Blog · Europe · Aug 24, 2026

Free camping in Latvia: the state forest network is the answer

Latvia's state forestry company keeps more than 300 free recreation places in the forests it manages, mapped and open to anybody. The Forest Law lets you walk anywhere in a state forest but keeps vehicles on the roads, and fires are legal only at a built fire place.

FreeCampMaps Team Editorial team · 3 min read 5 sources cited

Free camping in Latvia means the state forest network. Latvijas valsts meži, the company that manages the state’s forests, says it has created and maintains more than 300 free tourism places since it was founded in 1999. They are marked on its own map at mammadaba.lv and in the LVM GEO app, they cost nothing, and using them is the difference between a night that is clearly fine and a night you are guessing about. Verified on lvm.lv on 24 August 2026.

What the law actually gives you

Section 5 of the Forest Law, the Meža likums, gives natural persons the right of access to and free movement in a State and local government forest, unless legislation says otherwise. Section 6 attaches the duties: observe forest fire safety regulations, do not damage the forest soil or the forest infrastructure, do not pollute the forest with waste, do not destroy bird nests or ant hills, and do not otherwise harm wild plants and animals. An owner or a local government may restrict access, and where they do, the law requires the area to be marked with visible warning notices. Verified on likumi.lv on 24 August 2026, where an English translation sits alongside the Latvian text.

Read Section 5 twice if you are driving. The same provision permits vehicles only when moving along roads and natural carriageways. Walking off the track is your right. Driving off it is not.

What the Forest Law does not do is publish a sentence about tents, one way or the other. That is precisely why the built places matter: they are the spots the manager of the land has said out loud are for this.

What the free places are, and what they are not

They are picnic and fire places in forest and beside water, free, with the fire ring already built. They are not aires. Nothing on the map promises drinking water, a toilet or a dump point, so treat services as a separate planning problem and solve it at a campsite or a town. Look up the individual site on the map before you commit to it, because the fittings vary from a table and a fire ring upward.

The fire ring is the part that carries a legal weight. Latvijas valsts meži states that a campfire may be lit only in the specially built places provided for it, and that during the fire danger period those are the only places allowed at all. The State Forest Service opens that period on 1 May and announces when it closes, and it also puts driving off the designated roads on the list of things forbidden while it runs. In a dry summer the Service asks people to skip fires entirely, even at the built rings. Take a stove and you never have to think about it.

Protected areas are stricter, and they are large

In Latvia’s protected nature territories, Cabinet Regulation No. 264 forbids lighting fires outside specially equipped places, and forbids leaving the roads and driving motor vehicles on forest and agricultural land except along marked routes. A camp of more than 60 people needs written permission from the Nature Conservation Agency. Gauja and the other protected territories cover a lot of the ground people most want to visit, so check whether your intended spot sits inside one before you decide the general forest rule applies.

Planning it

Pick your nights off the LVM map rather than off a satellite view. Park on the forest road or in the place’s own parking, not on the moss. Carry your water in and your rubbish out. Use a stove.

And take the sign at the entrance seriously: the notice on the ground and the current word from Latvijas valsts meži or the Nature Conservation Agency beat this page or any other.

If you are working up the Baltic coast, Estonia runs the same system through RMK and the planning is identical on both sides of the border. For the wider region, the Europe hub collects what we have verified country by country.

Sources

When a source is not in English, follow the link for the official wording.

Frequently asked

The questions people actually ask.

Is free camping legal in Latvia?

Being in a state forest is. Section 5 of the Forest Law (Meža likums) gives natural persons the right of access to and free movement in a State and local government forest unless other legislation says otherwise, and Section 6 sets the duties that come with it: observe forest fire safety regulations, do not damage the forest soil or infrastructure, do not pollute the forest with waste, and do not destroy bird nests or ant hills. The law does not publish a general permission or ban on tents, which is why the practical answer is to use the places the forest manager has built. Verified on likumi.lv on 24 August 2026.

Where are the free recreation places?

Latvijas valsts meži, the state forestry company, states that since it was founded in 1999 it has created and maintains more than 300 free tourism places in the forests it manages. They are on its map at mammadaba.lv and in the LVM GEO app. They are picnic and fire places rather than serviced aires, so check the entry for the individual site before you count on anything beyond a table and a fire ring. Verified on lvm.lv on 24 August 2026.

Can I light a campfire in a Latvian forest?

Only at a built fire place. Latvijas valsts meži states that a campfire may be lit only in the specially built fire places provided for it, and that during the fire danger period this is the only place it is allowed at all. The State Forest Service opens the forest fire danger period on 1 May and announces when it ends, and it also lists driving motor vehicles off the designated roads among the things prohibited during that period. Verified on lvm.lv and vmd.gov.lv on 24 August 2026.

Can I drive into the forest to find a spot?

No. Section 5 of the Forest Law permits vehicles only when moving along roads and natural carriageways, with narrow exceptions for forest protection, national security and management work agreed with the owner. In protected nature territories Cabinet Regulation No. 264 goes further and forbids leaving the roads and driving motor vehicles on forest and agricultural land altogether, except on marked routes.

How does this compare with Estonia?

The two work the same way. Estonia's RMK and Latvia's LVM both run a free, mapped network of forest campsites and fire places on state land, so a trip that crosses the border can be planned the same way on both sides. What differs is the app and the map, so download both before you go.

More · the blog

Keep reading.

All in the blog

Danish shelters: which ones you book, which take walk-ups, and what is at the site Denmark's free wooden shelters split almost evenly between bookable and first come, first served. The two booking deadlines that cancel your night, what Naturstyrelsen puts at a site, and why none of it reaches you in a vehicle. Free camping in Lithuania: only at an equipped site, and the map is public Lithuanian forest rules let you stop for the night only at an equipped public recreation object. The state forest enterprise maps more than 1,100 of them, fires are legal only at a built fire ring, and the word stovyklavietė is the one that means you may sleep there. Free camping in Estonia: how the RMK state forest network works Estonia's state forest agency RMK runs a network of designated campfire sites, campsites and forest huts that are free of charge, unbookable and first come, first served. What the law allows, what the sites provide, and where a motorhome fits in.