Jūrmala

A coastal resort city stretching 32 kilometres along the Baltic coast west of Riga, historically developed as a spa and beach destination for the Russian and Baltic German elite. The city is characterised by a high concentration of ornate wooden villa architecture in art nouveau and eclecticist styles, many surviving among pine forests that separate the beach from residential streets. The wide white-sand beach, sheltered by the Gulf of Riga, is one of the longest in the eastern Baltic.