Ventspils

Introducing Ventspils

Viewed by Latvians as the country's most dynamic city after Rīga, Ventspils is a tidy oil-transit port renowned for the riches it reaped from black-gold exports. The air is brisk and clean, and the well-kept buildings are done up in various pastel and yellow hues. Small shops and outdoor cafés abound, and the city is home to the country's best skate park and an Olympic training centre. However, Ventspils, 200km west of Rīga, is an industrial town at heart. Its port is Latvia's busiest, and much of its tourism is business-oriented.

There was a Cour settlement here before the Livonian Order founded a castle in 1244. Ventspils was in the Hanseatic League from the 14th to 16th centuries, and in the 17th century Duke Jakob of Courland based his navy here. After a spell in the doldrums the town revived with the arrival of a railway from Rīga in the early 20th century. During the Soviet era Ventspils was a key USSR port and attracted a workforce mainly from non-Latvian parts of the USSR - 32% of the population remains Russian today.

When in Ventspils, do as locals do - drink Užavas, a light beer brewed locally.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009