Overview
Latvia packs a lot into a small country: the art nouveau boulevards and cobbled Old Town of Riga, pine-backed white-sand beaches, and thick forests threaded with rivers. It is one of the more affordable European city breaks for UK travellers, with short, frequent flights. Most visitors base themselves in Riga and take day trips to the coast and the castles of the Gauja valley.
Best time to fly to Latvia
The most reliable weather runs from late May to early September, when Riga enjoys long daylight hours and temperatures in the high teens to mid-20s Celsius. Midsummer (the Jāņi festival) and the school holidays are the busiest and priciest periods, so late spring and September often give you pleasant days with better value — see the When to book chart above. Winters are cold and snowy but atmospheric, with December Christmas markets and cheaper flights in January and February.
Main gateway cities & airports
Riga International Airport (RIX) is the main gateway to Latvia and the largest airport in the Baltic region, sitting about 10km south-west of the city centre. Nearly all UK arrivals land here. Regional airports such as Liepāja handle only limited seasonal traffic rather than scheduled flights from Britain, so Riga is where you should focus your search.
Airlines and routes
airBaltic, Latvia's flag carrier, operates the widest choice of direct flights to Riga, including from London Gatwick. Ryanair and Wizz Air add low-cost direct routes, typically from London Stansted, London Luton and, on a seasonal basis, regional airports such as Manchester and Edinburgh. Direct flights from London to Riga take around two and a half hours; from Manchester allow roughly three. Where your nearest airport has no direct service, one-stop connections through hubs such as Frankfurt, Amsterdam or Helsinki are straightforward.
Popular places to visit in Latvia
- Riga Old Town: a UNESCO-listed maze of medieval churches and squares, ringed by Europe's finest art nouveau architecture.
- Jūrmala: wooden villa resorts and wide Baltic beaches, about 25 minutes by train from the capital.
- Sigulda and the Gauja Valley: castle ruins, cable cars and forest trails, especially spectacular in autumn.
- Cēsis: a beautifully preserved small town built around a 13th-century Livonian Order castle.
- Kuldīga: a UNESCO-listed town of cobbled lanes and Europe's widest waterfall, the Ventas Rumba.
Top tips for finding cheap flights to Latvia
- Compare the price charts on this page and build your dates around the cheapest weeks rather than fixed holiday periods.
- Fly midweek where you can — Tuesday and Wednesday departures are often cheaper than Friday or Sunday.
- Travel in the May or September shoulder season for near-summer weather at lower fares.
- Check both the low-cost carriers and airBaltic, and weigh a cheap connecting flight against a pricier direct one if your timings are flexible.
Travel essentials
UK passport holders do not need a visa for tourism in Latvia and can stay up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the Schengen area; your passport should be valid for at least three months beyond your planned departure and less than ten years old on the day you enter. New EU border requirements (the EES checks and, later, ETIAS pre-authorisation) are being phased in, so check the current rules before you travel. The currency is the euro, and cards are widely accepted. For the best value, book roughly two to four months ahead and use the When to book chart above to time your purchase.
