This great jubilee is celebrated with a great variety of events all over the country. Full calendar of events is published at www.lv100.lv . 
Seven Routes of Latvia’s Statehood have been developed within the programme for celebration of the centenary of Latvia as a state. They offer destinations and farms to visit, with wealthy stories of memories and beautiful landscapes all around. The routes lead to all regions of the country, and each route is devoted to a particular theme of Latvia’s formation as a state. All route descriptions and itineraries are found here https://www.celotajs.lv/en/c/brand/lv100?lang=en .
 

The “central artery” of Gauja National Park is the River Gauja with many tributaries. Many of these are rapid and swift, with clean, unpolluted water enriched with water coming from many springs, and therefore they are suitable for spawning of salmon-like fish — the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), brown trout (Salmo trutta), and stream trout (Salmo trutta fario). After a longer trip, the salmon-like fish travel in autumn to their birth places, and thus this is the time best suitable not only to watch the fish, but also enjoy what is happening on the riverside. The best time to go is late October, beginning of November. The local guides on staff of the Nature Conservation Agency take visitors to the best salmon watching spots.
http://www.entergauja.com/en/enter-gauja/routes/spawning-of-salmon-like-fish-in-gauja-national-park

Mushrooming season starts in our forests after the unusually warm and dry summer. The Kārļamuiža country hotel, located in Gauja National Park offers one day mushrooming tours in natural forest environment. The forest terrain in the selected mushrooming spots is easy to walk, covered with moss, fallen leaves and small plants. There is a great variety of mushrooms in the forest, but the most popular edible mushrooms are the various Boletus, Russulas, and Chanterelles. The hotel provides a fungi guide to help safely make difference between edible and non-edible species, and to orientate in the forest. The hotel restaurant chef offers dishes from wild mushrooms. 

On September 2, the popular Straupe farmer’s market invites everyone to celebrate the rich harvest. This summer has been generous, so the market offers a wealth of countryside goodies from gardens and fields. The market sells a variety of foods, animals and poultry, plants and seedlings, and handicrafts.
Straupe’s farmers’ market is a member of the Slow Food International Earth Markets alliance. The produce that is sold on the market conforms with the Slow Food philosophy – it is locally grown, seasonal and of good quality. It has been grown and produced in a responsible way. 
 

Whether the Baltic Coastal Hiking route is ready or not? This is a question we – creators of the route – receive almost every day. And today we are happy to announce that the Baltic Coastal Hiking route web page – coastalhiking.eu – is ready for English, Estonian and Latvian speaking hikers. Therefore there should not be any doubts about your early autumn hiking destination.

On the way to Latvia’s centenary, we at Baltic Country Holidays have produced a new tour map inviting to travel along 7 routes of Latvia’s Statehood: the Baltic’s Road, the Freedom’s Road, the Mara’s Road, the Liv’s Road, the Daugava’s Road, the Jacob’s Road, the Light’s Road. The routes will allow you to learn about aspects of Latvia’s history, personalities, places and events that facilitated the establishment of the state and the emergence of its national identity.  

The publication includes a map with the 7 routes marked and briefly described, 80 attractions along the routes and 85 open farms that hold the sign Latvian Heritage.

The 7 Routes of Latvia’s Statehood have been developed within the programme for celebration of the centenary of Latvia as a state. The key message of the centenary celebration is „I am Latvia” focusing on people as the core value of the state. They shape today’s life in the country and, together with their young generation, they lay foundations for the future.

The map is available at the office of „Lauku ceļotājs”, 40 Kalnciema str. (3rd floor), Riga (week days at 09:00 – 17:00).

Pdf version of the map.

Languages: Latvian, Russian, English, German.

The project is supported by State Culture Capital Foundation.

We have prepared  a manual of rural tourism products Go rural 2018. This is the second edition, updated and supplemented, based on the experience of the activities and results of last year’s marketing events. As tourism businesses and tour operators have observed, Japanese tourists like not only traditional tourist destinations of Latvia, but also the offers associated with environment and plant world, for instance, nature trails, picking mushrooms, learning about local medicinal herbs, etc.
The manual is intended for tour operators, professionals of the sector and travellers. It has been published and printed in Japanese, as well as its electronic version is available in English. The manual includes practical information that helps while planning your trip - programmes of single day excursions in the countryside, visits to producing farmhouses and craftsmen’s workshops, homesteads, which introduce to the traditional rural lifestyle, visits to rural hotels and SPA facilities, as well as multiple-day-long tourism programmes. In response to the interest of tour operators and Japanese travellers, the offers of wedding trips are also included in the manual.  The manual contains information on public transport, as well as the contact information of Latvian, Estonian and Finnish tour operators. 
Electronic version: http://www.celotajs.lv/en/p/view/GoRural_2018

A series of presentation events will be held in several largest cities of Japan (Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo) in July, where the professionals of the Baltic tourism sector will introduce the representatives of Japanese tourism sector (~150  professionals) with the Baltic states as a common tourism destination and jointly developed offer of rural tourism with traditional tourism destinations, as well as the possibility of group and individual travel. This event is organised by tourism organisations of 3 Baltic States and we are participating in it with our offer of rural tourism opportunities. The objective of the event is to invite the representatives of Japanese tour operators and media to participate in the introductory visit and to encourage them to include the Baltic States on their travel programmes. Meeting permits better understanding of the wishes and needs of the Japanese tourism market, and to prepare answers to questions. The visitors of the Road Show events shall receive both aforementioned marketing publications, as well as small gifts made by our craftsmen and home food producers. 

The marketing expenses have been covered and events have been prepared by uniting in a single project the effort of rural tourism associations of Latvia and Estonia and the regional tourism bureau of the Southern Finland, as well as several universities, as well as in co-operation with  Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) and Estonian and Finnish Tourist Board. 
 

The publication introduces the reader with typical Finnish, Estonian and Latvian meals that are both traditional and contemporary and can be found on the menus of cafeterias and restaurants. The cuisine of our countries has lots in common in terms of food recipes, as well as the ways of product use. Fresh, seasonal local products are highly valued, however, each country has their own meals and traditions of cooking and serving them. The GoRural Food and Drinks brochure is meant to encourage Japanese visitors to learn about our traditional meals and food habits. Each description of a dish included in the brochure contains the list of ingredients used in its preparation, the way of cooking and a photo. The descriptions have been grouped in chapters: Cheese, Greens and Salads, Soups, Fish Dishes, Meat Dishes, Mushrooms, Bread, Sweet Dishes, Pancakes, Drinks.
The brochure has been compiled in English as well, but it has been printed in Japanese.

Electronic version: http://www.celotajs.lv/en/p/view/GoRural_FoodAndDrinks
 

On the first weekend of June, Kihnu Island will be the island of cafes, where cafes can be found in many farmsteads and other interesting places. Locals will open temporary, one- or two-day cafes in their home yards or in other exciting places.

The goal is to value local food, offer good meals and local produce, as well as a unique cultural programme.