Kuldīga

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Log houses in Courland, a brick bridge of 1874, and a waterfall on the Venta a quarter of a kilometre wide.

Arrival: Riga International · RIX
To the town: About 120 km west of the airport, in a straight line
Private jets: Capital Handling and FBO Riga at RIX
Best time: July to August

The city

Salmon in the air.

Kuldīga was still a hamlet when it joined the Hanseatic trade in the fourteenth century. It grew under the Duchy of Courland and then Russia, where two rivers meet, and kept its eighteenth-century street plan. Log houses built in the local way stand beside brick and half-timbered ones, and in 2023 UNESCO put the old town on the World Heritage List.

Just below the town the Venta drops over a ledge about two metres high and some 249 metres across, the widest waterfall in Europe, broader still in the spring floods. Salmon used to leap it and were caught in baskets as they fell back, which gave Kuldīga its nickname: the town where you catch salmon in the air. Today the fish are vimba, and they are left alone while they spawn.

Venta Rapid A low, wide fall across the whole river, about 249 metres from bank to bank.
The brick bridge Built in 1874, about 240 metres from the falls, and still in use.
The old town Streets of log, brick and timber-framed houses, on the World Heritage List since 2023.

Arriving

Riga, then west into Courland.

Kuldīga has no airfield for jets. Riga International lies about 120 kilometres east as the crow flies, with a 3,200-metre runway and customs.

Business & First Class Airline flights Scheduled flights arrive at the main terminal in Riga; the town is reached by road across western Latvia. Business & First fares Private Jet Private flights RIX is open day and night. Slots and a handler are compulsory: Capital Handling receives private aircraft at the Business Aviation Center on Ziemeļu iela, and FBO Riga also operates there. Charter a jet

Approximate flying time by midsize jet

Frankfurt 1 h 50
Munich 1 h 50
Paris 2 h 25
Mumbai 7 h 55 long-range jet
Miami 11 h 05 long-range jet

When to go

July to August.

These are the figures for Ventspils, on the coast fifty kilometres away. July and August are the warm months, around nineteen degrees by day; autumn brings the most rain, and from December to March the highs hover round freezing.

0° J 49
-1° F 31
2° M 38
7° A 35
13° M 37
17° J 48
19° J 68
19° A 69
16° S 80
11° O 70
6° N 84
2° D 68

Best months weather2travel.com, long-term averages for Ventspils

Elsewhere in Latvia

More reasons to come.

All of Latvia

Flying to Kuldīga?

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A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.

Business & First Private Jet