Latvian utility poles are unique in the Baltic and indeed the world. They have a few small pine cone looking bulbs coming from the pole. The key part of Latvian utility poles is that their bulbs are typically hanging at several different levels. The next key indicator of Latvia are the bollards. These are wooden planks that are narrower than standard bollards. Latvian bollards have a generic white rectangle in the black stripe. They look similar to Estonian bollards however Estonian bollards are cylindrical, not planks. Latvian bollards are different from Lithuanian bollards as Lithuania uses an orange coloured rectangle. Latvia has many unpaved roads that may be gravel/dirt. These roads are wide and generally at least wide enough for two cars. This contrasts the Estonian unpaved roads which are narrow - typically allowing only one car to travel on them. The Latvian language is similar to Lithuanian with some key differences. Latvian sometimes has the vowels with horizontal lines occurring over them: ā, ē, ī, ō, ū. It also shares Lithuanian’s small ‘v’ shape over the s: š. Latvian has a unique comma that sometimes occurs under three letters: ļ, ķ and ņ. Latvian utility poles sometimes have a diagonal support beam. The most common type of Latvian bollard is a thin plank with a generic white rectangle on the front. The rear of the most common type of Latvian bollard has two white circles. Warning signs in Latvia have a much thicker red border than those found in Estonia and Lithuania. Latvia can be recognized by the style of houses. Like the other Baltic countries, Latvian roofs are often eternit (they look like corrugated iron). The Latvian landscape is flat and has a large amount of grass. There are many cold-climate trees scattered across Latvia. Utility poles can also often be seen across most of the country. In Latvia, the blue kilometre markers are parallel with the road (they face the road). This contrasts Estonia where they are at right-angles to the road and Lithuania where they are in an arrow shape.

Latvian licence plates are long and white, with the standard blue European strip on the left.

Latvian bollards have a thin, slightly curved shape. 

The bollards have a rectangular reflector on the front, and two circular reflectors on the back. The reflectors can be white or orange. The black strip is slightly angled. Bollards often have numbers below the front reflector.

Estonian and Lithuanian bollards look different.

Latvian poles have distinctive poletops, with hook-shaped insulators, that are arranged in an alternating manner: left-right-left (or vice versa).

These poletops are much more rare in the other two Baltic countries, they can however appear in some other European countries.

Latvia uses white chevrons with red arrows.

Many other European countries, including Lithuania and Poland, use the same chevrons.

However, Estonia, Russia and Ukraine use chevrons with the opposite colour scheme: red with white arrows.

All Baltic countries use the same blue kilometre marker. However, they can be distinguished from each other by their angle relative to the road.

In Latvia, the marker will be parallel to the road, it only has a number on one side.

Each Baltic country has a slightly different border for its warning and speed road signs.

Latvian road signs have a thick red border, with a thin white outline around it.

Latvian pedestrian signs have five stripes, which is unique within the Baltics. Uniquely, the pedestrian has noticeably long legs compared to pedestrian signs in other European countries.

The other two Baltic countries have three stripes on their pedestrian signs.

Latvian bus stop signs have this design.

The bus on bus stop sings in Latvia has five windows. Within the Baltics, this is unique to Latvia. The other two Baltic countries have four windows.

Latvia has normal A-type guardrails with white or red reflectors.

Estonia has no reflectors and Lithuania has orange reflectors.

Latvian belongs to the Baltic language family. The other major member of this language family is Lithuanian, to which it is closely related.

Within the Baltic languages, the following letters are unique to Latvian:

Vowels with a macron (horizontal stripe): Ā Ē Ī.

Consonants with a small hook: Ģ Ķ Ļ Ņ.

Estonian is not a member of the Baltic language family (despite the name), and therefore looks significantly different.

The Latvian word for street is iela. This word is unique to Latvian.

Very rarely, you might see ‘gatve’ in Riga (abbreviated as gat.). This word is also the standard word for street in Lithuania (usually abbreviated as g.).

Latvian architecture generally consists of a combination of wood and white brick, typically with somewhat steep corrugated metal roofs. Slightly modern houses with pastel coloured stone walls and houses with a combination of wood with another material, particularly white brick, are also common.

Latvian directional signs are blue with white text.

The arrow on Latvian signs is more stylized than in Estonia and Lithuania, where the back part of the arrowhead is vertical.

Bollard:

Latvian bollards are black and white with a yellow or white rectangle on the front and 2 dots on the back. The yellow version of this bollard will only be found at intersections, bridges and important crossings, like Railways. The white is the most common, and will often feature a number on it. That number is a KM marker, and represents how many hundreds of meters you have traveled to the next KM marker.

Road Lines:

Latvia uses all white lines, and still has many dirt/gravel roads.

Road Signs:

Latvia uses blue backed road signs.

Road information signs have quite a thick red line.

The rear of their signs have folded edges.


Latvian Crests:

Latvia has 110 Municipalities, which means 110 different crests that can be found.

Electricity poles:

Latvia uses wooden (mostly) and concrete poles with ‘bulbs’ on the ends of ‘hooks’ usually alternating sides unless there is only 2.


License plates:

Latvia uses the standard EU style plate. Taxis in Latvia will have a yellow license plate.


Vegetation/Landscape:

Latvia is a very flat country.

Architecture:

Latvia has many wooden/brick houses with corrugated metal roofs.
