Mežtaka Forest Trail: Old Riga to Biķernieki and Šmerlis

The Mežtaka (Forest Trail) is a long urban-to-forest walk that begins at Town Hall Square (Rātslaukums) in Old Riga, Latvia, and leads out of the city through the Biķernieki and Šmerlis forests, passing the Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum before reaching Baltezers. The full route is about 19 km one way and takes 6 to 8 hours, which makes it a long day, although the terrain is gentle and mostly flat, so it is rated moderate mainly because of distance. A shorter Biķernieki forest loop of about 11 km offers an easier alternative. Access is simple. The main trail starts on foot from Rātslaukums, so no transport is needed to begin, while the Biķernieki loop starts from the Alfa shopping centre car park and can be reached by city public transport, with routes checked on the Mobilly or Rīgas Satiksme app. No permit or fee is required. The first part of the walk crosses paved city streets and parks before the surface changes to forest tracks, sandy paths and compacted dirt among pine woods. Shade is abundant in the forest sections, and exposure is nil, though stretches near the city are open. Key landmarks are the Old Town start point, the Biķernieki forest, which includes memorial sites and a motorsport circuit nearby, the Ethnographic Open-Air Museum on the shore of Lake Juglas, and the quieter Šmerlis forest further north. Sensible turn-around points are the Biķernieki loop for a half-day walk or the museum area, where public transport links back to the centre. Water and food are available in the city and near shopping centres at the start but not reliably inside the forest, so about 2 litres of water, snacks, insect repellent and an offline map are recommended. Signage, usually trail markings on trees and posts, can thin out at forest junctions, so a map app is useful.