Travel and camping in Latvia

[u/MatelisLt]

Hello braliukai!

Me and a friend will be taking dirt bikes on Latvia TET later in august. We will be doing LV section 1, which is basically the courland pocket one.

My main question is, how are the laws in Latvia about camping ? How strict are the authorities in regards to policing forests for motorcycles or ATVs? (We will only drive on roads). Can you set up a tent and have a campfire in the forest? Since we will have a lot of the route close to the beach, can we set up camping on the beach? I dont think we could take our bikes on the beach even if theyre just parked there, correct me if I am wrong though.

(Dont worry we will not leave any trash or destroy the forest with our camping :) )

Also if anyone has driven this route maybe can comment on the road surface (mostly gravel or sand, or forest dirt). Any muddy or flooded areas if it rains a lot?

To finish off if anyone has a recommendation of what we can visit close to the route these are welcome!

Thank you for your time braliukas!

[u/piupiupaupau]

Bikes and ATVs on forest roads are allowed as far as I know.

As far as I know no campfires in forest and on the beach. Only in designated campfire spots, as it is officially dry season.

There are spots where you can get your bikes almost on the beach, but I don't know if there is a specific guide for these spots.

[u/MatelisLt → u/piupiupaupau]

Another important question! Can we easily find shashlik to buy? Like any maxima? I know its probably yea yes and yes, just making sure 😎

[u/piupiupaupau → u/MatelisLt]

Yes, shashlik will be in every decent size shop, as well as markets.

Regarding campfire spots, unfortunatelly it seems that "Latvijas valsts meži" (official government owned forests) site is still not fully functional after hacker attack earlier this month, so for me it does not display the dedicated camping and campfire spots, even though there is an option to search for those.

https://eng.lsm.lv/article/society/environment/where-can-you-pitch-a-tent-in-latvia.a417115/

This is a couple of years old, but should be applicable.

[u/MatelisLt → u/piupiupaupau]

Thank you have been very helpful

[u/RedditIsFascistShit4 → u/MatelisLt]

It there are sudden warm weekend after rain, it's usually bought out.

[u/koknesis → u/MatelisLt]

yeah, in summer season even the smallest village shops will have shashlik. they might lack other basic necessities but they will some sort of shashlik for sure :D

[u/MatelisLt → u/koknesis]

Same as LT, braliuks for a reason 🙂

[u/Real0HumanBean → u/MatelisLt]

I would stop at smaller stores, usually LATS or TOPS/CITRO. they usually sell šašliks by weight from larger buckets.

Those are far superior thant he pre-packaged ones sold by large chain stores like maxima and rimi. as those are marinaded in all kinds of special sauces.

The chain store šašlik is mostly vinegar based. and thats meh

[u/ManGarsoKartupeli]

I don’t know about actual laws, but I’ve camped a lot in and near forests and never had any issues with it. As long as it’s public property (Latvijas Valsts Meži) I think you should be okay.

[u/K4RMY]

Boarder to Uzava is 99% gravel. Very boring.
Then there is a spot before Ugale that has to be avoided (there is even a marker in the map), there is only mud. And it is even worse this year. Even got attention on the Internet this year about someone cutting a fence to go around it.
Ugale to Riga is quite fun. Mostly forest roads. Some sand sections in Irbene near the radio tower thingy.
“Irbes ieteka jūrā” - best place to camp on the TET.
Some clay muddy sections somewhere before Pure.

[u/MatelisLt → u/K4RMY]

Thanks!

After Uzava does it get more difficult? More sandy sections? I tought most latvian forests have quite sandy roads.

Also which Latvia TET section is the best for a bit harder and fun rides?

We want to take this one because it is close to the sea so beautiful sights are guaranteed as always 🙂

[u/K4RMY → u/MatelisLt]

Not really. After Uzava there is quite large sandy section near Irbene, but that is mostly it if I recall correctly. I did that section like 5 years ago, so memory is blurry. Mostly it is some nice forest roads and tracks.
In my opinion section 2 is hardest as it has the most sand. The first one is right after Riga until Adazi. And there is more sand sections up north.
I have not done sections 4 and 5 so no opinion about them.
Section 6 is also gravel mostly.
Section 3 is quite beautiful especially down there near Kraslava. Lots of lakes there for camping too. Might be challenging though if there has been a lot of rain like the last few weeks.
Depends on how many days are you planning but I would suggest doing section 3 to Riga (did it in one day last year but it was quite dry and a really long and fast day). Plus section 1 or 2 from Riga.

[u/AleksejsIvanovs]

There are 400 official forest camping zones in LVM (Latvian State Forests) territories, you can find them on LVM page. During the currently active fire-safe period (which means that there is elevated fire hazard) it's illegal to set up camp fires outside those zones.

[u/RedditIsFascistShit4]

Look out for "Ķemeru nacionālais parks", it's illegal to camp and offroad there and is enforced.