About the guide

Daiga Taurīte

Licensed Latvian tour guide. Co-founder of Barefoot Baltic. Writer of every guide on this site.

I’m Daiga — a licensed Latvian tour guide based in Riga. I founded Barefoot Baltic with my family in October 2024 to do something specific: small-group day excursions out of Riga, run honestly, by a Latvian, for travellers who want to actually understand the place rather than just photograph it. Maximum eight guests per departure. Often fewer.

If you have read any of the long pieces on the Barefoot Baltic blog — the room-by-room walkthrough of Rundāle Palace, the honest answers about Sigulda and Ḳemeri Bog, the comparison with Tallinn and Vilnius — you’ve been reading me. Every word, every photograph, every itinerary on this site comes from days I’ve actually run.

What I guide

I run three day excursions out of Riga, year-round (with one summer-only exception). Each one departs in the morning from your hotel and brings you back the same day:

How I work

The idea behind Barefoot Baltic is simple: keep the groups small, keep the guide a Latvian, and keep the day honest. I don’t pad an itinerary with stops that don’t deserve your time. If a place isn’t worth a visit on a given day — the wrong season, the wrong weather, the wrong fit for the group — I’ll tell you, and we’ll do something better. That’s also the voice you’ll find in the blog: each piece is built around the question travellers actually ask, including the ones competing tour pages tend to dodge (“is this worth it?”, “who is this not for?”, “what should I skip?”).

I work with a tight, family-built operation. We use an air-conditioned minibus, your hotel pickup is included, all entrance fees are pre-paid, bottled water is on board, and the guide on the day is me — not a subcontractor.

“If a place isn’t worth a visit on a given day, I’ll tell you, and we’ll do something better.”

Languages

I personally guide in English and Latvian. Through Barefoot Baltic we also operate days in Russian, German, and French on request, subject to availability of the guide who covers that language. Email me before you book if a non-English-speaking guest joins you and I’ll confirm what we can offer for your dates.

What I write about

The Barefoot Baltic blog is my long-form work — pillar guides, honest opinion pieces, and room-by-room walkthroughs of the places I take guests to. Some of the posts I’m most proud of:

• Inside Rundāle Palace: A Room-by-Room Visual Guide — ~16,000 words, 286 of my own photographs, every visitable room of the palace covered. The longest single guide on the site.
• Is Rundāle Palace Worth Visiting? — the honest, opinionated short answer.
• Is Ḳemeri Bog Worth It? and Ḳemeri Bog in Autumn — the bog walk most travellers don’t know about, in two seasonal flavours.
• Is Sigulda Worth Visiting? — my pillar piece on the Gauja Valley.
• Riga vs Tallinn vs Vilnius — how I’d compare the three Baltic capitals if I were planning my own first visit.
• Day Trips from Riga: A Latvian Guide’s Honest Answer — which trips earn your day, which to skip, and how to choose.
• The Baltic German Legacy in Latvia and What the German Balts Called Themselves — the history most general guidebooks under-explain.

Credentials

Barefoot Baltic is a real, registered, licensed Latvian tour operator. The credentials are publicly verifiable:

Tour-guide licence

Daiga Taurīte — Licensed Latvian tour guide (Latvia).

Operator registration

SIA Ronda Sprints Solutions — reg. 40203595104, registered in Riga, Latvia.

Tourism services authorisation

Latvian Consumer Rights Protection Centre (PTAC).

Passenger transport licence

Autotransporta direkcija (ATD) — PS-01995.

Civil liability insurance

BTA Baltic Insurance Company.

Recognition

Barefoot Baltic was named #2 Best Destination 2025 as part of the European Best Destinations awards, which recognised Riga and Latvia in that year’s programme.

Get in touch

If you’d like to ask about a specific date, a private departure, a non-English language, or whether one of my excursions is right for your group, the easiest way is to message me directly — via WhatsApp, email [email protected], or phone +371 26 440 152. I read every message myself and reply within a day.