Skip to content
MyVisaPort

🇱🇻 Latvia

Latvia is in the Schengen area and the EU. Below: visa rules for every passport, cash limits at customs and the tourist traps official travel advice warns about.

Check your visa route for Latvia

Pick your passport and where you live — Latvia is already filled in.

Visas or permits I hold (optional)

Visa rules for your passport ↓

Explore Latvia: things to do, shopping, food and getting around

A short guide based on Latvia.travel.

Places to visit

  • Riga Old Town

    Riga

    A UNESCO World Heritage Site with Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque buildings.

    Source: Latvia.travel – Riga

  • Art Nouveau Riga

    Riga

    About a third of the buildings in central Riga are Art Nouveau. Walk Alberta Street for the best examples.

    Source: Latvia.travel – Riga

Food

  • Riga Central Market

    Riga

    Five pavilions, built in the 1920s from former airship hangars, selling vegetables, dairy, meat, fish and deli goods. It's next to the bus and railway stations and pays in cash only.

    Source: Latvia.travel (official) – Riga Central Market

General tips

Summarised in our own words from the linked pages, official tourism boards and transport authorities first; items marked "Not official" come from other guides. Prices and opening times change, so check the source before you go. Last checked 24 Oct 2026.

Common tourist traps and how to avoid them

Scams and risky spots named in official travel advice for Latvia, in our own words.

  1. Bag snatching and pickpocketing in Riga

    How it works: Petty theft is more common in Riga Old Town, the Central Market and the central train and bus stations.

    How to avoid it: Keep valuables in the hotel safe and avoid unlit streets and parks at night.

  2. Overpriced drinks and card fraud in bars

    How it works: Some tourists were charged very high prices for drinks or found fraudulent card transactions afterwards.

    How to avoid it: Make sure card payments happen in front of you, be wary of being asked to re-enter your PIN, and pick bars from trusted recommendations.

  3. ATM card fraud

    How it works: Card details can be stolen without you noticing.

    How to avoid it: Use ATMs inside banks where possible and check street ATMs for tampering.

  4. Drink and food spiking

    How it works: There have been cases in Riga and elsewhere.

    How to avoid it: Don't leave drinks unattended or accept food and drink from strangers.

  5. Theft from cars

    How it works: Belongings left in view in parked cars get stolen.

    How to avoid it: Use car parks with CCTV, lock the car and keep things out of sight.

Official advice: FCDO: no areas advised against.

Emergency numbers in Latvia

Paraphrased from official travel advice: FCDO travel advice – Safety and security · FCDO travel advice – Warnings and insurance · FCDO travel advice – Getting help (emergency numbers) · FCDO page updated 11 Aug 2026 · Last checked 2 Nov 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Cash you can bring in and take out

Customs rules for banknotes and other cash when you enter or leave Latvia.

EU external border (Reg. 2018/1672)

Bringing cash in
Declare cash of EUR 10,000 or more (or equivalent) when arriving from outside the EU.
Taking cash out
Declare cash of EUR 10,000 or more (or equivalent) when leaving to a country outside the EU.
Local currency (EUR) in
No limit (declaration only).
Local currency (EUR) out
No limit (declaration only).
Foreign currency
No limit (declaration only).
  • EU rule (Regulation (EU) 2018/1672): anyone entering or leaving the EU with EUR 10,000 or more in cash (banknotes, coins, bearer-negotiable instruments such as traveller's cheques, and gold coins/bullion of high purity) must declare it to customs at the point of entry/exit, using the EU cash declaration form. The threshold is per person, also for families/groups.
  • Customs can act on lower amounts if there are signs of criminal activity; undeclared cash can be detained and fined.

Official source: taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu · eur-lex.europa.eu · europa.eu · Last checked 4 Oct 2026

Latvia visa rules by passport

The general rule for each passport, from official sources. Open a passport to see conditions and options that depend on where you live.

Free movement (EU/EEA/Swiss)30 passports
Visa-free63 passports
Embassy visa105 passports

Verified rules for Latvia: 197 of 198 passports; awaiting verification: 1; not yet covered: 0. A rule that is awaiting verification or not yet covered is not a negative visa decision: it only means we haven't confirmed it on an official source yet.

⚠ Unofficial sources: 1 rule for Latvia is not from an official Latvia government source (based on other governments' travel advice or secondary research). They are labelled on each page, are not counted as verified above, and should be confirmed with the embassy before travel.

Nearby destinations

Official travel advice

Suggest something for our Latvia guide

A place, a tip or a correction. We check every suggestion against a reliable source before anything is published.

Don't include personal details. We store the suggestion, the optional name and the page, not your email or IP address. No cookies are set. Privacy

Optional travel offers

Some links are affiliate links. Booking through them costs you nothing extra, and a small commission helps pay MyVisaPort’s ongoing hosting and maintenance costs and keeps the site free of banner ads. We only list services we think are useful, and they never affect the visa information we publish. These offers are not part of the visa guidance above and are never used to rank routes. How partner links work

Plan your trip to Latvia

Verify with the embassy before you book. Visa rules change without notice. We link every rule to its official source and last checked it on 2 Nov 2026, but the embassy, official e-visa portal and your airline have the final say. MyVisaPort is not a visa agent and is not affiliated with any government.