Latvia is a Baltic European country located in the Northern European region. As a Baltic state (together with Estonia and Lithuania) it has an access to the eastern part of the coast of the Baltic Sea.

On the land, the Republic of Latvia is bordering with the above mentioned Baltic States and also Belarus and Russia. Sweden is a neighbour sharing maritime border.

Latvia is a small country and therefore it has a population of only about 2 million people whose official language is Latvian. The area of the country covers approximately 65.5 thousand square kilometres.

The capital city of Latvia, and somehow the only larger city, is Riga. It is also a place where almost one third of the Latvian population is situated. The history is widely shared with the neighbouring Estonia.

Latvia was under a different rule during majority of the time between 13th – 20th century, and yet, Latvians somehow managed to maintain their national identity together with traditions and their own culture and language. Even though, there is a huge amount of ethnic Russians (reaching almost 27%) as an aftermath of the Soviet occupation in 1940.

The independent democratic Latvia was declared in 1918, although the World War II interrupted the independence, which was re-declared then in 1990/91.

The Latvian landscape can be divided into three, completely different part. First of all it is the beautiful Baltic coast, then it is the unbelievably green and pristine nature and last, but not least, the metropolitan city of Riga.

The coast is dotted by small fishing villages and small towns and National Park including for example the Slitere National Park. Altogether, there are four National Parks on the Latvian territory.

The coast itself is around 500 km long. Latvian inland is covered by incredibly pure woodlands and lakes (interesting fact is that Latvia has one of the highest percentages of land covered by forest in EU). Riga, on the contrary is a beautiful example of a cosmopolitan city where the history and stunning architecture blends together with great cultural life including shopping opportunities and gastronomical experience.