Valga : Estonia

Valga Travel: Estonia
Valga is a town in South Estonia and the capital of Valga County.
Valga and Valka town in the North Latvia are twin towns since 1920. The area of Valga is 16,5 km2 and that of Valka is 14,2 km2. Populations are accordingly 15 330 and 7100.
Valga is situated in the junction of roads and railways. Tallinn-Tartu-Riga railway is connected via Tapa with Tallinn-Narva-St.Petersburg magistral. Valga is an international junction of railway traffic. Since there is no railway station in Valka, the trains coming from Latvia are directed to Valga, which is the terminal of Latvian railway lines.
The distance to Tartu is 89 km, Pärnu 144 km, Tallinn 245 km, Riga 175 km and Pskov 170 km.
Since 1944 a local newspaper “Valgamaalane� is published (3 times a week). There also is a local correspondence office of Estonian Television and a local radio – “Raadio Ruut�.
Valga has concluded several cooperation agreements. The nearest is an agreement (from the year 1995) with the neighbour town Valka. There are also cooperation agreements with Oakland town (USA) and Östhammar Municipality (Sweden). There are long-term friendly relations with Hallsberg Municipality in Sweden, Lübz town in Germany and Tornio town in Finland.
Valga is developing fast. Since the year 1996 there have been renovated several buildings, which have improved the quality of citizens’ life: Central Library, Valga Stadium, Museum, Valga Hospital and Culture and Hobby Centre. Step by step the schools and kindergartens are getting modernized. In 2003, there has been put into operation a new water treatment plant, which has remarkably improved the quality of water in the town.
In the private sector there have been made large investments into trade, light industry and forestry.