Upon arrival in Jurmala our teacher told us some background information about Jurmala. Mostly, she mentioned how Jurmala is very corrupt (also many rich people live here). Despite strict regulations in architecture, ''somehow'' all buildings look different. The only rule that always needs to be adhered to is that you can not build highe than 2 floors, a maximum set by the municipality. Only the hotels that surpass this height, but that were build during Sovjet times and before implementation of this rule, do not have to care about this. Moreover, our teacher explained us before in class that Jurmala is popular amongst business travellers. The reason given that it is close to the airport (quick arrival and departure; time = money principle) and that it is not like the crowded* city life of Riga.
(*If you compare Riga to other capital cities in Western Europe, I do not consider it to be crowded at all, yet Jurmala is a lot more peaceful still and has a beach closeby).
In total we would visit 3 hotels, 1) Hotel Jurmala Spa, 2) Baltic Beach Hotel, 3) Hotel Mama. The first and second hotel can be found on the picture below, using the same numbers.
The first hotel, Hotel Jurmala Spa (http://www.hoteljurmala.com/), has a very extensive spa offering. You also don't have
to be a guest of the hotel in order to make use of their services. Locals visit this hotel as well.
Our guide (staff member) told us that many Scandinavian people visit this hotel because the spa treatments are good, as they are performed by professionals, whilst at the same time the prices are 10 times less than what Scandinavian people normally would have to pay. From all the hotels that we would visit, I liked this one the best.
The view from the upper floor is good, the only thing you can not see is the sea. However, it is only a short distance to the beach, if the sea is really what you want to see. From Hotel Jurmala Spa you can also already see Baltic Beach Hotel, the 2nd hotel we visited.
My attempt to make a panorama picture manually (view from Hotel Jurmala Spa - highest floor).
The second hotel, The Baltic Beach Hotel (http://www.balticbeach.lv/), is more expensive but is also bigger and more luxurious.
And of course, this hotel does have a view to the sea. Furthermore, this hotel has two restaurants (one more than Hotel Jurmala Spa), European and Italian cuisine. It was mentioned that for more formal occassions the European cuisine is more popular, if not, Italian. Downstairs they have a whirlpool which constantly changes colors, which I found to be pretty cool. Other then that, we saw a massage rooms with really nice Egyptian design, making you feel as if you were in Egypt itself.
The last hotel, Hotel Mama (http://www.hotelmama.lv - 360 degrees view tour on their website), is a small hotel with design rooms. It is most famous for having been/ being the best restaurant in Latvia. Being a family business, they seem to be able to control everything into detail and as such being able to maintain a high quality offering when it comes to food & drinks. One chef in autumn, two in the summer. When looking at the price list of the restaurant, I was pleasantly surprised, it being less high than expected when reflecting on its status. After these three hotel visits we had a reflection session on the beach and then headed to the train station to take a train from there.
It is also possible to go back with mini-bus from Jurmala. It is a little bit more expensive than train, but still ''cheap'' (I have learned in Latvia that this is a relative term). If I recall correctly, it is 1,10 Ls (or a little less than 1,60 EUR) to go to Riga. The stop for the mini-bus is also very close to the train station.
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