A Guide to Visiting Bauska Castle and Rundale Palace in Latvia

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post, I paid for this trip myself. All recommendations are my own.

We visited Bauska Castle and Rundale Palace as part of our two week self-drive holiday around the sights of Latvia. Latvia has lots of wonderful castles to explore, and these did not disappoint.

Bauska Castle

We had been staying in Latvia’s adventure town of Sigulda and drove to Bauska in the morning which took us just under 2 hours. The castle sits on the edge of Bauska town. To find the car park and entrance, look out for it on the right after driving through the town and just before crossing the river Mūsa. The small car park is beside the road and to get to the castle, you follow the path between the buildings where you will see the steep ditch that surrounds the castle protecting it from attacks.

Bauska Castle consists of two parts – the original 15th century ruins and the newer part that was built at the end of the 16th century. The first castle was built by the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Knights to protect their border and to control the trade route from Lithuania to Riga. Following the collapse of the Order in 1562, it became the residence for the Duke of Kurzeme (Courland) who added to the castle by building a new wing and fortifying it with bastions, protective walls, and earthen ramparts. But the castle eventually met its end in 1706 during the Great Northern War when it was blown up by the retreating Russians. Following this it was never restored, so fell to ruin.

In more recent years it has been restored and the Dukes residence has now been turned into a museum. We entered the courtyard and went into buy our tickets so we could explore. Everything looked fresh and newly restored. Staff were dressed in period dress and directed us into each of the different areas of the castle. The castle has a range of exhibits including items found during excavation and historical clothing and military items. The information displayed gave us the opportunity to learn more about the castle’s history. I especially enjoyed seeing the shoes with very tall platform soles and the large protruding cod pieces. We then moved into the living quarters of the castle with its beautiful decorative tiled floor – you have to wear shoe coverings through this area to protect the tiles.

After exploring the castle, we took a walk around the grounds. The castle sits on a very scenic strip of land between between two rivers, Mūsa and Mēmele. We spent just over an hour at Bauska Castle as its not particularly large, but it was interesting to see and learn more about the history of this area.

Rundale Palace

Our next stop was the beautiful Rundale Palace, only a 10 minute drive from Bauska Castle in the neighbouring municipality of Rundale. I was very keen to visit this palace as it was used in the filming of the short TV series adaptation of War & Peace. I’ve included a short clip of the scenes it was included in below.

Rundale Palace was built by the Duke of Courland Ernst Johann von Biron who purchased the land with the plans of building a summer residence using funds by his ladylove Anna Ioannovna, Empress of Russia. It had an old medieval castle on the land which was torn down when they began building the palace in 1736. But construction was slow because at the same time the Duke was also building Jelgava Palace (now used as the Latvian University of Agriculture) which he prioritised. Then work came to a complete stop whilst he went into exile in Siberia in 1740 following Anna’s death. However, eventually he returned in 1762 and work continued until it was finished in 1768.

In the years following the Duke’s death, the castle was passed through Russian nobles until eventually being occupied by the Germans during WW1 who used it as a hospital. In WWII it was used by the Soviets during their occupation of Latvia following WWII. It fell to disrepair in the following years, but eventually restoration began in 1972 when Rastrelli’s original architectural plans were discovered.

There is a large car park on the road leading to the palace, and from there it was a short walk to the palace. When we arrived we were rather hungry so we stopped for lunch at a lovely restaurant called Rezidence (Ābelītes, Pilsrundāle, Rundāles pagasts, LV-3921, Latvia) which was near the entrance of the palace. The service was slow, but it was worth the wait as the food was delicious and beautifully presented.

Rundale Palace is often referred to as the Versailles of Latvia. It is an impressive yellow baroque style building surrounded by extensive gardens. Before arriving we had purchased our tickets online as you can get a discount. The ticketing is rather confusing as it is broken up into different areas of the castle. However, we just paid for a ticket to access all of the castle and the garden.

We started with exploring the richly adorned castle rooms including the state rooms and duke and duchess’ apartments. When it was restored, there were only a few of the original furnishings remaining, but they have done an excellent job of furnishing the rooms with 18th and 19th century antiques. The walls and ceilings were richly painted and featured gold leaf and large chandeliers. I enjoyed seeing the ceramic glazed tile stoves, as each one was decorated beautiful with different colours and patterns. These stoves are common in a lot of European countries and were apparently more efficient, safer, and warmer compared to open fires. Having visited many cold British historical houses with their vast but inefficient fireplaces, I had to wonder why the British never used these? If you want to learn more about them, here is an interesting post on tile stoves on Home Things Past website.

After exploring the rooms, we had also paid for tickets to the exhibition ‘From the Gothic Style to Art Nouveau’ which is located on the ground floor of the west wing. I really enjoyed this exhibition. Each area is set up in a historical style from the 15th century to World War I. It was interesting to see how people lived in each of the eras and how styles and decor has changed.

We spent the remainder of our time out in the sunny garden where they have an extensive rose collection. The garden features over 600 modern and historical roses from all around the world, including my home country of New Zealand. I enjoyed exploring the hidden gardens and discovering the pergolas and pavilions.

Accommodation Options in the Rundale and Bauska Area

We stayed a short distance from Rundale Palace in Mazmežotnes muiža, a manor house with beautiful country grounds near a river. It was a very peaceful afternoon and the food here was delicious and presented exquisitely.

Search available accommodation in Rundale and Bauska area

Budget

• Rija Bauska Hotel

Moderate

• Hotel Miķelis
• Rožmalas

Luxury

• Mazmežotnes muiža

Practical Tips for Visiting Bauska Castle and Rundal Palace

• How to get to Bauska Castle and Rundale Palace:
  • By Car: We drove to Bauska Castle and Rundale Palace from Sigulda and it took just over 2 hours. It takes about 1.5 hours from Riga.
  • Day tour: You can also visit Bauska Castle and Rundale Palace on a day tour from Riga.
• How long should I visit Bauska Castle and Rundale Palace for? We put aside a day to explore these two locations.
• Save money on tickets at Rundale Castle: Save money by purchasing your tickets online before your visit.
• Language: Latvian is the official language of Latvia. Latgalian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian are also spoken. Most younger people we came across spoke excellent English, particularly at the tourist sites. But do try your hand at a few Latvian words:
  • Hello – Sveiki (Svekee)
  • Please – Lūdzu (LOO-dzoo)
  • Thank you – Paldies (PUHL-dyehs)
  • Yes – Jā (yahh)
  • No – Nē (neh)
  • Excuse me – Atvainojiet (UHT-vay-noh-yeht)
  • I’m sorry – Piedodiet (pyeh-DOH-dyeht)
  • Goodbye – Atā (UH-tahh)
  • Where is the toilet? – Kur ir tualete? (koor eer TWAH-leh-teh?)
• Currency: Euro. Most places accepted card for payment, however, there are quite a few smaller places that only accept cash, so I recommend taking some cash with you.
• Tipping: Not required.
• Electricity: The electrical current is 230 volts AC. Wall outlets generally take the European two round prong plugs. However, you are better off purchasing a worldwide adaptor that can be used in Latvia as well other countries. At least then you can potentially get some further use out of it on future vacations. If you’re taking a number of electronics with you, then I would recommend purchasing a couple of these adaptors.
• Driving in Latvia: In Latvia they drive on the right hand side and all vehicles must have their lights on day and night. In built-up areas speed limits are 50 km/h and 20 km/h in residential areas. On normal roads car speed limits are 90 km/hr and 100km/hr on dual carriage ways. There are a lot of speed cameras in Latvia and they are hard to spot as they are a modern slim grey design. There will be a warning sign directly before it, but they are easily missed. They carefully monitor speeding in Latvia as we witnessed a number of drivers being stopped by police, so watch your speed.
• Navigating: Use Google’s free Offline Maps which allows you to access free maps for navigating that can be used offline i.e. you don’t need WIFI, data, or roaming to be able to use them. Follow this detailed guide on how to use Googles Offline Maps.
  • Using your phone as a GPS will drain your battery quickly, so use a portable battery charger which you can use to charge your phone and any other USB chargeable devices.
  • If you prefer a paper map, then purchase a Latvian road map before you go. At least it’s reliable and won’t run out of battery or malfunction like the electronic options!