Time for summer... It's a time filled with excitement and laughter. Time to unleash the spirit of adventurers and explorers. It is a time spent together, where adults become children for a moment, and children dream of the vastness of the grown-up world.   

What would it be like to dream of one day becoming a sailor? Jūrmala can be reached this summer by river - heading from Riga to the resort town via the River Buļļupe and River Lielupe, and back in the evening. The cruise boat “Elizabete” also offers a separate “Jūrmala Panorama Cruise”. Here you can see the urban skyline, while on the other side you can see the intact, lush greenery. The water will reveal the lands from never-before-seen angles, making sailors feel almost like first-time explorers.

Summer in Dzintari

But what about the dream of one day becoming agile and fearless like Tarzan in the jungle? Instead of baobabs, the Dzintari Forest Park has tall, slender pine trees, and the Jūrmala Tarzan Adventure Park has created obstacle courses of different levels, where the bravest will be able to perform their iconic Tarzan jump from a height of 8 metres. Whereas, those who are more attracted by Spider-Man's special abilities can choose the nearby Jūrmala Net Park, where five net pitches are woven into the pine trees at a height of 6 metres.

Dzintari Forest Park will also provide wonderful moments for those who appreciate a more low-key holiday. In the park, where the air is filled with the scent of pine trees warming in the sun, you can pick a handful of blueberries, sit on a bench and leisurely contemplate the summer days ahead, whereas children will appreciate the playgrounds suitable for different ages, roller-skating tracks, a skate park, streetball courts and, of course, the café for a cooling ice-cream.

Summer is also a time for exploring nature. They say, if the first butterfly you see at the beginning of the summer is a colourful one, then the whole summer will be happy and colourful. So better hurry up and see your first butterfly at the Jūrmala Butterfly House! This is where you can see exotic tropical butterflies - several hundred colourful winged creatures from the far-flung jungles of South America, Asia and Africa. Together with the world's largest, the Atlas Giant Butterfly (wingspan 20-34 cm), they can be seen in a domed tent - in a specially created tropical environment.

Summer in Majori

For those who are passionate about exploring, researching and creating, the KORSO Brīnumi Entertainment and Education Centre is the right place to be. You'll find development games, kinetic sand, a crooked bike and an air cannon, as well as constructors, building blocks and a range of other engaging activities. The Centre's programme of events is also worth following - it offers leisure activities ranging from candle-making workshops to physics classes experimenting with electricity.

Just three floors above, two screens of Star Cinema Jūrmala await cinema lovers. It's a chance to enjoy a screening together in a much more relaxed atmosphere than in the big cinemas of the capital.

While inner light, the theatre of paintings offers a different kind of wonders – this time with an artistic touch. These are the works of painter Vitalijs Jermolajevs, created in the fluorescent paint technique, which hides a special secret of light. Under special lighting, magic comes to life – the works begin to glow, revealing another hidden version of the painting instead of the one the viewer sees.

Summer in Bulduri

Summer is also about jumping, running, sliding and endless water entertainment until exhaustion. “Līvu Akvaparks”, one of the largest water amusement parks in Northern Europe, offers both indoor slides for active fun, a family leisure and spa complex, and an outdoor summer beach. From there, the loud laughter and joyful cries of the water-sprayers echo far over the calm, peaceful waters of the blue River Lielupe.

Summer in Lielupe

By the way, if you want to know the answer to the intriguing question - where does the river end up? - you have to go to the place where it flows into the Gulf of Riga. Believe it or not, the River Lielupe only made its way to the big water 300 years ago. The estuary of the River Lielupe is a place where this unimaginable force of nature will be interesting to contemplate for young and old alike. 

The Jūrmala Open-Air Museum is also an attractive destination on this side, with its 19th/20th-century coastal fisherman's homestead with its characteristic buildings - net hut, dwelling house, barn, fish shed and bathing hut. Here, young and old alike will be able to take on the role of fishermen, and, on the fourth Thursday of July, during the “Fish Days” - everyone can enjoy the real taste of summer in the seaside villages - smoked fish. 

Summer in Ķemeri

Apart from the aquatic element, in Jūrmala, you can also enjoy aerial pleasures, soaring with the birds to the heights of the Ķemeri Water Tower. Here, you can look out over the place where the sea and the land meet the sky from viewing platforms 12 and 42 metres high. The network of paths of the historic Ķemeri Sanatorium Park with its small architectural forms - rotundas, pavilions and bridges - will also reveal themselves right at your feet. 

Back on the ground, enjoying a stroll through the park, you can imagine yourself in a historical costume film and march across the bridge to Love Island - towards the splendid, richly carved rotunda - for an ice cream.

If you are in Ķemeri, think about it: what else in nature is more legendary than a swamp? Almost everyone has heard the legend of the Swamp Devil or the tale of the Small Pig-eared Orphan, drowned in a quagmire, right? The Ķemeri National Park's moorland moss bog is a great challenge to go on as a nature adventure and walk the 2.4 km-long Great Moorland Boardwalk. It means encountering the primordiality of nature and absolute, almost screaming silence. Accompanied only by the calls of a few geese and cranes, you will climb past small lakes and through endless moss-land, guarded by short but nimble birch and pine trees like little soldiers. A fascinating and slightly frightening realm.

Jūrmala is almost inexhaustible when it comes to things to do. Its 24-kilometre-long beach, which turns into a vast sandbox in summer, with separate areas for active and relaxed recreation, also needs no introduction. There are also dedicated recreation areas and playgrounds in almost every neighbourhood of the city. Another special place is the recently opened Kauguri Park, where you will find a place for peaceful relaxation, children's games, walks, sports or picnics on its large, lushly landscaped grounds.

It's time for summer!