Party at the Пляж (Plyazh, or Beach): Jurmala

When I first found out I would be going to Riga for six weeks this summer and I looked up the area, one of the first things that came up was the neighboring town of Jurmala. First I thought it was strange how I got a neighboring town for my search when it definitely said Riga, but whatever. Absentmindedly I decided to look up this tiny town anyways. And it seemed even more weird then when, upon doing research, I found out Jurmala was advertised as one of the best beach locations in Eastern Europe. According to it's Wikipedia site I read, I found out the beach only has soft white quartz sand, and stretches for a whopping 21 miles (32), making it one of the largest beaches in Europe and definitely in the Baltic States. Call me jaded or pessimistic, but that seemed a little over exaggerated/optimistic. I mean, Eastern Europe with its crazy weather can't have beaches right?

Funny enough, it can. And not only that, but it rocks the socks off the beach game.

Looking for something REALLY cool to show my family this week, I figured Jurmala would be a great place for an afternoon! I had never been there but I had heard only good things about it: it was close, it was free, it was big, the sand was soft and it was a beach, aka the place where happiness goes on vacation. And it did not disappoint on ANY front. My problem with normal beaches is that while it looks beautiful, there are a lot of silent hazards: sunburn from sun, it's too hot and you're sweating if you're not in the water, there's undertow if you're in the ocean, and people are packed in by commercial buildings and private lots.

I felt like the Jurmala beach was the best of all these characteristics, without the overkill. It had sunshine but the air was a nice 80 degrees F temperature, the water was 90 degrees warm, we had a light breeze off the sea, shallow water you could wade out into for a couple hundred meters and empty stretches of beach the whole way down. The lack of commercialization especially makes you feel like its everybody's beach, and the temperatures of the air and water were perfectly matched. For us in the family, it was a perfect afternoon swimming, chilling and walking along the sea.

Jurmala can easily be reached by train via the Centrala Stacija, or by bus from the same station. For weekend trips with friends, apartment-mate bonding time or family visiting time, this is one of my highest recommendations.

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