Trip Planning
The TakeYourBackpack guidebooks are your all-in-one travel companion, featuring the best cities, national parks, hikes, beaches, and unique sites, along with essential tips on when to go, how to get around, exchanging money, and even local phrases to get you started — everything you need for a smooth, unforgettable backpacking adventure.
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Planning a backpacking route through Latvia can be tricky — you need to balance must-see places, travel times, budget, and how long to stay in each destination. Our free personalized Latvia itinerary planner creates a route based on your travel style, trip duration, and interests, so you can spend less time researching and more time exploring.
Personal tip: I normally search on good rating for atmosphere (for meeting people) and location (for easy exploring). Cleanliness as a bonus.
Travel Essentials
No vaccinations are required to enter Latvia, but you should be up to date on routine shots such as MMR, tetanus-diphtheria and seasonal flu, and hepatitis A and B are often advised. Latvia has one of Europe’s highest rates of tick-borne encephalitis, so the TBE vaccine is strongly recommended if you plan to hike, camp or visit forests and bogs between April and October. Start that course several weeks before your trip, and check your plans with a travel doctor.
vaccination requirementsWhen I first started traveling, I often spent part of my first day in a new country hunting for a local SIM card. While this can still be slightly cheaper, it also takes time and planning.
These days, it's much simpler to install an eSIM before leaving home. Once you arrive in Latvia, you can activate it immediately and have mobile data from the moment you land — which is especially useful for ordering transport or navigating away from busy airports.
There are many providers nowadays, and price differences are usually small. I personally go with
Holafly, as it offers excellent network coverage throughout the country and strong global coverage, so you can manage multiple countries from a single app.
HolaFly eSimCulture & Customs
Latvians tend to be reserved with strangers, so quiet conversations, personal space and little small talk are normal and not a sign of rudeness. Take your shoes off when entering a home, and bring a small gift such as chocolate or flowers. Always give an odd number of flowers, because even numbers are for funerals. Be on time, wait for the green light before crossing (jaywalking can be fined), and keep your voice down on public transport. Avoid calling Latvia “Russian” or “ex-Soviet”, since the occupation years remain a painful subject, and treat memorials such as the Freedom Monument with respect. In a pirts sauna, follow your host’s lead, as nudity and whisking with birch branches are normal. Women face no special dress expectations beyond modest clothing in churches, and LGBTQ+ couples are best off being discreet with public affection outside Riga.
Trying traditional food is always a great way to experience the culture. Here are some must-try dishes for Latvia.
- Pelēkie zirņi ar speķi: grey peas stewed with fried bacon and onion, often served with kefir. It is an old peasant staple, eaten on Christmas Eve and a fixture of cheap canteen lunches.
- Rupjmaize: dense, dark rye bread, slightly sweet and sour, baked from scalded dough. Latvians treat it with near reverence, and it also goes into rye bread dessert (rupjmaizes kārtojums) with cream and berries.
- Sklandrausis: a small open rye tart filled with mashed potato and sweet carrot, dusted with cinnamon. It comes from the Livonian coast and holds EU traditional specialty status.
- Aukstā zupa: a bright pink cold beet soup made with kefir, cucumber, dill and boiled egg, served with hot potatoes. It is the dish of Latvian summer.
- Pīrāgi: crescent-shaped buns filled with smoked bacon and onion. They are sold in every bakery and baked for every holiday table.
- Jāņu siers: a fresh caraway-seed cheese made for the midsummer Jāņi celebration. It is eaten with beer and rye bread through the shortest night of the year.
- Smoked fish and Riga sprats: cold-smoked Baltic sprats, eel and flounder from coastal smokehouses. Sprats in oil have been Latvia’s best-known food export for generations.
Tap water in Latvia is safe to drink and meets EU standards, and most locals in Riga and other towns drink it, sometimes through a jug filter because it can taste of iron or be hard. Tourists can refill a bottle from the tap without worry, so bottled water is unnecessary. The only exception is private wells in rural guesthouses, where you should ask whether the water is tested.
The main language in Latvia is
Latvian. Backpacking is way more rewarding if you know a bit of the local language, so I'd suggest brushing up on the basics just in case your Latvian skills have become a bit rusty.
Want to understand locals better?The complete Travel Guide for Latvia includes 52 essential words and phrases — greetings, thank-yous, ordering food, transport, numbers, and common local expressions you'll actually hear.
Get your local basic phrases 👉
Get the Travel Guide - In Riga and in tourist towns such as Sigulda, Jūrmala and Cēsis, you can manage almost entirely in
English, since most hotel, café and museum staff speak it well. People under 40 and hostel staff across Latvia are generally fluent. In villages and among older people, English drops off sharply, and Russian often works better, especially in Latgale and Daugavpils. Download Google Translate with the Latvian offline pack, and learn “paldies” (thank you) and “lūdzu” (please), which locals clearly appreciate.
Money & Payments
The local currency of Latvia is EUR (€).
Paying in Latvia is easy: the currency is the euro, ATMs are everywhere in towns, and cards with contactless payment work almost everywhere, including supermarkets, cafés, museums and most transport apps. Bank ATMs from Swedbank, SEB, Citadele and Luminor usually charge no local withdrawal fee, so you only pay your home bank’s fee. Independent Euronet machines, common in the Old Town, can charge €2 to 5 and push dynamic currency conversion, so always choose to be charged in euros. Carry €20 to 50 in cash for market stalls, small rural guesthouses, village cafés and the occasional bus driver. There is no need to bring US dollars; a card that works abroad or a small amount of euros is enough. If you must exchange cash, use a bank or a city-center exchange office with clearly posted rates, and skip the airport counters.
Tipping in Latvia is appreciated but not obligatory. Leaving around 10% in sit-down restaurants for good service is standard, and rounding up is enough in cafés, bars and taxis. Check the bill first, since some Riga restaurants already add a service charge.
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Over the years, I've learned the importance of packing minimally. It's so much easier to jump on the back of a truck or squeeze yourself into the last spot of a minibus without that supersized backpack. If you're headed to a warm destination, leave your winter jacket at home; for colder regions, opt for thin thermal underlayers. Instead of packing your entire wardrobe, bring just three sets of clothes, as laundry facilities are available everywhere.
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Hi, I’m Johan (Netherlands 🇳🇱), the creator of TakeYourBackpack. Over the past 3 decades, I’ve backpacked through 90+ countries across six continents, gaining extensive experience with independent travel, long-term trips, and overland routes.