbaltic.lv; 6720 7777), with direct flights to about 30 cities in Europe. You’ll find flight schedules and a full list of airlines flying to Latvia on the website of Rīga International Airport (6720 7009; www.riga-airport.com).

^ Back to top