LIMBAZI DISTRICT

The territory of Limbaži district is 2,580 km², including 31% of agricultural land, 51% of forests, 13% - bogs, 7% - the rest (parks, land under water etc.).

Limbaži district is situated on the northeastern coast of the Gulf of Riga and it borders the Rīga district to the south, Estonia to the north, the Valmiera district to the east and the Cēsis district to the south-east. The district includes municipalities of 11 civil parishes and 5 towns. The district centre is Limbaži.

POPULATION

The total number of the inhabitants is 39,193 (on 01.01.2004.), which is ~1.7% of all country population. The inhabitants of towns comprise 42.5% of all population, but 57.5% live in the rural areas. The density of population is 15.4 inhabitants per 1 km2. The national structure is homogeneous: 89% - Latvians, 7% - Russians, 1.6% - Byelarussians, 1% - Ukranians, 1.4% - other. The Limbaži district is the third most Latvian district in Latvia. The natural growth of the population has been negative during the last  years (-166 inhabitants or -0.42% in 2000), but the level of negative natural growth is decreasing. 25% of the district population are under the age of work ability, 51% are in the age of work ability, but 24% - above that age.

CULTURE

There are 17 culture or folk houses, 1 theatre house, 32 municipal and 1 private library in the 16 municipalities of the district. There are 10 museums in the district; 8 of them are municipal, 1 is state museum and 1 is private, there is also 1 memorial room. Three museums are being formed at the moment. There are also 6 art and music schools, 2 applied arts studios.

SPORT

The Limbaži district is rich in old sports traditions. The representatives of the district achieved the best results in canoeing and kayaking, in track and field athletics. In 2000 Limbaži District Council adopted “The sports program”. One of the main tasks of this program is to improve considerably the provision of modern sports centres for children, youth and also for adults. The sports hall of the Limbaži district began its operation in December 2000; the Olympic centre “Limbaži”, which obtained the status of National sports centre in 2002, also was established.

TOURISM

Information

Limbaži Tourism Information Centre Burtnieku iela 5, Limbaži, LV-4001 Tel.: +371 64070608 Fax: +371 64070894 E-mail: lemisele@e-apollo.lv Salacgrīva Tourism Information Centre Rīgas iela 10a, Salacgrīva, LV-4033 Tel./Fax..: +371 64041254 E-mail: saltic@latnet.lv

Due to nature’s diversity the system of protected landscape areas is formed on the territory of Limbaži district, which could be one of the main factors for the development of tourism industry. About 70% of the district area is part of North Vidzeme biosphere reserve.

There is a comparatively wide choice of lodgings for tourists in Limbaži district. There are 8 hotels, motels, guest houses (with 290 places); 18 country houses (with 214 places); 5 summer recreation centres (with 182 places); 1 campsite (with 100 places), 2 tourism information centres (in Limbaži and Salacgrīva).

According to data of the association “Country traveller” Limbaži district was the most visited among the country tourists in 2000, it is also the third best in the country in term of lodgings number, and the situation is becoming even better.