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I skip the city center’s chain cafes. Instead, I take tram #3 to , a working-class district on the old Polish border. Here, wooden houses lean into each other. A bar called “Pie Alekseja” serves piva (beer) and šprotes (sprats) on black bread. The clientele: factory workers, a retired KGB officer (he tells me; I don’t ask), and a young Latgalian poet named Zane. She recites a line from memory: “Mūsu valoda ir migla / Mēs elpojam cauri vēsturei” (Our language is fog / We breathe through history). She gives me a photocopied chapbook. Price: a promise to read it on the train home.
This guide serves as your definitive resource for a Latgale Trip V3—a journey that blends history, spiritual grandeur, and untamed nature into one seamless experience.
Let’s rewind. was the classic tourist route: Aglona Basilica, the Rainbow in Aglona, a quick stop at the Rāzna Lake viewing platform, and a bowl of sklandrausis (carrot-potato pie) on the go. Version 2.0 added adventure: SUP boarding on Lake Ežezers, the secret bunkers of the Cold War trail, and boutique stays in converted watermills.
So go ahead. Search for flights to Riga. Drive the 250 km east. And when you see the first roadside crucifix painted blue and white – you’ll know: you’ve entered . latgale trip v3
I stay only three hours. But I leave with a truth anyway: Latgale is not a destination. It is a method – a way of being present in a world that prefers speed.
Latgale has historically been the region of "mud and clay." While the main highways (A6 and A13) are in excellent condition, be prepared for gravel roads as you venture toward the Belarusian and Russian border zones. This is part of the charm.
| Day | Base | Focus | |------|-------|-------| | 1 | Rēzekne | Digital culture & Cloud Mountain sunset | | 2 | Aglona | Basilica vespers + bread baking + floating sauna | | 3 | Antonopol | Old Believer boat trip & smoked fish lunch | | 4 | Rāzna NP | Bison feeding + narrow channel kayak | | 5 | Ludza | Hand-rail cart + cemetery swing | | 6 | Return via Dagda | Morning lake swim + cranberry bog walk (September only) | I skip the city center’s chain cafes
If you are reading this, you have likely moved past the generic itineraries. You have done the "V1" circuit—Riga’s Art Nouveau district and the Central Market. You have perhaps attempted a "V2" excursion to Sigulda or the seaside of Jūrmala.
I sleep that night in a homestay in (yes, the Russian name remains on some signs). The hostess, Irēna, serves sklandrausis – a sweet-savory carrot-and-potato pie, baked in a wood oven. We eat by candlelight. She says: “Latgale nav vieta. Latgale ir laiks.” (Latgale is not a place. Latgale is time.)
A morning bus south to Daugavpils. The city is often called “the least Latvian city” – majority Russian-speaking, industrial, blunt. V3’s challenge: to find its hidden tenderness. A bar called “Pie Alekseja” serves piva (beer)
The asphalt ends after 6 km. Gravel begins. Then, pure dirt. But the reward: the village of , population 37. Its Old Believers’ prayer house is a masterpiece of unadorned faith – no icons in gold, only hand-painted wooden saints, their faces eroded by candle smoke. An Old Believer named Agafya invites me in. She speaks Russian, but writes a word in my notebook: “Pokayaniye” – repentance. Not sorrow, she explains. “The act of turning around.” Latgale is full of such turning points.
The Vatican of the North. The Basilica of the Assumption in Aglona is one of the most important Catholic sites in Europe. Built in the late Baroque style, it dominates the landscape. Visiting during the Aglona Festival in August is an intense experience—thousands of pilgrims walking for miles, candles flickering through the night.
