Sigulda is a town 45 minutes away from Riga. It’s located on a plateau above the Gauja River valley. From the town there is a vertical drop of approx. 80 meters down to the river. 80 meter is not much of a deal but in the Baltics this is a lot. They even build ski slopes and call it “Switzerland of Latvia”…
Whatever they call it it’s a great place. The Town is small and nice but the attraction is the Gauja National Park. You can find the more tacky attractions close to the town, but actually also many of the great man-made trails. Everything is close and after I did a bunch of the Enduro-like trails it added up to 1000 meters of climb this day. So not bad at all! There is a chairlift that accepts bikes, but I chose to bike it back up again as it’s only a small climb each time.
Right on the edge of the “canyon” is the Sigulda Bobsleigh and Luge Track. It was completed in 1986 during the Soviet era. The national team is training here but you can also go as a complete rookie in a soft version of a bob.
Anyway. Right next to the track you’ll find some trail heads leading you down to the river
The river runs quietly and there are hiking trails to follow along it. They will lead you to a small suspension bridge where you can see some of the sandstone cliffs. Maybe not so impressive but you got to remember that rocks or even stones are very uncommon in this country.
After crossing the bridge you can climb up the other side of the river and you’ll find one of the really good built trails – The Chicken Trail (Vistu Trase).
It’s mainly dug out by Kaspars, a dedicated rider that I met in the afternoon showing me some of the trails starting close to the lift.
I follow the river towards the Turaida castle.
At the Rata hills (Rata Kalns) there are some very nice trails with several jumps and berms.
Just to cover the touristic part as well, I continue past the cave up to the Turaida castle and back to the town over the big bridge. The castle dates back to 1214 but has obviously had it’s changes over the years
