Briežu
StacijaOff-Grid Cabin in Gauja National Park
Mežā. Vieta kur būt.
In the forest. A place to be.
Off-grid cabin for two with sauna and hot tub in Gauja National Park, Vidzeme region, northern Latvia. 65 km from Riga, 25 min from Cēsis, 30 min from Sigulda.
I — Arrival
Sixty-five kilometres from Riga the road narrows, then quiets, then turns to gravel. Briežu Stacija stands in a clearing of its own making — a black spruce monolith with five-metre ceilings and windows the height of the room.
We built it ourselves over two years, on a patch of forest that had been in Evija's family for decades. Off-grid: solar, deep well, septic. One cabin in Gauja National Park.
II — Location
Inside Latvia's oldest national park.
Ninety-two thousand hectares of forest, river, and trail. The road that brings you here ends a few hundred metres past the cabin and turns into trail. There are no neighbours within sight.
Roe deer drift through in the morning — sometimes one of the cabin's namesakes wanders into the clearing. Foxes, hares, pine martens. In summer the canopy is loud with birds. In winter the forest reaches a silence you can hear inside your own ears.
Augšlīgatne, the village, is six minutes by car. Pavāru Māja, the Michelin Green Star restaurant in Līgatne, is seven. Riga is sixty-five kilometres. The rest of the world is further than that.
From every window, only forest.
III — The cabin
Designed as one whole.
Not assembled from parts.
Black spruce on the outside, charred and tarred. Birch veneer inside — almost white when the sun is out, golden when it isn't. French herringbone oak underfoot, one detail that asks you to look down.
Five-metre ceilings, windows the height of the wall, a flush birch door to the bath. Every window faces the forest. None face another window.
- 5m
- Ceilings
- 23m²
- Interior
- 2 + 1
- Guests
- 65km
- From Riga
- 100%
- Off-grid by day
IV — A day here
- Coffee at the long counter — V60, Moka, French press. The forest still misty outside the window.
- A book by the window, the chair, the way the light walks across the herringbone.
- The shower, deep green tile, the spruce just past the glass.
- The sauna, cedar and glass, the trees a few feet beyond. The forest does the work.
- The hot tub — ready when you are. Walk out, climb in.
- Dinner at Pavāru Māja, seven minutes by car. Or a walk across the field. Then back.
- A film on the wall above the sofa, lights low, fire in the stove, the forest in the door.
- Outside, the lanterns, the bonfire, the dark, the trees behind the trees.
V — A moment
The water is warm before you arrive.
Heat-pump heated, held at temperature year round, remotely set so the steam is rising by the time you've parked the car. Included in every stay. Commercial-grade pool system underneath: filtered, sanitised, continuous. Use it at midday or at midnight; the water doesn't care.
VI — Details
VII — From guests
4.94/5
151 reviews · Guest favorite
9.6/10
171 reviews
“Deer were grazing right by the cabin while we sat in the hot tub.”
Kristofers · Latvia
“Watch the daylight get slowly eaten up by the shadowy fir-trees surrounding the cabin.”
Janis · Latvia
“We could see there are no cheap solutions. Every detail was thought through.”
Anete · Latvia
VIII — Book direct
Book direct,
get the sauna and hot tub.
Three hours of sauna and hot tub included on every direct booking — a €45 value. No discount codes. Just the sauna and hot tub.
Check availability→Or via Airbnb / Booking.com if you must.