About Sigulda
A town in the Vidzeme region of Latvia, Sigulda is perched on a pretty stretch of the Gauja River valley cloaked in red "Devonian" sandstone that has formed caves on both sides of the river. Nicknamed the "Switzerland of Vidzeme", it's about 53km from the capital city of Riga. Sigulda has been named as the host city for the bobsled, skeleton and luge events, if the Swedish capital of Stockholm is awarded the 2026 Winter Olympics, so it's definitely the town to run to if you are into your adrenalin junky winter sports. Awash in castles to get the architecture buff doing a happy dance, there is the Gutmanis Cave (the largest cave in the Baltics with inscriptions from the 17th Century) to explore and the Gauja National Park to play in when you aren't bent over your laptop in a coworking space getting creative.
Home to an annual Opera Festival each summer in the open-air music hall of castle ruins, Sigulda is draped in cherry blossoms during May and is known for its gorgeous autumn trees. The city has a long history going back 800 years and today has a population of 11,332 chatting away in Latvian or Russian, so you may have to brush up on your language skills before you hit a coworking venue.
Latvia's small capital of Riga is where you will find the majority of the country's 300 startups, but most cities appear to have their own dynamic entrepreneurial communities happening. The government has instigated initiatives to attract businesses and it's the first county in the area to have special laws for startups. High tech companies are now playing a bigger role with many companies focusing on tech in the green energy and chemical markets. Latvia has a young tech scene with an ecosystem very much in its early stages. In spite of this, it's united and collaborative with potential to grow in the future.
Coworking venues are providing the city's creative souls with the space to mingle, collaborate and where they can get some work done before heading off to slurp on some beetroot soup.