Around Latvia, around five historical regions – “5 Stars”

“4×4 Centrs”, exploring the most beautiful, interesting and unusual places of Latvia for 25 years, offers to take a miraculous and diverse journey around the borders of Latvia for 10 days, staying in wild or well-equipped campsites near rivers and lakes, in a close touch with nature. Latvia may not have the highest mountains or waterfalls, but we have found attractions that will definitely surprise many local explorers as well as travellers from all over the world, and, as usual, “4×4 Centrs” will take you to places where others won’t!

The “5 Stars” symbolise the five regions of Latvia – Vidzeme, Latgale, Selonia, Semigallia, Courland – which one after the other will surprise you and leave you with unforgettable memories after your journey. Importantly, you can take this trip in any car! There will be two routes: for regular cars and for offroad vehicles (SUVs). It is not compulsory to take part for all 10 days, although we encourage you to do so!

The trip with offroad vehicles (SUV) and regular cars takes place from 07.06.24 to 16.06.24. We want you to see Latvia from all its sides, so we recommend you to participate in the whole border trip, but we understand that it’s not always possible to make time for 10 days, so you can participate in 4 and 7 days, which means a partial border trip. But we invite you to take the challenge: to take 10 days of break in this wonderful country. When has anyone ever offered you something like this before?

The ride is available for both SUVs and regular cars. We have designed such routes for the offroad veichles (SUVs) so that there will be times when you will have to turn on the four-wheel drive, however the regular car drivers will be able to explore the sights by accessing them on gravel and appropriate forest roads. But there will always be a taste of adventure for everyone!

Both groups of cars will have the opportunity to compete against each other and find our hidden checkpoints along the way, take a picture of some tower of an abandoned church, sneak into an abandoned water mill, measure the girth of the thickest tree in an ancient alley, identify the tastiest bun in a border shop 🙂 etc., at the end of the day, finding out which team was the most eager and attentive, winning an incentive prize and taking part in a raffle to win various valuable prizes from our sponsors. However, this only applies to those who will be participating in the border tour for at least 7 days.

Accommodation is organised in camping sites, with tents. If you don’t really want to spend the night in nature, you can find your own accommodation under a hard roof.

Each day a preliminary daily plan and itinerary with checkpoints/sights is provided (electronically in a GPX file). Everyone can choose how much of the route we offer to complete. In the evening at the campfire we will share our experiences and impressions from the day.

“5 Stars” trip agenda

Participants choose one of the two groups, depending on the type of their vehicle:

•  regular cars
• off-road cars (SUVs)
• SUV 4×4 VIP group (maximum 10 cars), under the guidance and care of a guide (no need to handle the navigation yourself + more information about the borderland in the guide’s narration).

The trip is divided into 10 stages (10 days), from 7th to 16th of June.

Day 1  – Rīga – Mazsalaca (7.06.)

Day 2 – Mazsalaca – Alūksne (8.06.)

Day 3  – Alūksne – Ludza (9.06)

Day 4  – Ludza – Krāslava (10.06)

Day 5  – Krāslava – Aknīste (11.06)

Day 6  – Aknīste – Bauska (12.06)

Day 7  – Bauska – Ezere (13.06)

Day 8  – Ezere – Ziemupe (14.06)

Day 9  – Ziemupe – Mazirbe (15.06)

Day 10  – Mazirbe – Jūrmala (16.06)

Expedition highlights:

• We will drive on highways, good and not so good country roads, and there will also be special sections for off-road vehicles (SUVs),
• we will explore the outermost regions of Latvian corners, climb observation towers, swim in the most beautiful lakes and pick flowers in Latvian meadows
• experience the joy of driving on winding and scenic country roads specially selected for this event
• you will have the opportunity to visit several borderland museums
• get to know the culture, farming and daily life of the local people
• sneak into majestic abandoned buildings, manors, churches, railway stations and other “places where others won’t take you”
• enjoy the treasures of Latvia – pine forests, protected nature monuments – ancient trees and giant stones and of course the great and notable people who have lived in this country
• discover borderland towns and ancient sites
• pitch tents and tell jokes around the campfire

Mandatory and recommended equipment

Mandatory equipment:

• Passport or ID card, driving licence
• Navigation app on phone or tablet that “understands” GPX files, “Google Maps” app
• Everything you need for an overnight stay in nature.

You can practice downloading and navigating with a GPX file using, for example, the free version of Self Drive Latvia route.

Recommended equipment:

Weather-appropriate clothing and footwear, phone or tablet holder in the car, 12V adapter, charging cable.

We will inform you about the need for Russian and Belarusian borderland permits closer to the event, but for now we are not planning a route very close to the border of these countries (we will not disturb the border guards).

Application and participation fee

To apply for this event:

1. Fill in the application form . If you are unable to participate on all 10 days, please indicate which dates you plan to participate in the application form.
2. You must make an advance payment of 50 EUR to the indicated bank account

Application form without payment has an informative character only and it may be deleted from the list.

The remaining amount of the participation fee must be paid by 30.05.2024.

Participation fee for 1 car, depending on the number of days of the trip: 4 days/ 7 days/ 10 days

By completing the application form and making advance payment from 01.01.24 to 01.03.24 – EUR 210/ 330/ 420

By completing the application form and making advance payment from 02.03.24 to 01.05.24 – EUR 260/ 380/ 460

By completing the application form and making advance payment from 02.05.24 to 31.05.24 – EUR 310/ 410/ 490

For 4×4 SUVs there is also the possibility to join a VIP group of up to 10 cars, under the guidance and care of a guide (no need to handle the navigation yourself + more information about the borderland in the guide’s narration) – participation fee for 4/ 7/ 10 days – 330/ 470/ 600 EUR per car. Application for VIP group can be written in free form to the e-mail: info@4x4centrs.lv .

The participation fee includes the organisation of the event, information and a special borderland route with tasks, organisation of camping sites, campfire. The participation fee does not include entrance to paid attractions (e.g. tastings, artisans, etc.) and camping costs (if it is for a fee).

Full Photo album of “5 Stars” HERE

If you would like to become a supporter of this event, please contact us!

Additional information

Any additional information, questions about the trip by phone (+371) 29 424 541 (Edvins), (+371) 27836805 (Oskars).

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