Valga, Estonia

Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, an Estonian Orthodox church in Valga
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jumalaema_Vladimiri_pühakuju_kirik_(1).JPG
Author: Flying Saucer


Valga is a town in southern Estonia, on the border with Latvia. It covers 16.54 sq km (6.4 sq mi) and has a population of 14,000 people (2011 estimate). The town is across the border from Valka in Latvia. With the Schengen Agreement dismantling the borders of the two countries, Valga and Valka have developed into a single municipality.

The history of Valga goes back to 1286, when it was first mentioned in a document. The town received German-speaking settlers and merchants which called it Walk. The town was attacked and captured by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 13th century, which later placed it within the Livonian Confederation.

From the 16th until the 18th century, Valga suffered repeated attacks by Russia. During this period it was part of Livonia, then Poland, and then Sweden. It became part of the Russian Empire following the Great Northen War of 1710. With the First World War came shortlived independence, which last until the arrival of the Soviets. Valga, with the rest of Estonia, was absorbed into the Soviet Union. Except for a period during the Second World War, when it was occupied by the Nazis, Valga was to remain part of the Soviet Union under Estonia regained its independence in 1989.

Today Valga is an important railway junction, with the railway lines from Tallinn to Riga passing through it, as does the Tallinn to Saint Petersburg line.

Valga Railway Station
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Valga_raudteejaam_(632).JPG
Author: Flying Saucer

Visiting Valga

There are many trains to Valga from Tallinn and Riga. You can also get there by bus.

Places of Interest in Valga

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

Map of Roads in Penang

Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.