Rundāle

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Rastrelli’s baroque palace for the Duke of Courland, standing in ten hectares of French garden on the Zemgale plain, twelve kilometres west of Bauska.

Fly to Rundāle All of Latvia

Arrival: Riga International · RIX
To the palace: About 57 km south of the airport, in a straight line
Private jets: Capital Handling or FBO Riga at RIX
Best time: June to August

The city

A duke’s summer house in the Valley of Peace.

Ernst Johann von Biron bought the estate in June 1735, and the first stone of his summer residence went down on 24 May 1736, to plans by Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Building ran until 1740, stopped, and began again in 1764. Most of what you see inside, Johann Michael Graff’s stucco included, belongs to the four years that followed; the last mirrors of the White Hall went up in 1770.

The museum was founded in 1972 and restored the palace room by room; the first rooms reopened in 1981 and the work was finished in 2014. Come between June and August, when afternoons reach twenty or twenty-one degrees and the old roses flower in the park. In midwinter the days stay around freezing.

The Gold Hall One of the parade rooms of the eastern wing, its marble panelling dated 1767 on the door lining.
The White Hall A ballroom of white stucco by Graff, finished in July 1768 on the site of the former palace church.
The French garden Ten hectares laid out by Christopher and Michael Weiland from Rastrelli’s plan, winner of the European Garden Award in 2021.

Arriving

Riga, then south to Bauska.

Riga International is the airport for the palace, fifty-seven kilometres to the north in a straight line. Its single runway measures 3,200 metres.

Business & First Class Airline flights airBaltic flies to Riga from Paris and Munich up to twice a day, with a Business Class cabin, and also from Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Hamburg. Business & First fares Private Jet Private flights Riga takes movements at any hour, with customs on the airfield; a slot and a handler must be booked. Capital Handling runs the Business Aviation Center on Ziemeļu iela, and FBO Riga is the other handler on the field. Charter a jet

Approximate flying time by midsize jet

Copenhagen 1 h 15
Amsterdam 2 h 05
Paris 2 h 30
Almaty 5 h 25
Lagos 7 h 50 long-range jet

When to go

June to August.

Spring arrives late on the plain, and April still tops out at ten degrees. June brings twenty, July and August twenty-one, with summer showers that make these the wettest months of the year. From December to February the days hover at or just below freezing.

-2° J 36
-2° F 27
3° M 32
10° A 41
17° M 48
20° J 58
21° J 77
21° A 76
16° S 73
11° O 61
4° N 61
0° D 49

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

Where to stay

A manor house on the Lielupe.

Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.

Four-star · Mazmežotne, about 2 km from the palace Mazmežotne Manor An estate the Lieven family held until the 1930s, its old buildings restored around a garden, with a restaurant, a spa with a salt sauna and a nature trail by the river.

Elsewhere in Latvia

More reasons to come.

All of Latvia

Flying to Rundāle?

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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