Cycling routes
Cycle route in Sigulda
Total length: 12,5km
Level of difficulty: difficult
Duration: several hours
Surfacing: asphalt (1/4 of the total length), gravel, forest roads, paths and bridges
Marking: white bicycle on a green rectangle with orange edges
Please use helmets while cycling this route! There are steep hillside terraces and bridges. Please keep distances!
The route starts next to the parking place nearby Gūtmaņala cave, where it is possible to leave car and to prepare bike for ride.
Description of the route:
Parking place by Gūtmaņa cave – path along the Gauja River – under Gauja bridge – across the Gauja River using Gauja bridge right-side pavement – turn to the right on the path along the Gauja River – Melnie krasti (Black banks by the Gauja River) – viewpoint of Velnalas (Devil’s) cliffs – foot-bridge across the Gauja River – upwards the Brūveri road – path along the Piķene glen – Krimulda castle-ruins – serpentine road – asphalted pedestrian track – Gūtmaņa cave – parking place by Gūtmaņa cave
Places of interest:
The Gauja River (Koivo) – the longest river in Latvia – 452 km. 93,5 km of its flow are covered by Gauja National Park.
Gauja bridge – historically tourists crossed the Gauja River by boats and rafts; later the cross-Gauja ferry was arranged. The bridge was opened in 23 July, 1937, but already in 1941 it was destroyed by the retreating Red Army. The bridge was reconstructed in 1950.
Sigulda bobsled and luge track – bobsledding in Sigulda dates back to the end of the 19th century when a nobleman called Kropotkin built a 900m long bobsled track at his estate. The modern track was designed in Leipzig and built by a company “Gramig” from Sarajevo.
Downhill skiing track “Kaķīškalns” – this track is one of the steepest (80m) in Latvia.
Velnalas (Devil’s) cliffs – Velnalas cliffs – the upper Devonian Gauja suite’s sandstone outcrop is a protected geological object. The slope of the cliffs is 250 m long and 15 m high. About 8 m above the river’s level there is a sufozion cave – Krimuldas Velnala (Devil’s cave).
Piķene glen – a part of the Gauja valley right bank near Krimulda.
Krimulda castle-ruins – the castle of the Riga Domcapitel was built about 1255 in the late classicism style. In the 16th and 17th centuries the castle was conquered by Poles and Swedes. It was destroyed by fire in 1601 and after that it has not been reconstructed.
Serpentine road – the road was formed in 1862 expecting the visit of Russian Czar Aleksandrs II and his wife. It is the only that kind of road in Latvia.
Gūtmaņa cave – the highest cave of Latvia and the largest grotto in the Baltics: 10 m high, 12 m wide and 18,8 m long. On the walls of the cave there are inscriptions of the 17th century.
“Bundulītis” or milk pavilion of Turaida estate – historically it was a milk pavilion of Turaida estate – made of oak, with granite stone foundation and steps.
