Meanders of the Upper Daugava

The Meanders of the Upper Daugava is a fine excuse to visit the remote east of Latvia. Jarek’s review drew me there – as well as the opportunity to see a whole different part of Latvia, away from the mostly Baltic Sea-oriented and western-facing parts. Driving eastward from Jekabpils, orthodox churches started appearing by the roadside and the wide Daugava River is often in sight.

I covered exactly the same route as Jarek. The places of interest are also supported by the local tourism board and signposted from the minor road that follows the river (a detour from the A6).

The Dinaburg castle ruins probably take up the most time – you get there by walking a trail through a somewhat spooky forest, where woodpeckers were having a good time. The tiny model version of the castle is just cute and placed like the original on a strategic overlook over the river. On the way back I met two local grandparents with grandchildren in tow whom I would encounter at some of the other locations along the Daugava as well (the only other tourists).

The best spot I found was Vasargelišķu Skatu Tornis, which is a high sightseeing tower on a bend of the river from where you can have interesting views on both sides. At these upper reaches of the river, the river itself mostly stays out of sight from ground level because of the dense forests on the riverbanks.

After Kuldiga, this probably is …

Meanders of the Upper Daugava -site (or to be more precise, area) visited in August, 2021.

The area contains nine meanders of Daugava river (natural site) with all historical monuments located in the countryside. In fact, while natural part of the place is pretty nice, cultural elements mostly consist of traditional villages. Official nomination equals the area to Upper Middle Rhine valley or Wachau but it is completely different. There are no outstanding castles in Upper Daugava, traces of early human activities are not abundant and the villages are mostly built of wood instead of stone architecture in both compared landscapes.

I stayed in Daugavpils (where you can see former TWHS – Daugavpils fortress). Few kilometers from Daugavpils towards Kraslava there is a road sigh towards Butiški (at Naujene village). Using this road you already encounter Daugavas Loki Park (area of protected landscape – a kind of National Park designed for preserving Upper Daugava area). From Naujene there are around 4 km to the first point of interest in the area – ruins of former Livonian’s castle of Daugavpils (Dinaburg) - Dinaburgas pilsdrupas (55°54'40.6"N 26°43'36.2"E). Frankly speaking not much is left from the castle but there is a nice marked one-way circle path in the place. It starts from the official car parking and is called Dinaburgas Taka – brown signs, embracing local river valley, castle ruins - Vecpils pilkalns or Vecpils Mound - and good view of Daugava river. There is also a picknick / camping place …