Top Things to do in Latgale Region
Top Restaurants in Latgale Region
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What to do and see in Latgale Region, Latvia: The Best Budget-friendly Things to do
Discover the best top things to do in Latgale Region, Latvia including Daugavpils Shot Factory, Preili Museum of Dolls, Aglona Basilica, Aglona Bread Museum, Latgale Zoological Garden, Saints Boris and Gleb Cathedral, Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre, Shmakovka Museum, Monument “United for Latvia”, Daugavpils Fortress.
Restaurants in Latgale Region
1. Daugavpils Shot Factory
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 59 reviews
Being in the remote location of Europe, site has preserved unique evidence of living history of industrial era. It is opened to visitors since late 2012. Factory uses technologies invented in 1782 and you'll have a chance to explore them all. Daugavpils Shot Tower Museum gained prestigious 3rd place award in the European Cultural Tourism network (ECTN) contest “Destination of Sustainable Cultural Tourism – 2015″ and is highly favored by its guests.
Reviewed By Isa-Francis - Montreal, Canada
This is a very special place, as there were not so many lead bullet factories in operation in the world... let alone some that are still working the same way as they used to in the 19th century. The place looks great, feeling very industrial and rustic. You get to learn all about the process of lead bullet manufacturing... and the process is definitely not what I expected it to be. The equipment is still working, of course, and you get to see most of the items being turned on and operated for you to better understand it. Our guide (English tour on 2020-08-21) was awesome. He showed a lot of passion and was very good at getting his interest across. He also was very knowledgeable of the fortress and Daugavpils in general. With the visit entrance fee (5.50 EUR) is included one (1) shot of a pneumatic gun with bullets manufactured at the factory. Unfortunately, the person operating the shooting range on the day of our visit was not so kind and friendly. He clearly was not interested in explaining us the shooting process and spent wayyyyyy too much time over the reloading process of the gun. Come on, we are two in your museum and we get one (1) shot included... don't lose us with the details of reloading a gun for 20 minutes. If we are interested in buying more rounds (which is an option for a few EUR extras), then you can spend some time explaining this process to us, with the desired level of detail, as we would have shown interest. Instead, he made us lose ours totally and we shot our shot and left with no intention whatsoever to spend more time with this man. Sadly. For an extra 1.50 EUR, you can climb the 120 steps to get to the top of the tower to see the melting setup and to have nice views of Daugavpils. If you are fit to climb it, it is worth it, no doubt. There is only one (1) English tour offered every day, at 13h00. Reservations required. Photographs allowers. All in all, expect about 2 hours in this place.
2. Preili Museum of Dolls
3. Aglona Basilica
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 50 reviews
Reviewed By bananablossom17 - Riga, Latvia
An amazing place to reconnect with your spiritual side. It's beautiful inside and out and you also have the possibility to drink refreshing water from the Holy Spring located on it's territory. The people there are very nice and friendly as well.
4. Aglona Bread Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 22 reviews
Reviewed By UldisV - Jurmala, Latvia
General museums have little care about reality, they must make just show. Bread museum is limited in this, they must be real, because museum work on daily basis producing bread, šmakovka, smoked meat and excellent food. They must show real things, real process, and know significance of every single grain, tool, or movement in every place of exhibition. And MAIN benefit: they serve food made in museum. Dinner in museum was something special, even for local who are common with traditional ultra high requirements in kitchen, that was special event. KEEP IN MIND: museum services must be offered few days before. When you call by phone there will be women voice speaking something. That is greeting from museum, not information about wrong call! Contacts can be found on internet, they spoke Latvian, Latgalian, Russian also English and Deutsche, just maybe necessary to wait while they found right person to translate. Show worth every cent.
5. Latgale Zoological Garden
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 52 reviews
Reviewed By Uzpelkiene - Visaginas, Lithuania
Very nice cozy little zoo in Daugavpils. It also has terrarium. There are turtles, fishes, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, snakes, iguanas, lizzards, monkeys, bats, meerkats and ants. Very interesting to watch them all. Especially we enjoyed ants carrying leaves into their house over our heads. We brought sliced apple and the supervising boy let us to feed the rabbit. Our little daughter like it very much! The price is not high at all, only 0.60EUR for the adult and 0.30 for childred. But they didn't charge us for our 3 years old girl. Place really worth to visit.
6. Saints Boris and Gleb Cathedral
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 50 reviews
Reviewed By mitava22 - Toronto, Canada
What a beautiful Orthodox Church. Both outside and inside is very ornate. When visiting be mindful that it's a functioning church with people actually going in to pray. It is customary for women to cover their heads inside, and church is kind enough to provide some scarfs for one use ( right inside by the entrance)
7. Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 146 reviews
Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre - multi-functional contemporary art and culture centre located in the Artillery Arsenal building (1833) of Daugavpils Fortress, where history goes hand in hand with the contemporary and creates a unique and inspiring place for creative expression and experience. Permanent exhibition: „Mark Rothko. Life and Art.” - Hall of Mark Rothko’s original paintings; - Digital exposition about Rothko’s life and art periods; - Rothko Research Hall (temporary exhibition); - Video Hall; - Silence Room; - Library. Temporary exhibitions: In Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre are displayed well-known Latvian and foreign artists’ exhibitions, created in different artistic media - painting, photography, graphic, textile and ceramic art, etc., as well as historical and cultural expositions. Throughout the year, there are 5 major exhibition season openings, showing best regional, Latvian and foreign art projects. We offer: • guided tours in Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre and Daugavpils Fortress; • children and youth educational programs; • workshops and master classes (with and without preliminary knowledge); • Residence Programs for artists; • rooms for conferences, seminars and other events;
Reviewed By katem123456789
This place located in the old fort, I found it very charming. The art gallery was interesting. They had a restaurant in the complex but we didn’t go in.
8. Shmakovka Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 22 reviews
Reviewed By Similtiades - Riga, Latvia
When on our trip to Daugavpils, my girlfriend insisted that the Šmakovka museum was the must-see thing that we had to do in the city. The entrance is around the side of the large multi-purpose building of the main square of the city centre, then down a flight of stairs inside a door. We were greeted by two friendly young Latgalian men on the front desk (no "grumpy old man" that the other reviews mention), who were in the middle of showing another group out after their tour before turning attention to us. Ticket prices were a little high for Latvia, and for museums in ex-Soviet countries in general, especially outside of major cities, even with a student discount. Still, it was about on par with what one would expect to pay for a small-to-medium sized museum in Central or Western Europe. We opted to go for the English audioguide so that we would both receive the same information. The translation was done really well in the guide, especially considering that the first language of the museum was not even Latvian or Russian, but Latgalian. The museum is split into two large rooms detailing, essentially, a history of the last couple hundred years of Latgale through the eyes of Šmakovka makers. It goes into a great amount of detail on what separates the Latgale region from the rest of Latvia, before turning its attention to Latgale in the Soviet times with an interesting depiction of the local spirit becoming a symbol of resistance against authoritarianism. Of course, this exhibition drops off a little bit before modern day Latgale and the amount of anti-Latvian, pro-Russian sympathy currently found in the region. Finally, after the main part of the museum is over, we were led back through the main entrance hall to the third room, where the guide took us through a tour of the actual distilling process of the drink, and you are able to go up close see every detail of the equipment used as you wish. When the tour is done, you are allowed a complementary shot of a Šmakovka of your choice from what they have available (the inclusion of this is probably why the ticket price was more expensive than expected). In all, it was one of the highlights of our trip. A really interesting and informative museum, that any visitor to Daugavpils should visit. However, I wouldn't go again unless showing around new visitors who had never been before; certainly most Latvians that have visited their second city have been to the museum, so there isn't really much need for repeat visits unless showing around foreign guests. It isn't big enough for that, but definitely is a must-visit on your first trip to Daugavpils.
9. Monument “United for Latvia”
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 23 reviews
The monument ("Latgale’s Mara") is a symbol of Rezekne, which reveals the idea of freedom fights against the outside reign, nation’s efforts to create and to defend its state – Latvia. The monument was unveiled for the 1st time on September 8, 1939 (the author of the project – Leons Tomasickis, the sculptor – Karlis Jansons). In 1992 the monument was restored again (the sculptor Andrejs Jansons).
10. Daugavpils Fortress
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 177 reviews
Daugavpils (Dinaburg, Dwinsk) fortress is located in the very heart of the second biggest city of the Republic of Latvia - only two kilometres away from the actual historical city centre. Still in the 18th century the small town of Dinaburg was situated in the place that is now occupied by an impressive low fortification complex - the last bulwark or bastion-type fortification in the world. Daugavpils fortress was created as a fortified ideal city, and nowadays the fortress has become a city in a city with ten wide streets, 80 buildings, squares, and public gardens. The total area of the fortress situated on both banks of the River Daugava is more than two square kilometres. The fortress has data on 1200 inhabitants officially registered in the fortress and living in 18 apartment houses. Daugavpils fortress is architectural and town planning monument of State significance. Its territory comprises 35 more individual historical monuments. Today the fortress undergoes dynamic development as the greatest regional culture, tourism and business centre. We invite you to have a walk around Daugavpils fortress and enjoy its creative life! The Fortress territory is open 24/7 to visitors. In general, you can walk on the main rampart and along inner streets here. Fans of an extreme tourism can explore various outside fortifications and underground galleries, as well as meet the bats. In the Fortress you can visit Mark Rothko Art Centre (contemporary arts), the exhibition hall of historical costume, purchase local souvenirs at two shops, eat at the cafe, organize conference. /Daugavpils Fortress Culture & Information Centre/
Reviewed By MartinRHor - Riga, Latvia
A fascinating place with an interesting history. It is a combination of very well restored buildings put to variety of uses, historic buildings slowly deteriorating and begging for restoration and horrible soviet blocks. Some buildings are home. You can walk around the top old fortifications and get an idea of the scale of the place. The fact that we’ll before it was completed Napoleon failed to conquer it is testament to the effective design of this type of fortification. It is well worth a trip to see it.
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