Camping Miķeļbāka

You don’t have to rouse yourself too far from base for a nicely photogenic attraction: Miķeļbāka lighthouse, the tallest in Latvia, is a couple of minutes' drive or five minutes' walk away. Still niftily within easy reach is Slītere National Park, 10 minutes’ drive away just over the Ventspils County border. There’s some spectacular scenery to take in among its forests, dunes and marshes – again, bring your camera – and the park is one of the most famed areas of Latvia for birdwatching due to its setting along the Baltic migratory flyways. Train your eagle eyes upwards for great grey owls, bar-tailed godwits and flocks of tens of thousands of birds passing over the park in migrating season; on land, Slītere is home to elks, Eurasian lynxes and grey wolves. Must-sees further afield include medieval Dundaga Castle, surrounded by water on three sides (30 minutes); Kolka village and Cape Kolka (35 minutes), and the handsome port city of Ventspils (also 35 minutes), for museums, street sculptures, a ski slope and a seaside park with open-air and indoor museum. The city’s tourist information centre is a couple of kilometres from the seaside park. It’s also well worth the drive to the scenic town of Kuldiga and Europe’s widest waterfall (an hour and 15 minutes), and to Latvia’s capital Riga, two and a half hours from the site.