Ķemeri National Park

Today, we wanted to have another nature day. And that is what we got.

We left our Rīga Hotel by 08:00 in order to get a train running hourly from Rīga directly to Ķemeri. From there, it is just about half an hour to get to the parking lot where the park starts.

We read online that there will be many mosquitoes on our way so we were mentally prepared for those. What we didn't expect was the swarm of horseflies waiting for us in the shades of the trees. At some point, we had at least 10 of them following us while we tried to reach the parking lot area.

Luckily, there was a store at that parking lot, where we were able to get Anti-Insect Spray. Smelling like something that mosquitoes and horseflies dislike, we started our actual adventure to the Swamps/Wetlands, more precised it was a Raised Bog.

Following a narrow wooden log path we made our way to a lookout tower with many small lakes around. What a view!
During our time in the actual park, we had basically no issues with insects bothering us. It was super cool and we had a great time there.

Once we walked around for about four hours, we arrived back at the parking lot and mentally prepared for the short distance back to the train station. We put on all the hoodies, gloves and layers we had with us and even though we were sweating like crazy and still got followed by at least 10 horseflies, we made it back alive and without any actual attacks to the train to Rīga.

What a day. I would recommend the park itself, but probably access it with a car directly to the entrance/parking lot, because otherwise you'll have a hard time running away from the flying enemies.Read more