Guest houses in Ventspils: how to choose a house by the sea

Search for a guest house in Ventspils and you get a long list: rooms in the centre, apartments above shops, cabins at the camping, and a few whole houses near the sea. Almost all of them say "by the sea". Ventspils is a small port city with a long, wide beach along its western edge, so in some sense nearly everything here is near the water. The real differences are smaller and more practical. This is what we would look at — written by the family that built and runs Kaia House.

1. How far is the sea — on foot, not on the map

"Near the beach" can mean a two-minute walk, or a drive and a search for parking. Ask how long it takes on foot and what lies between you and the sand: a main road, a car park, or only forest. From Kaia House the way is through the pines. Out of the gate, along a gravel path of packed sand and needles, onto a wooden boardwalk with lamps and benches, and over the dune. About five minutes, and no road to cross. The house borders the seaside park, and it is the closest house in the city to the sea.

2. A whole house, or a room in someone else's

Many guest houses let rooms: you share a hall, a kitchen or a garden with other guests. That is fine for one night on the way to Kolka. For a week with children or friends, a house taken whole changes the holiday: one booking, one key, one garden, and nobody through the wall. Kaia House is let only this way — the whole house to one group.

3. Room for everyone, and some room from everyone

Count the beds, but also look at how the house divides. Kaia House has two wings under one roof, each with its own entrance, kitchen and bathroom. The big wing holds the long living room with the kitchen, two bedrooms and a loft with two beds up the ladder. The small wing has its own living room and kitchen and a sleeping loft. That is room for up to eight guests, and two places to be quiet in when you want to be.

4. What is outside the door

The best days in Ventspils are spent outdoors, so look for a garden that is really yours and for what starts at the gate. At Kaia House the plot is 2 492 m² of pines and sand. A long terrace runs along the garden side with doors from both wings; round the corner a gabion wall shelters the grill and two lounge chairs; there are two bicycles for guests. Beyond the fence begins the seaside park: kilometres of paths through the pines, a bike track, ponds, the open-air museum and its little train.

5. Inside the city, or outside it

A house in the dunes outside town is quiet, but it means driving for bread. Kaia House is inside Ventspils, in the seaside quarter at its very edge: municipal water, fibre internet, and streets rebuilt in 2025 with new paving, lighting and a cycle path. The centre, the old town and the concert hall "Latvija" are about ten minutes by car; the shops about five.

6. The small things that decide the week

Parking on the plot. Self check-in with a code, with a person a phone call away. Wi-Fi that reaches the garden. Two bathrooms with underfloor heating. Bed linen, towels and final cleaning included. A cot and a high chair on request. Blackout curtains for the June nights, when it hardly gets dark. None of these sound like much — until one of them is missing.

A short checklist

• Minutes to the sand on foot, and what you cross on the way
• The whole house, or rooms shared with other guests
• How the sleeping places divide between people
• A garden and outdoor space that are yours
• Parking, check-in, internet
• Distance to the shops and the centre

If Kaia House fits your list, check the dates on the house page — every request is answered by a person, usually within a day. For two couples or two families who would rather have separate doors, Terra House, our first house in the same seaside quarter, has two apartments with a steam sauna between them.